Wednesday, 29 April 2026

Race Track Diary, Entry Number Twenty-Three 23 – Billy Budd’s (Feb 14, 2026)

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

Twenty-Three

23 – Billy Budd’s (Feb 14, 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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23 – Billy Budd’s (Feb 14, 2026)
- Once again, I entered upon the trip to the horses (via off-track betting) with a feeling of uncertainty. My winning streak had been cut short last time out – so, which way would the goddess of the streaks turn now? As it turned out, it was to be a day of some interesting luck-related events.
- The place was fairly busy (the horse part, not the pub in general) for the lunch special.
- To begin with, here is a run-down of the races at Santa Anita, the bunch that I handicap seriously.
  - We got to Budd’s in good time, with plenty of time to handicap and bet the first race. It was a maiden race for 3 year old fillies, so the horses didn’t have much in the way of past perfomance history. Nonetheless, I threw a bit of money at the 9 horse, which came in second, being nipped at the wire. Loss number one.
  - The second race was for fillies and mares, 4 years old and up. The horse my system liked went off at ridiculous odds (1 to 5) so I took a flyer on a longshot that the system liked. I was right to skip the favorite, as it came in second and paid $2.10 to place on a $2.00 bet. Frankly, it always amazes me to see a horse bet down that low. The winner paid $8.60, but only $2.40 to place, so clearly the crowd had it pegged to come in second. My long-shot ended up way way down the track, so that was another loss.
  - For the third race, my system liked the 4 horse and it went off a half-decent odds, so I put some money on it. It led for most of the race, but then got beat out towards the wire, coming in second. Another loss, but a near-run thing.
  - The system also liked the 4 horse in the fourth race. The 3 and 4 horse dueled it out in the stretch, with it looking like the 3 would overtake. But my horse really dug in to take back the lead and hang on for the win. That was nice to watch, especially as it paid off at about 5 to 1. That put me solidly into the black for the day, thus far.
  - The fifth race was a funny one. It was on the turf and included a downhill grade, in the turf course. Given those factors, I decided to skip the race. One of Beyer’s books said that turf races are not easy to pick, using primarily speed-related measures. Plus, a race-course with a downhill grade was a total mystery to me. At any rate, 2 of the three horses that my system like came in first and second, both paying good money. If such a race happens again, perhaps I will give it a chance.
  - The sixth race was another maiden race for 3-year olds. Hardly any of these horses had any record to speak of, other than workouts and one-shot races, where they did very little. Given those factors, I decided to skip that race too. My system liked the only horse that had a substantial record (how could it not?), with a string of seconds and thirds. It ran true-to-form in this race as well, coming in second, though at at decent price.
  - For the seventh race, my system had a fairly clear preference for the 4 horse. It was going off a pretty good odds, so I gave it a shot. It came in third, so another loss.
  - The 8^th race was for 4 and 5 year old maidens. Basically, these are horses that hadn’t been earning their keep, so it was tough to pick between them. About half had never even finished in the money. Given that, I skipped this race too. That turned out to be a good choice, as the win and place horses had no relevant form, under my system.
  - Like the 8^th, the 9^th was another maiden race, for 4 and 5 year olds. Like that race, the horses had little history to go on. Therefore, I skipped this race as well. Again, that turned out to be a good decision, as the winner was unpickable, by my system.
  - So, I bet 5 races, skipped 4 and won 1. However that winner paid well enough to pay for all the losses and then some. So, no complaining from me.
I mentioned earlier that it was an interesting day for luck. Here are a few examples:
- About mid-afternoon, a fellow came into the horseracing area.
  - Someone asked how he did. "Did you win?"
  - "Yes."
  - "How much was it worth?"
  - "About $12000, a superfecta."
  - I turned to my brother Craig and said "Do you think that’s true?"
  - The guy next to me turned and said: "Oh yeah, it’s true. I know him. He’s a Chinese guy, just like me."
  - "Oh. Well, that’s awesome for him."
- After the Santa Anita races were done, I remembered that I had picked a random race in Australia the previous weekend, just before we left. I decided I really ought to put it through the machine, though I wasn’t expecting anything.
  - So, I put the ticket in the machine, and out popped a voucher for nearly 10 times what the ticket was worth! Well, let me tell you, that was unexpected.
  - Craig was rather blase about it, as he said it had happened to him on several occasions in the past.
