HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE!    If you like your days dark, this is your weekend to revel in the darkest of them all.  Starting Monday at precisely 11:47 a.m. (the first moment of winter) daylight  will increase by seconds a day, then increase to minutes a day by mid-February when local horses should begin working out in the Equicizer.

NEW YEAR'S EVE STILL OPEN:   Bring in 2010 with a splash (and a happy tummy) by digging into this lavish feast, and enjoying champagne, dancing and party favours in the Terrace Dining Room for only $39.95 per person.  Space very limited.  Call Abbi at 885-3330 ext 277 to reserve.  Bookings are also being taken for Prime Rib all-you-can-eat buffets ($14.95) running every Thursday until the end of April.   

______________________________________________________________________

A MOMENT TO TREASURE: Professional curler Dave Boehmer, a stand-in finalist in The Insider's "When will the geese leave?" contest, was surprised Saturday afternoon to find he selected the right key (#39) to open the treasure chest containing $500. He will split the money with the person he was standing in for--Jim Rinde.

GOOSE CONTEST WINNER  Jim Cretney shows off his Birds of Manitoba book after whipping his two rivals at rock/paper/sissors, a game that his wife Donna couldn't bear to watch.	TOP HORSEPLAYERS James McMullin won $1,100 as top horseplayer last Saturday. Ron Phelps was crowned Handicapper of the Year and will be heading to Las Vegas.

Suspense and drama were the order of the day on Super Saturday.  Even the game of rock/paper/scissors to determine the ultimate winner of my "When will the geese leave?" contest had its thrills.  Donna Cretney, wife of the ultimate winner, Jim Cretney, closed her eyes because she was too nervous to watch as her husband "cut" the paper and "smashed" the scissors of the other two finalists--trainer Verla Olito and Sharon Delise--to win a beautiful coffee-table book, Birds of Manitoba, and $50.  All three of them, having correctly predicted the geese would leave the Downs on Nov. 18, were rewarded with coupons for Prime Rib dinners for two as well.

MAJOR SUSPENSE:  The major suspense of the afternoon surrounded the opening of the treasure chest containing $500.  A parade of hopeful finalists wiggled and jiggled their keys in the lock to no avail.  Finally, with only about seven contestants left, curler Dave Boehmer chose the magic key, #39.  He was shocked.  "I was going to turn my key quickly and leave.  But then I heard a click and thought "What the hell...."   He was a stand-in for Jim Rinde, an Ohioan, who was to visit Winnipeg this week. They were to split the money.  But the entire afternoon of key-trying could have been short-circuited if ..... well, read about the curious circumstances in the box below.

HORSEPLAYER THRILLS:  The final horseplayer contest of the year also had its moments. A big field of 50 participants meant a generous $1,000 was at stake.  Veteran player James McMullin made it happen by more than doubling his $40 bankroll to $88.90 and he received a bonus $100 for having attended the morning seminar.  His big catch was a 21-1 longshot at Aqueduct.  The horse had recently shipped in from the synthetic tracks of California and, after only one start on dirt, James correctly predicted the horse would improve enough to sweep past tiring horses in the stretch.   

The Handicapper of the Year title was up for grabs, too, and that went to Ron Phelps. He was the leader going into Saturday's tournament and his main rivals, Glen "Stretch" Sirkis, Maurice Gregoire and Lloyd Dennis were unable to make up any ground.  He will be heading to Las Vegas in February to compete in the $1 million Horseplayer World Series at the Orleans.

$2 ticket paid $2,440

BET OF THE WEEK:  What will a $2 bet get you?  What about $2,440?  Those were the winnings of someone Saturday who correctly predicted the top-four finish (superfecta) in Calder race 11 spending the minimum amount of money.  What a coup that was! 

Even the group pick-6 ticket on Aqueduct races, put together at the morning seminar, didn't go that badly. The first three selections won (horses paid $10, $14 and $10) and in the other three races, the group's selections finished second.  Getting closer!  Will the next group ticket be the charm?

AND THIS WEEKEND?  The biggest day of the fall meet at Hollywood goes Saturday!  It features top 2-year-olds in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity.  Hollywood ends Sunday when it will feature the $300,000 Hollywood Starlet for 2-year-old fillies.  Fair Grounds also headlines stakes action this weekend. 

PHEW!  THAT WAS CLOSE Treasure chest drama was almost de-railed        The suspense surrounding the opening of the treasure chest containing $500 could have ended before it even began.  And what a shock that would have been.           Stretch Predicted the right key but didn't choose it  That's because the first person who came up to pick a key from the 50-key board HAD PREDICTED WHICH KEY WOULD OPEN THE TREASURE CHEST (#39) IN A SEPARATE CONTEST!  That's right, Glen "Stretch" Sirkis, host of the Bettor's Blog, had predicted the winning key in a contest connected to the horseplayer tournament. He also won first crack at picking a key from the board because he drew the #1 ball from a bag of 50 balls.         But, when he was called up to the board, he didn't choose the number he had predicted would open the chest; he chose key #11 instead.         Why?  Asked about it later, he said he was busy playing a race at Aqueduct in the horseplayer contest and didn't give it much thought.  Number 11 was a favourite number so he chose it quickly instead, he said.  The reason he had chosen #39 in the prediction contest was because "it's a number nobody would choose."        Weird, eh?  "I guess it's lucky I didn't pick my predicted number or the promo would have been over right away," he said later.  Yes, Stretch, and everybody would have been positively stunned.  (Although he didn't get the $500 treasure, he still received $100 for his correct prediction.)        The person who DID choose key #39 from the board near the end of the contest, Dave Boehmer, said he did so because "I decided to pick a remaining key on the right side of the board and since it was on the right side of the board, along with #9 and #19, and, since it was close to my predicted number (#42), I chose it."        A little drama within a drama.  It's strange how events unfold.

