Race
Track Diary, Entry Number Eight
Century Mile Racetrack (August 23, 2025)
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.
Publisher’s note: A similar account was given earlier in the
year. This is a slightly rewritten version, since I wanted to slip
it into the proper calendar order in the blog. I have also included some photos from an earlier Derby Day.
8 – Century Mile 5 (August 23, 2025)
This
is the fifth visit to Century Mile Racetrack, near the airport.
My brother Craig had been doing some rehab, due to some earlier medical
issues, so there was a substantial break between visits to the horse-races. However, he was now able to attend events away from his
house again, so we decided to hit the track.
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, at 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 the horses at that
track (though, actually it went to the owners, jockeys, trainers,
the track and the government). Now, the money is split among many
tracks. I don’t know the actual details of how that is done, but
it certainly must have a substantial effect on the handles of the
smaller, less prestigious tracks around North America.
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. Local harness races take over in
the later fall and winter seasons, though again running on only two
or three days per week. 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.
Horse racing was a bigger draw during that time,
as it was almost the only legal form of gambling in most areas.
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 Derby Day, and 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 (i.e. females), to use
horse-racing parlance.
As for myself, I did have on a white buttoned
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, since
it was quite hot on this Derby Day (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. By the way,
show-jumping (where horse and rider run an obstacle course) is quite
interesting, but they don’t allow betting on it.
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, anyway.
As far as we were concerned, that was a bit
much, so we gave it a pass. That’s too bad, as I did want to see
the track itself, but the experience was hardly worth 30 bucks.
Instead, 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 bar-stools 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 privilege of
standing in the hot sun for hours at $30 a pop. As far as I could
ascertain when walking by the track entrance, on the way to the
casino, there wasn’t actually a lot of seating outside, which is
to say in the racetrack grounds proper. That’s not like the old
Northlands track, which had a capacious grand-stand and plenty of
space along along the ground and near the rail, as well as a
somewhat tony clubhouse. On big days such as the Derby, it might
also have had 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 noticed a young woman coming back from
watching one of the races. She had that happy aura of someone who
had 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 excited yelling and desperate cursing at the horses
that some patrons enjoy (or not) while observing the race. Scott
makes good money at work, so that scoring some extra dough didn’t
really matter. There is just something very pleasing about winning
a bet, especially one that you put some serious handicapping effort
into. It is affirming, maybe about your intelligence or maybe just
about being a lucky person, momentarily Touched by the Racing Gods,
so to speak.
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 being highly educated in math and statistics (he has a
PhD in physics, I have a BSc in the same subject, supplemented by
extensive post-degree courses in statistics). Thus, 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 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 mad-money for her.
As I said, it was very crowded in the casino and
it got more crowded as the day went on. That necessitated a lot of
quick movements 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 behavior. It is interesting
what a bit of dressing up will do, in that respect.
It also meant heading into the horse-racing section, to watch the races on one of big screens, as our casino
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 had 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 take better care of his valuables,
especially five-cent pencils, which can be pretty damn handy at the
track. Besides, he could easily 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.
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, it was a very
good day.
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Here are some photos from an earlier Canadian Derby,
at the old Northlands site (from 2015, so exactly 10 years earlier).
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Since I am
running a book publishing blog, here is a plug for a horse-racing
oriented short story that I wrote.
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And here is a
book about my dad’s sapper unit that I wrote:
The Sappers' War: 12th Field Company Royal
Canadian Engineers, Oct 1943 to Sept 1945
What follows is a review of the history of the 12th Field Company,
Royal Canadian Engineers, primarily relating to the time that the
company was in the Italian and Northwestern European theatres during
World War II. Though the book focuses on the experiences of a
particular company of Canadian military engineers, it also discusses
some of the wider issues of the second world war and how it affected
the people wholived
through the era, civilian and military. Among those are my father (a
sapper or military engineer) and mother (a war worker in wartime
Britain and ultimately a war bride).
Thus, this is meant
to be an informal and unofficial history of the company, written by
an interested party in an effort to understand what these men went
through during this period, and how that experience affected them and
other people who lived through the war. The military aspects of the
company's history are there (e.g. training, fighting, building
bridges, detecting mines, maintaining routes), as are the cultural
factors that influenced them and their times (e.g. the movies that
they watched, the drinking they did, the many diseases they faced,
their interactions with the Italian, British and other civilians that
they lived among, their worries for the future). Some focus on life
on the British home front is also given, via the experiences of my
mother and her family.
Since many people had family and
relations that lived during this time, it is my hope that the account
will be of general interest to them, and to any that have a
particular interest in this critical interval in history. Also,
though the text relates specifically to Canadian sappers, I believe
that many of the experiences will be common to the soldiers and loved
ones of other nations who lived through the war, especially Americans
and those from Britain and the British Commonwealth.
The
primary sources of this document are the 12th Field Company War
Diaries and related orders, with some material from
The History
of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers, Volume 2 as well as
various official histories by the Department of National Defence.
Various other published sources are used as well, especially when
discussing the wider issues of the war or the army experience (e.g.
Churchill’s history of the war), or conversely when relating very
specific episodes of the war (e.g. Popski’s Private Army in late
1944). Personal accounts of my father’s or mother’s stories also
augment the narrative. I have tried to fit those in during
appropriate time periods, though some stories are more general and
have therefore don’t necessarily relate to the time period being
discussed. Nonetheless, they do help capture the essence of “being
there” during the war years.
The War Diary is a day by
day account of the primary activities of a given unit, as recorded by
personnel in the headquarters staff of that unit, and signed off by
the commander of the unit. As such, it is an official record, though
the writers often brought a bit of their own character into the
document. Naturally, as a relatively brief document it can’t hope
to capture the complexity of the individual stories of 280 or so men,
so the family lore generally has no corresponding entry in the War
Diary, though there are sometimes tantalizing hints and
near-verifications of these personal accounts.
There are a
number of other sources for the book, from official histories to
popular history books. I include quotations and references from these
works (an eclectic mix), as I believe that they also shed light on
different aspects of this period of time, and besides that, are just
interesting accounts, in and of themselves.
U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09HSXN6Q2