  - Well, that’s ok for him, but to me it was nothing short of a minor miracle. I have never considered myself particulary lucky, having to work hard for anything I got in life. Others would probably smile at that and say, "no, no, you’ve been plenty lucky."
- I don’t know if the following story qualifies as lucky, but it is an interesting bit of statistics:
  - Some time in the later afternoon, one of the waitresses dropped a glass, but it did not shatter. I suppose that was lucky for her.
  - But looking at some of my earlier diary entries, during visit #2 a waitress had dropped a glass, and during visti #15 a waitress had dropped a glass. Now, same thing for visit #23.
  - This may be an interesting example of a Poisson distribution. That is a peculiar statistical distribution that happens with relatively rare events. It turns out that these rare events are actually quite predictable. It is sometimes referred to as "the law of small numbers", as opposed to "the law of large numbers", with which most people are familiar.
  - This has a horse angle. In the 19^th century, it was noticed by the Prussian military that officers were sometimes kicked in the head by their horses, with fatal results. Upon studying the data, a clever statistician noticed a pattern, which indicated that something other than random chance was at work.
  - So, I suppose the same principle applies to waitresses dropping glasses and trays. Perhaps if one followed it long enough, he could produce a nice graph, as the mathematician Ladislaus Bortkiewicz did, in the late 1800s.
The fact that February 14 is Valentine’s Day was also of some interest:
- There was an older married couple having a lunch date. Apparently, the man had very limited vision, if he had any eyesight at all. But the woman guided him along, as he used a walker, even taking him to the washroom, declaring "out of my way, he’s blind and I’m taking him to the bathroom." I guess that was kind of romantic.
- Then, there was the lady known as Jill (note: I am not using her actual name here).
  - This was a lone female better, a somewhat older lady, but well dressed and fairly classy, one might say.
  - She was generally rather quiet, other than having a bit of a spat with another table when we first got there, which the waitress soon smoothed over. I don’t know what caused it, though.
  - Eventually an older, rather rotund (and probably drunk) fellow started chatting her up. It was funny to listen to (you couldn’t not listen to it, as he was not exactly the silent type). It reminded me of scenes from decades ago, when some smooth operator would hit on a girl in a bar.
  - There was the playing dumb stuff: "Tell me how this horseracing business works, Jill. What horse should I bet on?". (later it turned out that he was aquainted with some of the local harness-racing people, as was she).
  - Then there were the effusive compliments: "Oh, you play golf? And you got a hole-in-one in golf? That’s amazing, Jill! You must be a great golfer!" (actually it is amazing and she might well be quite a good golfer).
  - Then there was the shared experience: "Oh wow, Jill the horse you picked won! We are winners!" ( I think that really happened)
  - He called some of his pals over and the entire group chatted her up. I expect that some of those guys were just playing along, as it seemed like the first guy might have been a boss of some sort and this was his crew on their day off.
  - But she was good. She seemed to be glad to talk to some people. And she knew when to bring in the "my boyfriend" stuff, to cool the fellow’s ardour.
  - Eventually, the group of males left for greener fields. She stayed behind and concentrated on the bucket-pullers, as did Craig and I.
For the harness-races at Woodbine/Mohawk, I was exploring a betting angle When a horse drops in odds by a large margin, it is almost a lock. That is old racetrack lore, but I had quantified the odds drops, at least in a small sample. So, I wanted to test that.
However, I discovered that they angle had a complication. It turned out that no matter how carefully one follows the odds, as the race nears, there can still be large odds-drops beyond what is shown on the screen. That said, the angle seems to still be pretty good, based on my rather limited sample.
As usual, Craig and I played some rolling Pick-3 bets. We were alive to a couple, in the final leg, but both went sour. That was especially annoying in one case, since we had a 22 to 1 horse in the second leg, which would have meant a nice payday. However, the favorite (which we had) ran a pathetic race in the final leg of the Pick-3. It didn’t catch up to the truck at the start, then ran way wide, then died completely.
So it goes at the harness-races.
About then, the Austalian horses came on the screen, which meant it was surely time to go. But given my lucky win at the Australian track, I will no longer call them "the devil-horses of Australia", but rather "the lucky red-eared Australian horses of esteem".

