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LATE BREAKING NEWS: Live racing has been cancelled for Saturday, May
10 due to a lack of entries. Although the horse population is around 800
horses, the poor weather and harsh training conditions are the major
contributing factors to the lack of horses ready to run. Racing will
continue as scheduled both Friday evening May 9 at 7
p.m. with eight races and Sunday, May 11 (Mother's
Day) at 1 p.m. with nine races, all with
full field.
A curious mix of celebration and sadness marked the past week of racing. While media commentators agonized over
another horse breaking down in a major race (the filly in the Kentucky
Derby), horseplayers were more accepting, acknowledging that this is the
occasional unfortunate price of athletic competitions. What I've not seen mentioned anywhere
is that at least part of the reason you see breakdowns in the biggest
races is that classy horses give "110" per cent compared to
your average race horse who might tend to pull
himself up when he feels ouchy. More on that shortly.
Thankfully,
though, there were lots of reasons to feel good about the week:.
• FOR THE RECORD BOOKS: How could the beginning of the Downs' 50th season
have been marked any more memorably? First four races, same female
jockey, same trainer--an achievement for the record books.
• BEST PROMO ANYWHERE: Wrap your mind around the fact you've
never had
such amazing odds (140 to 1) to win $50,000 cash simply by
playing a show parlay
a little better than others.
I have tips below to give you an edge.
• PICK-4 CARRYOVER: Carryovers in pick-4 pools at the Downs have created a real
buzz. In fact, with a
carryover of almost $5,000 going into tomorrow's races, the
pool could double! It's like getting into a poker game
after other poker players have
built up the pot for you.
Nice!
• REAL "BIG"
DEAL: The ease of his Kentucky Derby win
shows Big Brown is
the real deal. And
both Paul Wiecek, racing writer for the
Winnipeg Free Press
and I, are vindicated.
I don't recall
Wiecek ever actually demanding
his readers
to bet a horse as he did for the Derby. Lots of egg to wipe off his face if he
had
been wrong! I agree
with him: Who's going to stop Big
Brown's march to the first
Triple Crown in 30 years?
The second test, the Preakness Stakes
(that other
horses are avoiding like the plague), is nine days away. An 85 per cent performance
should win it for him.
Before
the meat of the column, this h'orse d'oevre . . .
DEAD
JOCKEY WINS RACE: As I was leaving the Race Book
a couple days ago, my star student on pace-and-speed, Laj,
stopped me dead in my tracks with this question: "Has a dead jockey ever won a
race?" "Not that I've
ever heard of," I replied, wondering whether this was a trick
question. Thumbing through the pages
of a newly-purchased book titled Small Track Betting, he had
recently purchased from horseplayer Dan Black's Vintage Books and
Antiques, Laj pointed to a paragraph which
indeed showed that back in 1953 at Belmont Park in New York, jockey Frank
Hayes, riding a 20-1 horses called Sweet Kiss, crossed the
line in front--dead. At some point
in his drive to the wire he had suffered a fatal heart attack with no one
being the wiser during the race. Further internet research showed the
date was actually February, 1923. Frank Hayes apparently was a
35-year-old horse trainer who had talked an owner into giving him the
opportunity to ride the horse. Gives new meaning, I guess, to the
expression: Riding quiet in the
saddle.
HOW TO WIN $50,000
Tips to give you an edge
First
of all, realize you'll likely never ever see a contest for such a huge
cash prize stacked so much in your favour as
the free $50,000 show parlay challenge.
If you're not picking up your Assiniboia Downs program the night
before the races and poring over races 3 to 5 with great intensity,
you're missing the opportunity of a lifetime. Here's the deal: To win a lottery, your odds are
14-million to one. To win $50,000
in the show parlay challenge, your odds are 140-1 once you've gotten in
by winning a show parlay (or had your entry drawn). And your odds will improve to 70-1 if
you win the parlay a second time.
There
are 70 days of live racing, with two people becoming finalists each
day--one by winning the parlay contest, the other through a draw. At the end of the contest on the last
day of racing, 140 finalists will be in the drum for a draw which matches
entrants with horses in the last race.
