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Wednesday, 5 August 2026

Race Track Diary, Entry Number 38 – Billy Budd’s (July 13, 2026)

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

Thirty-Eight

38 – Billy Budd’s (July 13, 2026)

Introduction

This blog and some following blogs are sections from an informal diary of “visits to the race-track” at a particular time and place, by a person who has followed the races with varying levels of participation over a long period. These relate primarily to some visits to the track and/or off-track betting venues in the 2025 period and onward. They contain observations about the activity, both specific and general. Although these remarks are personal, they also reflect general cultural and historical trends, as they have impacted horse-racing, wagering and culture in general.

The setting is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (population of about one million plus). However, I imagine that the observations would apply to many places in the world, as they are a reflection of how changing trends in technology, globalization and culture in general have affected this ancient and honourable activity of horse-racing.

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

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38 – Billy Budd’s (July 13, 2026)
- This visit was on a Monday, as rainfall on Saturday had created difficult driving conditions. Monday tends to be a very slow day for many activities and it was the same for horse-races on this day. That meant the horse-racing section was nearly empty, as was the pub area.
- Monday is also a day where the purses are rather low and a lot of the races are confined to younger horses, 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds. Thus, the horses did not have very long track records, so I assumed that a system that relied on past performance data was likely to be disadvantaged.
- I had come up with a new predictive scoring method, that ranked horses based on past win percentage and past return on investment. This was an alternative to my current system, which used data on generally good betting situations, picking out horses in each race that fit the relevant criteria. It had done reasonably well, but I thought a more fine-grained method might identify even more possibilities. Of course, that creates the possibility of too many choices and subsequent indecision. In the stats game we call that “paralysis by analysis”.
- Here is an example of the general idea (picked at random and is actually from July 11). The morning line for each horse is along the x-axis and the predicted win likelihood is along the y-axis. The number beside each square marker is the horse’s number in the program. In this example, my prediction and the morning line are in agreement that the #5 horse should win, though the morning line odds for the #7 is tied with the #5. My system has the #7 coming in second. Both the morning line and my system predict that the #1 horse will show.
- For this race my picks and the morning line are in rather close agreement. For the stats people out there the R-square is 0.9, which is very high for such a model. Needless to say, that doesn’t happen all the time (or even very much of the time).
- In the actual race (race 4, July 11, 2026), the finish was 6,4,1, while the model predicted 5,7,1 and the racetrack touts’ morning line was also 5,7,1 (or 7,5,1 due to the tie). So, we both predicted the show horse. That’s awesome, ha ha! Ok, the system needs work.
- Would would happen today? Would the new system work better? Or was the old system good enough? There was nothing to do, but test these theories.
- I should note that the systems were designed for the harness races, so I will focus on them. The ideas should translate to the thoroughbreds, more or less. But Monday is a rather quiet day for thoroughbreds and getting the necessary information to analyze them is more difficult than for the bucket-pullers.
- So, here are the results for Woodbine/Mohawk harness races:
  - In Race #1, I bet #6 to win, based on my Win Pct technique. Unfortunately, it came in second, paying over $7 to place, which is a pretty good price for a place ticket. The #4 horse won with a nice stretch run, paying $66 to win. As it happened, my ROI system picked it to win, but the odds scared me off. Too bad. It was a good lesson, though. A system that focuses on ROI, and thus will pick fewer winners, but those it does pick correctly will pay more, takes a lot of patience and dare I say it, courage. It turned out to be the only winner that the ROI system picked that day, but a $66 winner is worth waiting for.
  - In Race #2 I stepped down to a show bet on the #3 horse, which ranked first in one system and had nice odds. It actually came in second, and paid $4.10 for show (its win odds were 11 to 1). So, that was ok.
  - In Race #3, I bet the #4 horse to show. The systems didn’t pick it to be in the money, but they did show it to be competitive and it went off at 22 to 1. However it lost, coming in 6^th.
  - In Race #4, both systems rated the #7 horse highly, so I put show money on it, as it was going off at 7 to 1. It led throughout most of the race, but was soundly beaten in the stretch.
  - In Race #5, I bet another long odds horse (8 to 1), the #9, to show. It looked to be competitive and it was, but not competitive enough, coming in fourth.
  - In Race #6, the #7 horse was highly rated by both systems, and went off at very good odds of 6 to 1. So I bet it, again to show. However, it didn’t show any interest during the race, starting off in 8^th place and ending up in 6^th.
  - The same was true of Race 7, where my #6 horse did nothing, coming in dead last.
  - In Race 8, I bet on a second-favourite, the #6. It started out well, but seemed to get boxed and came in sixth, so that was all she wrote.
  - In Race 9, I took the #8 horse. It had high ratings in both systems and went off at good odds of 9 to 1. But this one also finished out-of-the-money.
  - Finally, in Race 10, I took the #9 to show at 27 to 1 odds. It did nothing.
- So, there you go, kind of a wipe-out day, losing 9 of 10 bets, though the one successful bet paid pretty well. These systems weren’t just doing it today.
- I suppose that my conclusion is that they had me chasing long-shots and that didn’t pay off, at least on this day. Had I stuck with the highly-ranked horses that the system picked based on win pct, I would have won 6 out of 10 place bets. However, this kind of reasoning can be quite deceptive. Using a post-hoc analysis (i.e. after the fact reasoning) will usually look good, since you notice the successes and ignore the failures.
- Another issue is that using systems that include a lot of variables can reduce the strength of the signal you need to make good bets, via a lot of random non-useful information being present.
- Was it a problem with the system(s), or a problem with using it on that particular day? The system was trained on Saturday cards, which tend to have higher-priced races and more mature horses than Mondays. Maybe it just didn’t generalize to Monday cards? Or perhaps it was just one of those test runs of a stochastic system that randomly underperformed during that particular trial.
- Having said all that, I haven’t really had the time to write the programming necessary to run some long-term tests, so I haven’t given up on the new systems, just put them on the shelf until later.
- On a completely different subject, I missed the presence of other horse-players. A good part of the enjoyment of the races is people-watching and idle chit-chat. A Monday race-day misses out on that, compared to Saturday. Damon Runyon would have had a lot less to write about, had his horse-playing been confined to these quiet days (if you like horses, you must read Damon Runyon’s stuff, easy to get on Amazon).This visit was on a Monday, as rainfall on Saturday had created difficult driving conditions. Monday tends to be a very slow day for many activities and it was the same for horse-races on this day. That meant the horse-racing section was nearly empty, as was the pub area.
  