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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

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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And here is an account of a summer job on the railroad, during my undergraduate years.

One Summer Working on the Railroad

What follows is anaccount of a few weeks one long-ago summer, when I was 19 and was working for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) on a railroad construction gang, in the wilds of north-central British Columbia, Canada.

The journal is in the form of a letter, that was never sent. Decades later, I think it has an interesting historical resonance. At times I come off like a callow youth – I plead guilty as charged. I swore a lot more in those days than I do now, but in places the writing is surprisingly good, at least in my humble opinion. And the story has a compelling narrative arc.

There were a lot of interesting and dramatic events that occurred – a number of industrial accidents being the most serious. There were also some colorful characters on the crew, which resulted in some dramatic and at times amusing conflicts and altercations. I perhaps flatter myself by including myself in that number. Or perhaps I condemn myself – I’m not sure.

So, if you want to be reminded of one of those summer jobs that was kind of life-changing, read on. My story may just kick-start some memories of your own.

The memoir/journal is about 9,000 words, a length that can usually be read in an hour or so. It is priced at 99 cents U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and is free on Kindle Unlimited. Periodically, it will be offered as a free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN661P8Z

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CN661P8Z

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CN661P8Z

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Wednesday, 22 April 2026

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

Twenty-Two

22 – Billy Budd’s (Feb 6, 2026)

