Post by Peter Gross on Oct 1, 2009 5:02:16 GMT -5
Every horseplayer should have the experience I had yesterday. Woodbine racetrack held a number of races on the turf yesterday, but this time with people, not horses, running down the stretch for charity. I was in the United Way corporate relay against 9 or ten other teams entrusted with the seeming easy challenge of a 4 X 100 yard relay down the E.P Taylor turf to the finish line in front of the grandstand.
I had assembled a team that included 680News traffic beauty Eva Fragiskatos, Down The Stretch contributor Keith McCalmont and his soccer teammate Shayne Boyd, brought in for his Irish grass breeding. Unfortunately as unofficial captain of the 680news/Down The Stretch team, I was required to run.
As I age - I'm in year 60 now - it seems I'm developing quite the reality gap between what I think I can do and what I'm actually capable of ( though my horse betting has always been like that). My strategy this year made a lot of sense to me; because of my own inherent early speed, I should be the first out of the gate. With my remarkable immediate 'churn' I believed I could give our team a good start and a chance to beat the two Toronto Police Force teams and the foursome of jockeys.
I had another brilliant strategy. They actually had us coming out of a real starting gate and in each stall of the gate there are waist high ledges for the assistant starters to hold on to the horses as they load. I lifted myself onto the ledges with the intention of throwing myself out of the gate. With such a spring-loaded start, I would earn myself an even better break than all the others.
So Sandy Hawley presses the start button, the gates open and I throw myself forward. Except I land flat footed and stop dead on the grass only to see every other runner propelling several yards ahead of me. I poured it on to the best of my ability, but by the time I reached our second runner, Eva, I was gassed. Keith and Shayne did quite well, but I'd put my team in such a hole, we did no better than 7th...
The point here is that when we watch the races and bet on horses, we're so pissed off when the ones we bet on fade in the stretch. We'd like to think that horses are machines, not massive structures of bone and muscle and sinew. Run down the Woodbine Stretch as fast as you can for as long as you can and then try and pass someone who is better, strong, faster than you. The lungs burn, the legs fail. maybe now you know how a horse feels.
The race was won by one of the police teams. The jockeys came second and herein is a tip for next year. The jockeys' team was Emma-Jayne Wilson, Eurico Rosa da Silva, Anthony Stephens and Corey Fraser. Fraser ran in the sprint just half an hour after competing in the mile and a half race, which was won impressively by Woodbine Entertainment President Nick Eaves. Fraser came in third.
Less than two hours after the people races, the night card of thoroughbred racing began and had you bet only on the jockeys from the United Way races, you would have made a nice profit. The very light Eurico Rosa da Silva captured the first race on Heavy Steve ($6.70) and came right back to win the third on Graeme Wafer ($10.50). Emma-Jayne Wilson brought home Two Wonders ($14.30) in the 4th and Corey Fraser completed his unique triactor by winning the 6th race with Genswick Park ($8.20) . Anyone astute enough to bet $100 to win on every horse ridden by the four jockeys in the United Way races would have earned a profit of $985. Anyone astute enough to bet every horse last night that I bet on would have....oh let's not go there.
Woodbine will forthwith release the amount of money earned for the United Way. Donations were extracted from bets placed by each team on themselves. I know this from a painful personal experience - I bet $50 to show on my team, assuming wisely that my brilliant starting gate strategy would gives us an enormous edge. In future years, I may have to seriously reconsider my position as playing captain.
I had assembled a team that included 680News traffic beauty Eva Fragiskatos, Down The Stretch contributor Keith McCalmont and his soccer teammate Shayne Boyd, brought in for his Irish grass breeding. Unfortunately as unofficial captain of the 680news/Down The Stretch team, I was required to run.
As I age - I'm in year 60 now - it seems I'm developing quite the reality gap between what I think I can do and what I'm actually capable of ( though my horse betting has always been like that). My strategy this year made a lot of sense to me; because of my own inherent early speed, I should be the first out of the gate. With my remarkable immediate 'churn' I believed I could give our team a good start and a chance to beat the two Toronto Police Force teams and the foursome of jockeys.
I had another brilliant strategy. They actually had us coming out of a real starting gate and in each stall of the gate there are waist high ledges for the assistant starters to hold on to the horses as they load. I lifted myself onto the ledges with the intention of throwing myself out of the gate. With such a spring-loaded start, I would earn myself an even better break than all the others.
So Sandy Hawley presses the start button, the gates open and I throw myself forward. Except I land flat footed and stop dead on the grass only to see every other runner propelling several yards ahead of me. I poured it on to the best of my ability, but by the time I reached our second runner, Eva, I was gassed. Keith and Shayne did quite well, but I'd put my team in such a hole, we did no better than 7th...
The point here is that when we watch the races and bet on horses, we're so pissed off when the ones we bet on fade in the stretch. We'd like to think that horses are machines, not massive structures of bone and muscle and sinew. Run down the Woodbine Stretch as fast as you can for as long as you can and then try and pass someone who is better, strong, faster than you. The lungs burn, the legs fail. maybe now you know how a horse feels.
The race was won by one of the police teams. The jockeys came second and herein is a tip for next year. The jockeys' team was Emma-Jayne Wilson, Eurico Rosa da Silva, Anthony Stephens and Corey Fraser. Fraser ran in the sprint just half an hour after competing in the mile and a half race, which was won impressively by Woodbine Entertainment President Nick Eaves. Fraser came in third.
Less than two hours after the people races, the night card of thoroughbred racing began and had you bet only on the jockeys from the United Way races, you would have made a nice profit. The very light Eurico Rosa da Silva captured the first race on Heavy Steve ($6.70) and came right back to win the third on Graeme Wafer ($10.50). Emma-Jayne Wilson brought home Two Wonders ($14.30) in the 4th and Corey Fraser completed his unique triactor by winning the 6th race with Genswick Park ($8.20) . Anyone astute enough to bet $100 to win on every horse ridden by the four jockeys in the United Way races would have earned a profit of $985. Anyone astute enough to bet every horse last night that I bet on would have....oh let's not go there.
Woodbine will forthwith release the amount of money earned for the United Way. Donations were extracted from bets placed by each team on themselves. I know this from a painful personal experience - I bet $50 to show on my team, assuming wisely that my brilliant starting gate strategy would gives us an enormous edge. In future years, I may have to seriously reconsider my position as playing captain.