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And here are some books you might like:

Hiking the Wild North Shore of Lake

Superior

The north shore of Lake Superior is wild and beautiful. It is also quite sparsely populated, so a hiking trip (or other adventure) will truly give you chance to get away from it all, and back to nature in its full glory.

Lake Superior is big – it is the largest of the North American Great Lakes, and one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. One could spend years exploring the area, and still have barely touched the possibilities.

This account focuses on a multi-day backpacking trip in Pukaskwa National Park, some light canoeing in White Lake Provincial Park, and some day-hiking in the Thunder Bay area.

What follows is a journal of some of the highlights of a trip to Northern Ontario in the summer of 1998. That gives the trip a bit of a historical flavor, but things don’t change very quickly in the wild country of the true north, so it will also give the reader a good idea of what to expect during their own exploration of the north shore.

You can purchase it for 99 cents U.S., equivalent price in other currencies. Alternatively, keep your eyes open for a free promotions, which occur periodically. Or, get it with Kindle Unlimited.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F9TV4C8
U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F9TV4C8
Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07F9TV4C8

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07F9TV4C8

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B074LZDQ9F
Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07F9TV4C8
Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07F9TV4C8
Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07F9TV4C8
India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07F9TV4C8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here’s an account of some road trips in south-western Alberta:

A Selection of Back-Road Trips Around

Southwest Alberta

There are two main aspects to a road trip: the journey and the destination. Sometimes the trip is all about the journey, sometimes it’s all about the destination. Usually it is a little of both.

This collection of back-roads journeys feature a little bit of both of these aspects. Some accounts are more about the ‘journey’, such as a road trip on scenic Highway 22. Others are more about the ‘destination’, such as the show-jumping at Spruce Meadows. I hope you will enjoy reading some of these accounts and maybe give them a spin for yourself.