IRONY OF IRONIES

Rain closes Santa; Hollywood okay

Santa Anita, which opens its major winter meet in nine days--on Boxing Day, is struggling with its track surface again.  Three inches of rain closed the track to training Sunday and it could only be used sparingly on Monday.  Trainer Bob Baffert, for one, shipped horses to Hollywood, also in Los Angeles, for workouts. The irony is this:  Hollywood has the Cushion Track synthetic surface, the same surface that cost Santa Anita 11 lost race days two years ago when rain didn't drain.  Now Santa Anita has a new surface, Pro-Ride, which is supposed to have perfect drainage, yet horsemen are shipping horses to a track surface that had caused all of Santa Anita's problems.  Does the controversy surrounding synthetic surfaces ever cease?  What is going to happen when it rains in January when Santa's premiere meet is in full sway?  Suddenly, the weather forecast in Los Angeles is vital to horseplayers across the continent.

QUICK BITS:  The most polite race book in the world?

The first thing I discovered playing in the Fraser Downs Race Book on the West Coast recently is that you rarely hear anyone cheering when horses are charging down the stretch.  That's a

WHERE COURTEOUS PLAYERS PLAY: Fraser Downs Race Book as seen from outside, next to the race track.

first.  More than 150 people and you couldn't tell who was happy and who was peeved with the outcome of a race.  That's very unusual for most of us--but what I liked best is the lack of swearing.  Not once.  Anywhere.  And no outbursts about bad rides.  A few players in the Downs Race Book, if they went to Fraser, would likely find themselves embarrassed if they tried to behave the way they do at Assiniboia.  At Hastings Park race track in Vancouver, players DID cheer for their horses but, once again, no swearing or tantrums about rides.  Players respect other players' space.  How civil!   

GREAT HOST:  If holidays or business take you to the West Coast, Fraser Downs is the place to play:  Great ambiance and buffets, comfortable places to play, lots of flat-screen TVs everywhere. Hastings, on the other hand, still has a fresh air  problem.  Smokers smoke just outside Jerome's Race Book and the smoke blows in as the doors open and close.

12 BREAKDOWNS:  Woodbine's Polytrack experienced 12 horse breakdowns--two more than last year--in its 167 days of racing or one breakdown every 14 racing days.  On Assiniboia Downs dirt, there were three breakdowns in 65 days or one breakdown every 22 racing days.  Woodbine fields generally are larger than those at the Downs.  The Downs, though, races horses that aren't as classy as Woodbine horses and are sometimes rejects from other tracks.  All factors considered, Polytrack doesn't appear to diminish catastrophic horse breakdowns, a feature for which the track was originally touted.

MORE WINNERS:   Six win 5-Alive

Local players appear to have Sam Houston race track mastered. Six won Friday's weekly 5-Alive game by predicting three show horses, a place horse and a winner at Sam Houston, each picking up $20. They were Jeff Blair, Peter Burdz, Dave Brockhill, Wayne Misko, Merv Pilkey and Reg Pluchinske.

FRIDAY'S FREEROLL POKER:  First-time player Freda Flett, a skiing mother, won the 7:30 p.m. game. Retiree Ben Semchuk won the 10:30 p.m. game, the second time he's won. His big hand: quad 10's.  See current freeroll rankings here.

SATURDAY'S FREEROLL:  Perennial bridesmaid Merv Pilkey finally broke through to win his first game, the 7:30 p.m. match. WalMart employee John Wilson won the 10:30 p.m. match, his second freeroll win.

LADIES' NIGHT FRIDAY:  Freda Broughton won the $300 spa package courtesy of Finger & Toes and Fabutan. Ten draws for $10 were also part of the Friday night fun.

HORSEPLAYER CONTEST:  The main winner, as mentioned above, was James McMullin (bankroll $88.90) who won $1,000 plus a bonus $100 for attending a morning seminar (which, by the way, he said was valuable as did several others, two of whom capitalized on a $28 first-time starter at Fair Grounds because the horse showed regular workouts).  George McLean finished second (bankroll $86.10), receiving $100 plus the same bonus $100 for attending the seminar.  And Jeff Rozmus was third (bankroll $83.20) and received $50. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:  Trying to get video for you

As a Christmas gift for you I'm working hard to obtain a copy of the surveillance video at Hollywood Park which shows the former head of the California Horse Racing Board, Richard Shapiro, 56, "keying" the Jaguar of a wealthy horse owner and mall developer, Jerry Jamgotchian, who had been harshly critical of the board's action in forcing California tracks to install synthetic surfaces. Hollywood's security chief tells me the surveillance videotape is of excellent quality and I've talked to Jamgotchian, the guy whose car was "keyed." Jamgotchian, by the way, is suing Shapiro in California Superior Court. "It's not for the money," Jamgotchian told me.  "I just want to see what (Shapiro) will say."  Indeed.  By the way, Shapiro keyed the Jag three separate times, each time returning to his own car to think about it some more. 

PICK A GIFT OFF THE VLT TREE:  Every day during Christmas week, which starts this weekend, everyone in the VLT lounge will get an opportunity to enter into a draw for a gift from the festive tree.  Gifts are $5 to $100 in cash.  See VLT calendar of fun here.

NEXT INSIDER:   The year-end "Really Bigg" Awards.  (NOTE!  Early edition next week!  Insider will be published Tuesday.)