Horse-racing: Canadian Derby Day - Century Mile 5 (August 23, 2025)

A diary entry about a day at the races, 2025 style. 

• This is the fifth visit to Century Mile.

• My brother was now able to attend events away from his house again, so we decided to hit the track again.

• It was Derby Day in Edmonton Alberta, the Canadian Derby, the race with the highest purse of the season, in these parts. For this year, the purse was $200,000. It is a bit of a route-race, at one and a quarter miles.

• There were also some more high-stakes races on this day, fairly long distance races as well (over a mile): the Oaks, for $100,000, the Speed to Spare at $100,000, and the Distaff Handicap for $75,000. So, a big day at the local track, one with several races that can really test the stamina of the horses, and also make good use of the track’s one-mile oval.

• In earlier years, these purses were likely higher, when adjusted for inflation. But, crowds were also bigger, as were the handles (the amount of money bet on a given day at a given track). And, you only had one track to play, the one that you were actually at. So, all the money went to those horses. Now, the money is split among many tracks, though I don’t know the actual details of how that is done.

• The length and intensity of the local thoroughbred horse-racing meet is also very abbreviated compared to earlier years, only 2 or 3 days per week during the late spring, summer and early autumn months. Harness races take over in the later fall and winter, again with only two or three days per week.

• So, horse racing was a bigger draw during that time, as it was almost the only legal form of gambling in most areas. This is compared to earlier years, where horses ran most days of the week during a meet, with each of the several meets lasting 6 weeks or so. Unfortunately (for horse and horse-racing aficionados) the growth in other gambling venues and related opportunities has tended to make horse-racing fade into the background.

• But people still love an event, especially one that gives them an opportunity to dress up in fancy clothes, should that be their desire. Thus, the casino/racetrack was very crowded on this day. A fairly decent smattering of the people in the crowd were dressed up, in the fashion of the traditional derby event. That is to say, large showy hats, dresses and skirts (of varying length) for the women and somewhat dapper hats and vests for the men, along with the odd bolo tie. I thought it was kind of cool, especially on the distaff side, to use horse-racing parlance.

• As for myself, I did have on a white button-up shirt, with dark blue corduroy pants and black leather shoes. In modern times that might be thought of as a bit dressy, I don’t know. I mostly wanted the white button-up shirt for the heat (white reflects heat and the shirt was also short-sleeved). The pants and shoes just went along with that.

• We got to the track fairly early – at about 2:00 in the afternoon. The local race card wasn’t scheduled to start until 4:30, so there was plenty of time to kill.

• The first signs of how busy it would be was the presence of parking attendants to wave cars into the correct part of the parking lot. This was not normally the procedure; one could generally find parking quite easily. We half expected to be charged for parking, but somewhat surprisingly, this did not occur. I was reminded of a visit to Spruce Meadows in Calgary, which featured a similar platoon of parking attendants. Of course, that was for show-jumping, rather than racing.

• The next things to notice were signs announcing a $30 per person admission to the race-track grounds, which is extremely steep, compared to my experience at race-tracks in the past. But, there were plenty of people lined up to give them their money.

• As far as we were concerned, that hardly seemed like a good idea, so we gave it a pass. We headed for the casino, which is attached to the track (or perhaps one might say the track is attached to the casino). This area was plenty busy as well, with the betting section for the horse players mostly occupied. That being so, we took up some seats in a nearby section of the casino, thankfully not far from the horse-racing betting machines and racing cashier.

• This was a pretty good spot, with some nice seating, either sit down tables or bar-stool type high tables. So, settled down on to some chairs at a high table, bought a few beers and waited to see how things would develop.

• As noted above, the casino was already crowded, with a good proportion of the patrons dressed for the races. I don’t know if they were going back into the racetrack grounds later in the day, or had just decided to skip the $30 admission for the privilege of standing in the hot sun for hours. As far as I could ascertain from when we walked by the track, on the way to the casino, there wasn’t actually a lot of seating outside, in the racetrack grounds proper. That’s not like the old track, which had a capacious grand-stand and plenty of space along along the ground and near the rail, as well as a somewhat toney clubhouse. On big days it might also have corporate seating set up in the infield.

• With a long day ahead of us, we perused the off-track handicapping possibilities. My son and I settled on Del Mar, a track not far from San Diego California. Brother Craig paid some attention to that, as well as putting money down on races at some other tracks, such as the harness races at Woodbine and the thoroughbred races at the local track, once they eventually got going.

• Generally speaking, our betting went well. Scott and I suffered a few losses, but each of us picked up a healthy purse on a couple of quinellas, later in the card. That put us well over the top for the day. With reasonable money management, we kept things that way.