Southwest 1 – A Road Trip on Scenic Highway 22

Southwest 2 – The Equestrian Competitions at Spruce Meadows (Calgary)

Southwest 3 – The Bar U Ranch, south of Long View

Southwest 4 – Kananaskis Country

Southwest 5 – Blackfoot Crossing

Southwest 6 – Back-roads, from the Prairies to the Foothills: Brazeau Dam Trip

Southwest 7 – A Back-roads Trip to Hinton and the Forestry Trunk Roads

The reader may wonder “what about the Ice-fields Parkway?” or “where is a visit to Banff?” I would answer, that these famous destinations are covered very nicely by other books. This account is meant to focus on some less travelled areas, thus the “back-roads” descriptor.

I should note that the other three quadrants of Alberta also have a lot of interesting back-roads journeys, but those are material for some other books which will be published in due time.

Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon U.K: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0DCMJP47G

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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.

Wednesday, 29 July 2026

Race Track Diary, Entry Number 36 – Billy Budd’s (June 27, 2026)

36 – Billy Budd’s (June 27, 2026)

Introduction

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

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36 – Billy Budd’s (June 27, 2026)
- We had a two-week break in our schedule, due to rain. On the previous Saturday, well over 100 mm of rain fell on the city of Edmonton. Actually, at my location, it was more like 1800 mm over a three-day period. That’s about 7 inches – I know this to be a fact, as one of the empty receptacles in the back yard had 7 inches in the well when I checked.
- This meant driving was somewhat unpredictable, as there are some underpasses along the way that can flood temporarily, stalling a vehicle, during such a deluge. Craig preferred to not take that risk. Plus, I had some pooling of water around my house, which is never a good thing, as it might get into the basement somehow. I preferred not to take that risk. Thus, I had to keep a small pump going for most the day, which necessitating babysitting that machine.
- Ironically, June 21 was the summer solstice and it was also Father’s Day. The big sun in the sky took a pass on the day, and my golf round with my son also had to be put off, as did my weekly racetrack outing.
- So, by June 27 my brother and I were ready for some horse races. But new rain was threatening, so we cut the day a bit short, and came late. That meant only a few thoroughbred races at Woodbine remaining, along with a mostly full card for the bucket-pullers at Woodbine/Mohawk.
- The waitress seemed happy to see us regulars back, which was nice. They are a good bunch, especially if you make a habit of leaving a respectable tip.
- A little later on:
  - Customer: I thought I saw you here last night.
  - Waitress: You did. I had the late shift until 1:30 a.m.. Then I came in at 10:00 a.m. this morning.
  - Customer: That’s some serious double-shifting.
  - Waitress: Not that I wanted to get up and go to work this morning, but ya gotta make a livin’.
- Later still:
  - Waitress (to the small crowd): What can we turn off to free up a screen?
  - Customers: Aqueduct is over.
  - Waitress (after freeing up a scree) to a customer: What do you want to watch?
  - Customer: Porn. Just kidding. (a bit sheepishly, names a track).
- Given the late start, a lot of people had drifted away from the horseracing screens by now. That left mostly harness-racing stalwarts, such as the Chinese fellow who had tipped me to Renegade in the Derby. He seemed to play any of a number of tracks, more or less simultaneously, which must require a great deal of focus.
- That said, there were some thoroughbred tracks beginning their day, that were located in the far west of the continent (e.g. Los Alamitos, Emerald Downs). But, I didn’t bother with any of them, in order to key in on the buckets of Woodbine/Mohawk.
- Having some time to kill, however, I decided to play a thoroughbred race at Woodbine (the regular Woodbine, not Woodbine/Mohawk).
  - My strategy was to watch for any big odds drop which might occur and make a bet on that horse.
  - And there was such a horse, in the 11^th and final race. The #9 horse opened the wagering at 21 to 1 and eventually dropped to about 10 to 1 by near-race-time.
  - So, I hopped to the betting machines and put down some money on that horse. I decided that I might as well play it safe and put a token show bet down.
  - And, just like that, the horse came in third, paying $5.40 for each $2 bet.
- By about then, the harness-races started at Woodbine/Mohawk, so here we go:
  - For Race #1, I was deliberating between the #1 and #7 horses. Between that and waiting to see what my thoroughbred bet would pay, I was shut out. The #7 came in second. Would I have bet it? Possibly; the odds on the #1 had dropped rather low by post-time, while the #7 odds were very tempting. I guess I will never know.
