In recent years NBCSN has broadcast - live and in colour - the full week of racing from Royal Ascot. Hence, the photo above of The Old Master of the Turf ensconced in his top secret command center in an undisclosed location watching one of Her Majesty's subjects wearing a top hat and Morning Coat interviewing the greatest jockey in the history of mankind, Italian-born Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori.
Nothing unites the globe like dropping a few pounds sterling on a frisky filly. Yes, I'm still talking about The Sport of Kings.
British horse racing is just different enough from North American horse racing that it looks familiar enough on its surface to make it a risky wagering proposition for the uninitiated. But for those who have a rudimentary knowledge of the fundamentals of British (or European) horse racing it can be tremendous fun. And, on occasion, wildly lucrative, Guv'nor.
The payouts for the 5:00pm at Royal Ascot that summer afternoon in 2018 were astronomical. Your winning superfecta wager with horses hitting the board at odds of 16-1, 10-1, 100-1 & 33-1 must have paid out in Crown Jewels plus a Royal Sceptre or two. If you wonder about seeing so many longshots, note the chyron near the lower left of the television screen. It was a 30-horse field.
One year and one day later, in June of 2019, me and The Old Master of the Turf patronized the MVG racebook to watch and wager on Royal Ascot;
We didn't meet the Queen's dress code for Royal Ascot, but with the aid of Android photo-editing advanced technology I soon fixed that!
My strategy for wagering on Royal Ascot races last summer was to bet, almost exclusively, horses being ridden by jockeys Frankie Dettori and Ryan Moore. If you don't think that Dettori is the greatest jockey across the pond then Ryan Moore is your other claimant to the honor.
This was my big score from the week of wagering on Royal Ascot in 2019, an exacta box in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes that linked up Dettori and Moore. Ryan Moore got the win here but watch Frankie Dettori, wearing the green silks and cap, at the back of the field early and charging down the home stretch on the far outside to run second by a nose. Or a whisker. Perhaps half of an atom.
Sometime during my birthday week each year, Mr B and I get together for a day of simulcast wagering from Saratoga Race Course. In 2018, I hit a few winners at The Graveyard of Champions.
I didn't have much opportunity - or any opportunity, really - to perform my usual deep-dive handicapping of that day's race card at Saratoga. I skimmed the past performances for anything that might stand out. I hit the back half of a $2 Win-Place wager in Race 1 on a colt sired by Violence. I was a big fan of Violence during his brief racing career. In 2013 Violence was the leading 3-year old on the Derby Trail that year. Going into the Florida Derby for his last prep race before the Run for the Roses, Violence was already my Derby Horse. Violence finished second in the Florida Derby while sustaining a career-ending injury in the race. Violence was a tough, fast, versatile thoroughbred. I suspect that because Violence didn't make the starting gate the First Saturday in May and because he didn't have a full three-year old campaign (let alone four-year old and five-year old campaigns) that he may have become somewhat forgotten by the wagering public. When I see a Violence-sired horse entered into a race I'll throw a few dollars on it. Someday when I write my best-selling series of books about horse racing, I'll title one volume A Horse Named Violence.
Here was a horse that the past performances indicated had been knocking on the door of victory, with two recent second-place finishes and a third-place finish. For this day's race the trainer - Ken McPeek, a successful horseman - made an equipment change for the horse, adding blinkers (designed to sharpen equine focus and thus, hopefully, add a little more speed) . That was all I needed to see, along with the name of the trainer, and I cashed a $2 Win-Place wager on this colt.
This horse was trained by the country's leading trainer and ridden by the best jockey (Mike Smith) in North America, and was sired by a very good racehorse. What's not to like? Well, you'll see the comments at lower right suggesting this filly didn't perform well outside of California. That didn't prevent me from rolling the $17.00 profit from the immediately previous race onto the nose of this fleet filly.
It wasn't a perfectly successful day of wagering for me.
This 4-5 odds-on favorite drew the 8-hole in the starting gate and the jockey steered his mount into the 6-path going around a turn - losing a tremendous amount of ground - and finished 2nd.... evidently to my great consternation. I must've had a straight Win bet on this colt.
The day at the racebook was not without some humor.....
..... and some oddities.
Rule #1 in the playbook of Mr B, arrive early. VERY EARLY. When I placed my first bet of the day, the betting machine spit out my ticket along with this "test ticket." I've never seen one of these before. You'll observe the time/date stamp recording this test at just after 5:00am. I was the first patron to utilize this specific betting machine on that day.
Another oddity from the Saratoga race meet, this from the summer of 2019, was a day of heavy rains and dense fog;
There are times when the humorous blends with the odd, and in the sport of horse racing you'll encounter some of the funniest/oddest headlines;
This headline speaks for itself. Perhaps it shouldn't.
The B Team convened for a day of racing at the MVG racebook celebrating The Old Master's birthday in November of 2018 (above photo).
Yep. By now you'll easily recognize the MVG racebook. This was for my Saratoga wagering birthday with Mr B in 2019. We were there so early that the television monitors weren't yet receiving broadcast signals from any racetracks. We were the only patrons in the racebook at that early hour.
Here is a portrait of The Old Master of the Turf studying intently his Daily Racing Form on Breeders' Cup Saturday, 2019.
I experienced an agonizing day of tantalizingly close calls at the Breeders' Cup last autumn;
These uncashed tickets tell the sorrowful tale. An assortment of Pick Three's, Pick Four's and a Pick Six each jam-packed with enough winners to look pretty yet each also saddled with a near-miss loser; a 2nd- or a 3rd- or a 4th-place finisher. There's a trifecta box that finished 1st-2nd-4th. A straight Win bet that finished 2nd. Dispiritingly, a Win bet on Frankie Dettori in which he finished 4th.
So close, yet.....
I did not cash a ticket the entire day. Brutal.
One family had a better day at the Breeders' Cup than did The B Team.
Under lockdown this spring, while so many of you have been numbing your minds with Netflix marathons or video games, I've been passing the time with live horse racing, handicapping and legal internet wagering from the comfort of The Ranch. Free parking. No lines at the betting window. No lines at the concession stand. No over-priced, disappointing-quality buffet selections.
A guy could become accustomed to this whole pandemic-mandated home confinement.
I'll leave you with this artistic photograph. Last November, many hours before the first post time at the Breeders' Cup, I captured The Old Master of the Turf in his element.
Roll the credits!
