Once was the time I enjoyed my own 'Day at the Races'

For a period of about four years, I really loved horse racing.

It started in 1973 with Secretariat. I never saw him run in person, but I watched most of his races that year on television, and I have written several times about the 1973 Belmont being the most incredible athletic performance I ever saw. It still brings tears to my eyes when I watch it.


But there were plenty of great races -- and fun ones that weren't so great -- that I saw in person. Whether it was at Laurel Race Course in Maryland, at Charles Town in West Virginia or harness racing at Rosecroft in Maryland, it was fun to go and try to win some money.

I never got very good at handicapping, although there were a couple of times when this blind squirrel managed to find an acorn.

At Laurel in 1973, I was trying to handicap the Daily Double (winners in the first two races). I had a longshot I liked in the first race -- a horse named Guide at 40-1 -- and I bought one $2 ticket with Guide in the first race and the favorite in the second.

Surprise, surprise. Guide won the first race, making my ticket worth $198.80 if my horse won the second race -- and zero if it didn't.

A guy a couple of seats over offered me $50 for my ticket, which was tempting. But this wasn't something I had done by dumb luck, and I would never have forgiven myself if I had won. So I kept the ticket, gambled and won.

Pimlico

My biggest score ever, although not my best moment.

That came at the 1982 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico outside Baltimore. It was a strange race. Gato del Sol had won the Kentucky Derby, but his owners elected to skip the Preakness. That made Linkage an odds-on favorite in a seven-horse field.

Nobody makes money betting odds-on favorites, so I looked at the other six horses to see who could win if Linkage didn't. I put $2 on Aloma's Ruler to win and bought one $2 Exacta ticket with Aloma's Ruler and Linkage.

And that was exactly what happened, 32 years ago. Aloma's Ruler went off at 7-1 and pretty much led the race wire to wire. Linkage came on strong at the end and got within half a length of the winner. The two were seven lengths ahead of the rest of the field.

My win ticket paid $15.80 and my Exacta ticket paid $30.40, a return of $46.20 on my $4 bet. What made me happiest about it was that they had been perfect bets. No hedging, no wheels. Just two winning bets.

I never had another day like that. In fact, I don't think I ever had another day where I won more than I lost.

But at least I had some fun.

And some great memories.