  - In Race #2, I was also shut out, but just barely. Which was too bad, as I was definitely intending to bet the #4 horse, which won and paid $4.30. However, Craig and I were alive to a Win-3, so there was still hope.
  - By Race #3 I was determined to not be shut out. The #6 horse was looking quite good, having some nice indicators that correlated with long-shot wins, as well as excellent odds. Thus, I bet it to place. As it turned out, it won by a nose, beating a less-than-even-money favourite. It paid $27.20 to win and $7.80 to place. It was too bad about missing out on the win ticket, but an 8 dollar place bet is none-too shabby, so I ain’t complaining.
  - In the 4^th Race, I threw down another show bet on the #5 horse, a 10 to 1 long-shot. Again, it had a couple of indicators that correlated with decent-odds wins. This time my horse didn’t win, but it did hang on gamely for third, paying $6.80 to show.
    - I should note that I had intended to bet the #6 to win, but had accidentally picked the show option on the betting screen, so I decided to go on the #5 horse instead. I guess you could call that racing luck.
    - My racing colleague, the Chinese fellow, liked the #9. He asked me what I thought of it. I told him that my numbers said that it had a good closing kick. He took my advice and picked up a pretty decent exactor, using the #9 on top.
    - Later he gave me some advice for the Breeders’ Cup, later in the year: Magnitude, usually ridden by Ortez. I will keep a lookout for that.
  - In the 5^th Race, I thought I might as well stick with the long-shot show bet strategy. I bet the #10 horse to show, which had nearly 20 to 1 odds. This time it didn’t work, though the horse did have a decent finishing kick. Unfortunately, that kick came to late to close the gap.
  - For the 6^th Race, I stuck with another show bet, on the #8. This time, I was being silly, as the horse went off at a little over 2 to 1. It paid back the bet, with a little (very little) to spare. So it goes.
  - Next was the Race 7, featuring another appearance by last year’s super-horse Beau Jangles.
    - He had run up 12 straight wins and nearly $2 million in earnings, as a 2-year-old. However, his last couple of starts as a 3-year-old had been less than sterling, amounting to a couple of third place finishes at extremely low odds. This has, as they used to say, besmirched his Escutcheon.
    - Is he less than 100% healthy? Or is it a matter that he developed faster than most 2-year-old horses, but they have now caught up with him, perhaps even surpassed him?
    - Or, extremely improbably, is his form being darkened for a fantastic betting coup in the future? That seems unlikely, as one of his losses was in a million dollar race. Who, in their right mind, would throw a million-dollar purse?
    - So, was this race to be the start of the Beau Jangles Redemption Tour? Or would the results of the past two races be repeated?
    - I won’t keep the reader in suspense. It was not the beginning of a Redemption Tour. Beau Jangles finished way back, in fifth place, after going off at 1 to 10 odds.
    - That means a lot of disappointed bettors. I wasn’t one of them, however. I chose the #7 horse (Borderline Mobby), a horse that had lost to Beau Jangles several times in the past. He won this race by a head, over another horse who was not named Beau Jangles.
    - I had bet him to place, but because of the loss by a 1 to 10 horse (Beau Jangles), the betting pools were rather strange. It turned out that place paid more ($23.30) than win ($14.70). And the actual second-place horse paid $78.00 per $2 bet!
    - So, rather than catching a share of a rather sad place ticket, which would have been the case if Beau Jangles had won, I picked up a very nice place ticket.
    - So goes the races. You never can tell and sometimes you get lucky.
  - After all this good fortune, it only made sense that I would come back to Earth. The 8^th Race was a loss, after taking a shot on the good old #6 horse.
  - The 9^th Race was a bit better. I had thrown another show ticket on another #6 horse, this time going off at 8 to 1 odds. It actually placed and paid $8.10. However the show ticket paid a measly $2.60, far below expectation (one might expect at least even money, probably a bit more). But, having profited by a weird betting pool, it made no sense to get too upset when the inverse event happened. That too is racing.
  - For Race 10, I went back to the #6 horse, which finished out of the money.
- In summary: I won 1 race out of 1 at the thoroughbreds, for a decent profit (nearly tripled my money, ha ha). I won 5 races out of 8 on the harness races (again for about two and a half times my stake).
- On the Road with Bronco Billy

Sit back and go on a ten day trucking trip in a big rig, through western North America, from Alberta to Texas, and back again. Explore the countryside, learn some trucking lingo, and observe the shifting cultural norms across this great continent.