The contestant whose horse wins, wins the
mega-cash. Okay, a few tips to
become one of the 140:
TIPS: You're not going to win
the parlay by taking just program selections. Everybody does that. You have to look for at least one
oddball horse, particularly in the first leg of the parlay, Race 3. If you can spot a horse that will pay,
say $6 to show, that will multiply the amount of money riding into the
next two legs. What to look
for? (1) Longshot horses ridden by high-percentage
jockeys (2) A horse with a poor record but just
claimed by a new trainer (3) A longshot horse that likes to go to
the lead, then quits miserably. He
may get enough of a lead to hang in for third at a big price. (4) A longshot horse that could close into a
field of horses that will be using up energy early challenging each other
early in the race
(5) Eenie, meenie, minie, moe. Not recommended but I invariably hear
of some weird reason some player has selected an impossible horse. Anyway, there you go. The big bucks are on the line--and now
you're a bit closer to becoming a finalist. You're welcome!
Here are the first six $50,000 finalists (from the first three days of
live racing):
Friday: Alison Kesler (her $10 show parlay increased to $120.25--and
she played it at the windows, too!), Theodore Rudnik
had his entry drawn.
Saturday: Nina Slack (her
parlay increased to $85.25; she chose horses whose names she liked), Larry
Pruden had his entry drawn.
Sunday: Marie White, retired
bank supervisor and horseowner (parlay
increased to $54.60), supermarket supervisor Lisa Evanchow
had her entry drawn.
NOTE: Publication of the weekly winners of
$50 will begin in this column next week. (See "$50,000 show parlay
challenge" entry form for details.)
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1958
jockey Dick Armstrong in front of Clubhouse mural holding framed
horseshoes of Gold Ern, the horse he
won the first race with.
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Dick
Armstrong and jockey Alan Cuthbertson
reminisce about their racing days in Calgary in the
1960's
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EYE ON LIVE
New videos a hit
New videos a hit: Lots of good
comments about a bunch of short new videos the Downs has put online--everything
from a quick 2-minute tour that you may even learn something from, to
"how to watch a race for future profit." Go to www.assiniboiadowns.com and
click on the video of your choice. Pops up immediately on most computer
screens. Tell your friends about the "2-minute tour" to show
them the fun that awaits them at the Downs.
Picture of the week: Seeing
two-time leading Assiniboia Downs jockey Alan Cuthbertson
throw his arm around Dick Armstrong, the jockey who won the
first-ever race at the Downs in 1958 and was the honourary
starter for the opening race of the 50th season last Friday. It was hard
to imagine they had competed against each other racing in Alberta way back in the 1960's. Armstrong left racing in 1972 when he
lost a kidney in a racetrack injury but, a generation later, Cuthbertson at 61 is still going strong.
Pick-4 carryover: I know Stretch
is salivating and so should you.
With the Downs' new policy of having carryovers in pick-4 pools when
they're not won outright, tomorrow's pool will likely be in the neighbourhood of $10,000. That's because no-one had picked all
four winners on Saturday or Sunday. Twenty-five per cent of the pool was
paid to those holding 3 of 4 winners and the balance was carried
over. Stretch had lobbied
strenuously for this new rule which is similar to Chicago which sees pick-4 pools climb
hugely at Hawthorne and Arlington when there are
carryovers. The pick-7 pool has
$3,000.
They'll be talking about this on the Downs' 100th: Lethbridge native Janine Stianson roared into Winnipeg and the record books Friday
when she won the first four races of the Downs' 50th season of live racing
Friday aboard horses trained by Jared Brown, who brought a bunch
of horses up from Louisiana. After the first weekend, she leads the
jockey standings with six wins, Alan Cuthbertson
has four, Renaldo Cumberbatch three and Clint
Magera, Carlos Marquez and Tyrone
Nelson have two apiece. In trainer standings: Jared Brown has six wins, Jim
Fergason four and Carren
Wedge and Ardell Sayler have two apiece.
