36 – Billy Budd’s (June 27, 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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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 11th 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 4th 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 5th 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 6th 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 8th Race was a loss, after taking a shot on the good old #6 horse.
The 9th 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
Amazon U.K.: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon Germany: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00X2IRHSK
Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/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.
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 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
Amazon France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0DCWCCTKC
Amazon Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0DCWCCTKC
Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0DCWCCTKC
Amazon Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0DCWCCTKC
Amazon Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0DCWCCTKC
Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0DCWCCTKC
Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0DCWCCTKC
Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0DCWCCTKC
Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0DCWCCTKC