• I noted a young woman coming back from watching one of the races. She had that happy aura of someone who just won a race. Shortly thereafter, I was amused to see Scott score a decent win. It was interesting to see how winning some money pleased Scott, as he also came back beaming from winning his bet. That said, he wasn’t unduly demonstrative, avoiding the yelling and cursing at the horses, that some patrons enjoy while observing the race. He makes good money at work, so that wasn’t really the issue. But there is something very pleasing about winning a bet, especially one that you put some serious handicapping effort into.

• There were some folks who were getting quite excited while watching the races, oscillating between joy and disappointment, depending on what position their horse was at, any any given point in the race. I am reminded of a famous football coach, who discouraged too much unrestrained emotion from players who spiked the ball in the end-zone. He said “you should act like it’s not the first time you’ve been there.” I tend to go along with that, as does Craig and now, Scott too, apparently. I guess it is a family trait. Mind you, it would be inhuman not to show some emotion after winning (or losing). The trick is, to maintain balance and perspective.

• Both Scott and I are very analytical by nature, as well as highly educated in math and statistics (he has a PhD in physics, I am math/physics with much post-grad coursework in statistics). So, we do lean towards quite numbers-oriented handicapping. Craig does a little of this as well, but also relies on his instincts and hunches regarding underhanded odds manipulations, that may or may not go on behind the scenes.

• Scott’s mom (my wife) had also given him some cash to bet for her, so he was playing for the both of them. I think she did this more out of a desire to play some part in the events, even if from afar. But I think it pleased Scott to know that he was making some play-money for her.

• As I said, it was very crowded in the casino and got more crowded as the day went on. That necessitated a lot of quick moves to avoid bumping into people, as one walked back and forth between our table and the betting machines in the adjoining section of the casino. But, that all turned out ok. People, including myself, were on their best behaviour. It is interesting what a bit of dressing up will do, in that respect.

• It also meant heading into the racing section of the casino, to watch the race on one of the big screens, as our section’s TV screens were dominated by baseball and golf. While I was waiting to see how my horses did after one race, a nice middle-aged lady struck up a conversation. I guess I must have had some of that happy aura going on as well, since my picks had come in, though a jockey’s inquiry made the wait a little nerve-wracking.

• While watching another race, I noticed an unclaimed pencil on an empty table. Scott had neglected to take a pen or pencil, so I scooped it up for him. Then, a fellow came back, and looked at the table, glancing around with a quizzical expression. I guess I must have unknowingly filched his five-cent pencil. Well, so be it, I thought, as I walked back to our section of the casino. He should have taken better care of his valuables, especially five-cent pencils, which can be pretty damn handy at the track. Besides, he could pick up another one, at one of the Sport-Select terminals in the casino.

• After a while, the local races began. The second race was interesting. It wasn’t one of the feature races, but rather a cheap claiming race, but an unusually long one, a mile and five-eighths. The winner ran wire to wire (led all the way). At one point, it seemed as if it was tiring and would be beaten, but it dug in and called up some reserves of energy, finally winning going away, as they say. It was a very impressive performance.

• We didn’t actually stay for the Derby, but Craig did make a bet on the race, parlaying a bunch of other wins. Unusually for him, he bet to win, and his horse did come in first, paying $5.90 to win, which is a pretty good price, since it was the favorite.  He had bet a fair bit on the race, so he did ok, it put him over for the day, I think.

• So, we left early in the evening, having all finished the day in the black (though Craig didn’t know it yet). Scott even won some money for his mom, so all in all, a good day at the races

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  And, I suppose I should try to flog a book, so here's a short story with a horse-racing aspect to it:
  

  A Dark Horse

  In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil.  Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

  The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.
  

  U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  Spain:https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

  Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

  
  

  Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

  (BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

  A Dark Horse

  Every gambler is bound to run out of luck eventually, right?
  
  By far my favourite type of horror is psychological horror. I was quite pleased with how Mr. Olausen frightened his audience without spilling a single drop of blood or so much as hinting at anything gory. He knew exactly what hints to drop for us that made us deliciously dread the next scene simply by throwing out hints about who or what the dark horse might actually represent. This is the kind of stuff I love getting scared by, especially as Halloween approaches.
  
  It would have been helpful to have more character development in this short story. While I certainly wouldn’t expect to see as much time spent on this as I would for a full-length novel, I did have trouble connecting to the main characters due to how little I knew about them and how much their personalities seemed to remain the same no matter what happened to them. If not for this issue, I would have felt comfortable choosing a much higher rating as the plot itself was well done.
  
  I must admit to not knowing much about gambling at all, so I appreciated the brief explanations the narrator shared about how placing bets works and why some people have so much trouble walking away from a bet. While I will leave it up to experts on these topics to say how accurate everything was, I did enjoy learning more about the main character’s addiction and what he hoped to gain from betting on just one more game or race. It gave me a stronger sense of empathy for folks in his position.
  
  A Dark Horse – A Gothic Tale was a deliciously chilling story for the Halloween season and beyond.

   

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