Amazon U.S.: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK

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=======================================================

What follows is an account of a ten day journey through western North America during a working trip, delivering lumber from Edmonton Alberta to Dallas Texas, and returning with oilfield equipment. The writer had the opportunity to accompany a friend who is a professional truck driver, which he eagerly accepted. He works as a statistician for the University of Alberta, and is therefore is generally confined to desk, chair, and computer. The chance to see the world from the cab of a truck, and be immersed in the truck driving culture was intriguing. In early May 1997 they hit the road.

Some time has passed since this journal was written and many things have changed since the late 1990’s. That renders the journey as not just a geographical one, but also a historical account, which I think only increases its interest.

We were fortunate to have an eventful trip - a mechanical breakdown, a near miss from a tornado, and a large-scale flood were among these events. But even without these turns of fate, the drama of the landscape, the close-up view of the trucking lifestyle, and the opportunity to observe the cultural habits of a wide swath of western North America would have been sufficient to fill up an interesting journal.

The travelogue is about 20,000 words, about 60 to 90 minutes of reading, at typical reading speeds.

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And here’s an account of some road trips in south-western Alberta:

A Selection of Back-Road Trips Around

Southwest Alberta

There are two main aspects to a road trip: the journey and the destination. Sometimes the trip is all about the journey, sometimes it’s all about the destination. Usually it is a little of both.

Southwest 1 – A Road Trip on Scenic Highway 22

Southwest 2 – The Equestrian Competitions at Spruce Meadows (Calgary)

Southwest 3 – The Bar U Ranch, south of Long View

Southwest 4 – Kananaskis Country

Southwest 5 – Blackfoot Crossing

Southwest 6 – Back-roads, from the Prairies to the Foothills: Brazeau Dam Trip

Southwest 7 – A Back-roads Trip to Hinton and the Forestry Trunk Roads

I should note that the other three quadrants of Alberta also have a lot of interesting back-roads journeys, but those are material for some other books which will be published in due time.

Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon U.K: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0DCMJP47G

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Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0DCMJP47G

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A Selection of Back-Road Trips Around

Southeast Alberta

There are two main aspects to a road trip: the journey and the destination. Sometimes the trip is all about the journey, sometimes it’s all about the destination. Usually it is a little of both.

This collection of back-roads journeys feature a little bit of both of these aspects. Some accounts are more about the ‘journey’, such as Drumheller, via the Backroads of Central Alberta. Others are more about the ‘destination’, such as the Viking Ribstones. The collection even includes a train trip, on the historic Alberta Prairie Railroad, which strictly speaking isn't a back-road trip but rather a back rail-road trip. I hope you will enjoy reading some of these accounts and maybe give them a spin for yourself.

Southeast 1 – Stettler Train Trip – Living History on the Alberta Prairie Railway

Southeast 2 – Viking Rib Stones – Indigenous Heritage and Tradition

Southeast 3 – Drumheller, via the Backroads of Central Alberta

Southeast 4 – Cypress Hills – An Island on the Prairie that Escaped the Ice Age

Southeast 5 – On the Road with Bronco Billy, A Trucking Journal – Southern Alberta Section

Southeast 6 – A Back-road Trip to Bittern Lake and Lake Miquelon Provincial Park

Southeast 7 – A Back-roads Trip to Rochon Sands, Buffalo Lake Provincial Park

The reader may wonder “what about the Tyrell Dinosaur Fossil Museum?” or “where is a visit to the Calgary Stampede?” I would answer, that these famous destinations are covered very nicely by other books. This account is meant to focus on some less travelled areas, thus the “back-roads” descriptor.

I should note that Southwest and Northern Alberta also have a lot of interesting back-roads journeys, but that is material for some other books. The southwest collection is available now on Amazon, the northern excursions will be published in due course.