Biggest win payoff: #10 Mr Exspeedient in
race 7 Sunday, paid $27.90.
Trained by Clint Willson, Tyrone
Nelson in the saddle. For
highlights on the top races, read Allan Gray's
"Barn Notes."
Kudos to graphics designers: Assiniboia Downs has a new TV graphics
that simulcast partners all over North America are seeing. The graphics, as you've noticed and
commented on, are A+. Congrats to
the guys who designed these new graphics for their creative acumen!
THE DEMISE OF EIGHT
BELLES
Classy horses try harder
A
lot is being made of Eight Belles' tragic breakdown following her
second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby last Saturday, coming within
two years of Barbaro's demise in the Preakness Stakes.
In-breeding to produce more and more speed in horses is being
blamed, as is the actions of jockey Gabriel
Saez in not letting her gallop
out naturally. What has not been mentioned is that classy horses can
cause themselves injuries because, like star human athletes, they push
through the pain. As horseplayers
widely acknowledge, some horses seem to race on heart alone. Jockey Saez
said after the race that Eight Belles showed she loved to race, as many
horses do, which perhaps also means she exerted herself beyond her
physical capabilities. Having said
that, I agree that using drugs to prop up a line of infirm horses is
going down the wrong path. It's
like breeding roses: To develop
better quality, disease-resistant varieties, you cull out disease-prone parents
and don't douse the parents with fungicides to keep them in the breeding
process. This appeared to be a
freak occurrence, though, not consistent with past breakdowns during a
race.
WINNERS' CORNER
Walter wins trip to Breeders' Cup
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Walter Hochkevich
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Retired
labourer Walter Hochkevich
won the trip for two to the fall Breeders' Cup in the Tour d'Champs contest in which track patrons won chances
to win the trip based on number of times they attended important
simulcast stakes races during the winter and into spring. His name was drawn Saturday night after
the 5th race at the Downs. Other
winners:
Friday poker: Assembly
technician Ed McKenna ($100), hydro analyst Bryan Bartlett
($50), welder Felix Berthelette ($25). Top two get into finale for trip to Las Vegas and entry into qualifying
round of World Series of Poker and $1,000 cash.
Saturday poker: Horse trainer Don
McLean went from terrible cards all night to sudden great hands,
winning $100 cash. Teacher Rick
Zaretsky ($50) made it to second with
all-in with pocket aces. Educator Andrew
Wilson ($25)
Friday's Fantastic Fan: Bonnie
Simmonds
TIP O' THE WEEK: Read a trainer's mind
Sounds
goofy, I know. But what I mean is
to put yourself in the shoes of a trainer who
makes decisions about where he is going to spot his horses. Good trainers generally spot their
horses where they think they have a legitimate shot at being
contenders. When you see a horse
taking a class hike instead of a class drop off a bad race, what do you
think is going through a good trainer's mind? That he feels he has corrected some
problem that will result in his horse handling the class rise with a
great chance of winning the race.
When a horse takes a huge class drop, what is the trainer
thinking? That's tricky. It could mean the horse is unsound but
it can also mean the horse is too high-maintenance and the trainer wants
to spend more time with other horses or it could simply mean the horse's
owner wants to impress his friends by having them join him in the
Winner's Circle. Workout patterns
also tend to give away what a trainer is thinking about having a horse
ready to win a race.
ENJOY A CHINESE FOOD BUFFET tonight in the Terrace Dining
Room from 5 to 8 p.m. All you can eat for only $14.95. Menu. Next week: Irish.
UPCOMING EVENTS: Mother's Day giveaways
For Mother's Day Sunday:
free perfume samples for Moms courtesy of the The
Bay at St. Vital Shopping Centre.
Also, a free flower for Mom and a chance for her to win a fabulous
getaway package to Elkhorn Resort.
Goldeyes Sunday: Goldeyes
baseball players will be available for chats and autographs.
Don't forget the pick-4 carryover
in live racing Friday!
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