Introduction

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

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22 – Billy Budd’s (Feb 6, 2026)
- I entered upon this trip to the off-track horseracing joint, with a feeling of trepidation. I had come out ahead for 3 straight visits, so I felt it must be time for a reckoning. Things had been too good.
- This visit was on a Friday, since I had other duties to perform on Saturday. However, there was a fairly good crowd at Budd’s, at least for the first part of the afternoon. I does seem like the lunch special draws people in.
- The first order of business was the Santa Anita races. I have had rather good luck with this track. Would my luck change? Read on to see:
  - We were a bit too late to put down any bets on Race 1 at Santa Anita. It was a Maiden Claiming race, with almost all the horses making their first run. As it turned out, the race was taken by the horse that my system would have picked, though it was the only horse that actually had a race in the past performance form. The rest only had workouts. So, though my horse won, I might well have skipped the race, due to the lack of information.
  - Race 2 had a couple of evenly matched horses on top, in my figuring. Neither went off at particularly good odds, so I really should have skipped the race. But I went ahead anyway, choosing the number 4 horse, which had the higher odds. It got into a real speed duel with the 5 horse, which led for most of the way, but the 5 overtook it in the stretch. All the horses had low payouts, nothing over $3 on a $2 bet. That was hardly suprising, as it was a short field of only five horses.
  - Race 3 was similar. The top horse under my figures went off at just under even money, but I took a flier on it anyway. It came in third, show money amounting to a cool dime. Once again, it was a short field of only five horses.
  - Race 4 continued the trend. My pick (#6) went off a decent odds, and led for most of the race. But it faded a bit at the end, being beaten by half a length by the #2 horse. That was unfortunate, as my horse paid nearly even money to place, so the win ticket would have been nice. But it was not to be.
  - Race 5 went off in the same fashion as well. The #3 horse had nice numbers and went off at a decent price. I decided to bet conservatively and had a place ticket on it. It led most of the way, but faded in the stretch to come in third. This was getting annoying.
  - By Race 6 I was getting desperate to pick up some sort of victory, so I actually bet show on the race. This was something of a rarity, but I thought I might as well take the full treatment, as I was sure that the racing gods were out to teach me some humility. My horse had long odds and led much of the way, but died (not faded, died) in the stretch. The horse that won (#4) ran quite a nice race, pulling away in the stretch to win by a good 3 seconds. So, at least the race was interesting. The race had a fairly good purse (35K) and claiming price (50K), so there was some quality there.
  - Race 7 spared my feelings, ensuring that I never had a chance. My pick had really good numbers by my system andd went off at excellent odds. Sometimes the system picks such a dark horse to come in, but not this time. It finished so far back that it didn’t even finish in the dust, as there was time for the dust to settle.
  - By Race 8 I was feeling pretty gloomy. My preferred horse had numbers that outclassed the rest of the field and went off at somewhat respectable odds of 3 to 2. By some miracle it came in first, paying out the stated odds. That cut my losses for the day, which was a relief.
  - Race 9 went back to the earlier pattern, with my horse coming in a fairly distant fourth.
  - There was no tenth race today. So that was it – seven losses, one win and one shut-out. Many of my losses were close. Some days they come in, other days they don’t. It’s like hockey – some games your team’s pucks go in and other games they keep hitting the post.
- So, with Santa Anita over, it was time to try our luck at the bucket-pullers of Woodbine. I am slowly warming up to these races, though I have previously disdained them. But my brother’s enthusiasm for the harness-races is contagious, so I have even begun a systematic study of the situation, reading a few books and booting up the computer for a serious research project. I am hoping that it is possible to figure these beasts (and their drivers) out. Time will tell.
- I won’t go through a race-by-race account of Woodbine/Mohawk, but will hit a few interesting highlights:
  - Craig and I usually have a rolling Win-3 on the go, during the Harnies. One of these ventures became quite interesting. Craig has a fondness for the number 6 at Woodbine/Mohawk. And looking the statistics that I have been gathering it is true that there seems to be a track bias towards the 6. So, we had a 6-All-6 Win 3 going in the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th races.
    - Number 6 won the 3^rd race, paying $4.40 to win. That meant we were alive to the Win-3.
    - The middle race was the "All" bet, so we would be alive after that race regardless of who won. But, the winner of that race paid $73.40 to win, setting up potentially lucrative Win-3. That was a 6 horse.
    - For the last leg, we had the 6 horse again. It was bet down to almost way under even money, from 3 to 1 on the morning line. That is generally a sign of a nearly sure-thing at the Woodbine bucket-pullers. Furthermore, it had a very good driver and its trainer had a very good win percentage, also excellent signs.
    - But it got nipped at the wire, not quite a photo finish but close. So there went our lucrative Win-3, up in smoke.
    - Craig noted that it would have been a 6-6-6 Win-3, a very inauspicious number. I suppose – it certainly seemed diabolical, to lose like that.
  - A few races later, we had another Win-3 going, this one for much more meagre odds.
    - In the 6^th race we had the winner, the 7 horse, which paid $4.50 to win. Not great odds for the first leg of a Win-3, but acceptable.
    - In the 7^th race we had bet "All", with the 6 horse coming in at $6.20 to win. Again, not great odds, but respectable.
    - In the 8^th race we had tickets on 4 and 7 horses, and the 4 came in to win. That paid only $3.90, but a win is a win.
    - So, we got that Win-3 (or Pick-3, another name for the bet). However, it only paid about $30 on a $2 ticket. Sort of a moral victory, I suppose.
- Now, for a few random notes on the day in general.
  - Craig insisted on using the evil voucher machine again.
    - That’s the machine that he tends to have bad luck with (I avoid it altogether). It ate a $17 voucher, which was enough to get the staff to dig out his ticket and retire the machine for the day. I heard some other horse-players grumbling about it as well.
    - I said to Craig that he reminds me of the guy in the Kids in the Hall skit, who keeps ordering the kabob at some function, only to get food poisoning. After being treated, he returns to the party, and orders the kabob again. This happens half a dozen times or so.
    - I think the point of the KITH skit is that the guy is trying to impress a chick at the party. As for Craig, I think he just wants to make sure the machine gets fixed. This gets the site’s attention. Eventually, someone will give in, and replace or repair the machine.
  - The opening ceremony at the Winter Olympics was on one of the television above the bar. To be honest, it seemed kind of tedious to me. I usually find these ceremony events a little too earnest and boring. But I suppose for the athletes, it is pretty cool. And it gives the media something to talk about.
  - There was a youngish middle-aged woman betting on the horses most of the day. You don’t see that very often, as horse-racing seems to be a very male-dominated past-time She sat alone, in an area just off the regular horse-racing section, but in a place where the screens were easily viewable. She was well-dressed (includinng librarian glasses) and acted rather lady-like, though by the end of the day she was looking a bit more coquettish. But, maybe that was due to the fact that I had had three beers by the end of the day. I wasn’t hitting on her or anything, it is just nice to see some women enjoying the horses. Funny thing is, I have probably known more women who rode horses than bet on them.
- Here are a few random facts about harness horses (standardbreds) that I picked up from the book I bought:
  - There are two styles of running, the pace and the trot. In a pace, the horse’s legs on the same side of its body work in tandem. In a trot, the diagonal front and back legs work together.
  - In any given race, all the horses have to run the same way, either a pace or a trot.
  - The pace is a faster mode of running than the trot. Over a mile, that amounts to a difference of about 3 seconds (equivalent to about 15 lengths).
  - If a horse ‘breaks’ (goes off the stipulated running style) it is disqualified. To prevent this, horses usually wear ‘hopplets’, which make it difficult for the horse to break into a gallop.
  - Of course, standardbreds are both bred and trained to run in the appropriate style.
  - These horses are said to have rather nice dispositions and enjoy being around people. That is in contradistinction to thoroughbreds, which are often (but not always) somewhat cantankerous.
- As usual, the devil horses of Australia came on the scene, which was our cue to leave.
- In summary, it was a losing day, though not a shut-out. Many of the losses were ‘near-run things’, including what would have been a fairly lucrative Win-3. So it goes.