Just $1.99 on Amazon, or free if you have Kindle Unlimited. It is also periodically on free promotion.

Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCWCCTKC

Amazon U.K: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DCWCCTKC

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DCWCCTKC

Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DCWCCTKC

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Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0DCWCCTKC

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Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0DCWCCTKC

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0DCWCCTKC

Monday, 8 June 2026

Race Track Diary, Entry Number 28 – Billy Budd’s (April 11, 2026)

Race Track Diary, Entry Number Twenty-Eight

28 – Billy Budd’s (April 11, 2026)

Introduction

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

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28 – Century Mile, Billy Budd’s (April 11, 2026)
- It was a pleasant Saturday afternoon, which had people eager to get out of the house. In addition, there was an afternoon hockey game, with the Oilers playing the L.A. Kings. The season was drawing to a close, so all of these games were now significant in terms of who gets into the playoffs and where they place.
- Thus, Budd’s was very busy. Its parking lot is not huge, which meant that we couldn’t find a spot. So Craig decided to carry on to try someplace else. That turned out to be Century Mile, the actual racetrack, just outside of the city, near the international airport.
- The route out to Century Mile requires taking a busy, high-speed highway. At one point, outside of the city, there was a stopped car in the right-hand lane, which we had to quickly avoid, as we were also in that lane. While passing that car, we noted that it had stopped to let a goose on the road cross. It wasn’t obvious why the goose was on the highway – it clearly was not going to be able to cross three or four lanes of high-speed traffic on foot. But nonetheless, there it was and there was the stopped car, considerately letting the goose amble along the pavement, but dangerously stopped in the right hand lane of a high-speed roadway (not the shoulder).
- This had Craig in a bit of a lather, as it was admittedly a rather dangerous situation. It put him in mind of an occasion, many years earlier, when he had hit a bear on the highway outside of Banff. Same situation – someone had stopped to gawk at the bear, blocking his view. The bear then wandered into his lane and bam! Fortunately Craig wasn’t hurt and the car was only lightly damaged. However, you couldn’t say that about the bear.
- At any rate, this experience had made quite the impression on both him and on the bear. So, when he sees someone stopping for a goose on a high-speed busy highway, he gets rather annoyed.
- When I told the story to my wife, I remarked that I couldn’t understand why the goose was so nonchalant about strolling on the highway. Usually animals on the road are quick to move aside. She replied that "geese are not known for their intelligence". Quite right, it was the archetypal silly goose.
- By the strangest of coincidences, my son and I saw another goose doing the same thing in the Safeway parking lot the next day, while shopping. The goose was being very oblivious there as well, though that was more understandable in a low-speed parking lot. In that case a car was also stopped for a goose, but it was a rather small car, so a collision with a goose might have harmed the car more than the goose.
- Anyway, enough about geese, let’s get back to the horses. Actually, there were no horses running yet at Century Mile, so we would just be attending the racetrack simulcast section of the casino.
- Even that was pretty crowded, so we ended up sitting in an adjacent room. It had the virtue of more comfortable seating than the horseracing section, as well as having the hockey game on several big screens. It was a really good game, in my opinion, so I have to confess that my interest was focussed far more on that, than on the horses.
- The other problem was that Santa Anita was not running this day. It had become my go-to Thoroughbred track, so that was a disappointment.
- I did get a program for Keeneland, in Kentucky, but it was already the 7^th race by the time we arrived, so that wasn’t great.
- I did work out my numbers for the remaining races, but I didn’t feel good about it, so I skipped all but one race. I lost that one, and I would have lost all the others as well, had I bet them.
- There is something about eastern tracks (except Woodbine) that just doesn’t connect for me and my system. I recall Andrew Beyers saying that western tracks seemed to work better for him too, maybe because the surface is firmer in the dryer climates. I suppose that is as good an explanation as any.
- As if Keeneland wasn’t bad enough, the Oilers lost the hockey game 1 to 0. So, it seemed like this place had bad karma today, so I persuaded Craig that we should go back to Budd’s and see how crowded it was now that the hockey game was over. So we did that.
- This was much better, I thought, as we took up some prime seating at Budd’s. Mind you, it was rather sparsely attended by now, which was too bad, as I find people-watching to be quite interesting at the track or the OTB. However, horses come first.
- So, we buckled down to pick the bucket-pullers at Woodbine/Mohawk, where I was fortunate enough to experience the ‘magic hour’.
  - Race 3 was just ready to go off when we sat down. Unfortunately I was a little late in going to the machines to bet, so I was shut out. That was too bad, as it paid off at 5 to 2.
  - I was a little peckish for beer and French fries by then, so I decided to bet conservatively on Race 4. This was in keeping with my rule to have no alcohol until I had won a race. I call this a beer-bet. So, cheating slightly, I bet show on the 7, which had several good indicators, based on my statistical analysis. It won easily, paying 3 to 1. Naturally, the show ticket paid considerably less (2.50). I guess a lot of people wanted to win a beer-bet.
  - Race 5 was one of those Woodbine harness-racing specials, where there is a huge odds drop from morning line to final odds. I knew it wouldn’t pay much, but for a laugh I bet it to win. It won, paying a whopping 2.70 to win.
  - For Race 6 I bet the #6, which had several good indicators. It won handily, going wire-to-wire (though that was not its usual running style). I finally got one that paid nicely, at 6.60 to win.
  - That was to be end of the magic hour, where every bet came in just as it should. Having said that, at least one more bet was to pay off, as were some exotics, though all paid very little.
  - Race 7 was a funny one. The #3 horse was bet down to extremely low odds, though it made no sense to me. Given that, I decided to bet on a long-shot to show. The favorite did win, for 2.70 and a long-shot did come in second at 70 to 1 odds (paying 28.50 to place), though it wasn’t my longshot, which finished down the track.
  - Race 8 was similar. The favorite was bet way down, as was the second favorite. Thus, I took a flyer on a long-shot show bet again. A long-shot did come in to show, though not the long-shot that I bet. At the same time, a Win-3 that Craig and I had bet came in, paying back its investment, with a little to spare.
  - Race 9 carried on the trend from Race 7 and 8. The favorite was bet way down (3 to 10), though the second favorite remained at 3 to 1 at race time. They finished in that order, with the favorite paying 2.50 to win and the second favorite paying 2.60 to place. I had thrown another long-shot show bet on the race, which came in third, but only paid 2.30 to show. It went off at 11 to 1, so it seemed incredible that it would pay so little to show. I guess it was the big favorite in the show pool. With non-win bets, you can never know, unless you are at the track and can watch the tote board. Which, of course, you can’t do at OTB.
  - Hilariously enough, Craig and I hit the Superfecta on the 9^th race. That requires picking the first four finishers, in the right order. Even with two favorites in Win and Place, you would think it would pay off well, since the other two horses had high odds. But it was not to be, paying off only 20 dollars on each 1 dollar bet. After all was said and done, it paid off the investment with a small profit.
  - That was it for the betting, at least for me. The 10^th race was all long-shots, but none of them were pickable by my logic, so I skipped it.
- That was it for this episode. In summary, it was a slightly profitable day, though with winning four out of seven bets, one might have expected more. To be fair, some of those were show bets and those paid off surprisingly poorly. I lost my one thoroughbred bet and won 4 out of 6 harness bets.

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And here are a couple of short books you might like.

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

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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

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And here’s an account of some road trips in south-western Alberta:

A Selection of Back-Road Trips Around Southwest Alberta

There are two main aspects to a road trip: the journey and the destination. Sometimes the trip is all about the journey, sometimes it’s all about the destination. Usually it is a little of both.

Southwest 1 – A Road Trip on Scenic Highway 22

Southwest 2 – The Equestrian Competitions at Spruce Meadows (Calgary)

Southwest 3 – The Bar U Ranch, south of Long View

Southwest 4 – Kananaskis Country

Southwest 5 – Blackfoot Crossing

Southwest 6 – Back-roads, from the Prairies to the Foothills: Brazeau Dam Trip

Southwest 7 – A Back-roads Trip to Hinton and the Forestry Trunk Roads

I should note that the other three quadrants of Alberta also have a lot of interesting back-roads journeys, but those are material for some other books which will be published in due time.

Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon U.K: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DCMJP47G

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