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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

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

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

And here is an account of a summer job on the railroad, during my undergraduate years.

One Summer Working on the Railroad

So, if you want to be reminded of one of those summer jobs that was kind of life-changing, read on. My story may just kick-start some memories of your own.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN661P8Z

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CN661P8Z

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CN661P8Z

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0CN661P8Z

Tuesday, 21 April 2026

Meeting the Former Waitress

Did you ever have one of those odd meetings with someone from your past, someone who remembered you on sight, but for whom it took you a while to place them within your memory?

Well, my wife Helena and I were walking to the neighborhood restaurant one day, for our weekly lunch with our son, who lives nearby and was working from home that day. A youngish woman got off a city bus, which was stopping to let people off a short distance ahead of us. She seemed a bit lost, looking around at her surroundings.

As we walked near her, she stopped us and asked us whether we used to go to a different restaurant, about a mile away, called the Garneau Pub and Plato’s Pizza. We said that we did and she said that she thought so, adding that she used to waitress there, and remembered us, noting that we came in once a week or so. We agreed that was indeed one of our weekly outings.

I said that I seemed to remember her now and asked if she knew how the proprietor of the establishment was doing. The place had shut down during the Covid lockdown era. That said, the owner was getting on in years.

She said that "Jimmy is gone now".

I asked "gone, as in left the planet?" That was an expression that one of my brothers used, to indicate that someone had died.

"Yes," she said, intuiting my meaning. "Once he was gone, his brothers couldn’t keep the place up on their own – he was the glue that had held things together."

She also asked about our son, who often joined us at our afternoons at the Garneau Pub, as he was a university student at the nearby university at this time. We said that we were just going to meet him for lunch, at Rick and Alice’s Grill, which was only a few hundred feet distant, as we were now in the parking lot of a strip-mall that housed that establishment.

She said, "I remember him, he was a nice guy."

I told her that he lived nearby in a condo. Thoughts of her as a daugher-in-law crossed my mind, as Scott is still single and very eligible (he has a very good job as well as several university degrees).

She also said that she remembered us as writers. That was unusual for me; sure I write some, but more as a hobby than a profession. My wife, on the other hand, has internalized that identity for herself, so it was an apt description for her. She has written several novels, which continue to get sales and downloads on Amazon. My more modest contribution to the family business does well enough, but not to the same extent as Helena's. Anyway, it was surprising to have someone identify us in that fashion – I suppose she must have heard Helena and I talking about it over wine and pizza.

She then took her leave, saying that she had gotten off the bus at that location by accident, as the stop she wanted was about ten blocks up. She said "I don’t know why I got off so soon."

There seemed to be something slightly portentous about the incident, but I don’t know what it was. One never knows. She did mention that she eats at Rick and Alice’s sometimes, so perhaps we will meet again some day. Maybe in some future, she and Scott get together. It is a nice dream anyway.

And below is a novel written by my wife about a lost young woman.

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Kati of Terra Book 1 – Escape from the Drowned Planet

Amazon U.S: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00811WVXO

Amazon U.K.: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00811WVXO

Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00811WVXO

Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00811WVXO

Amazon Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00811WVXO

Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00811WVXO

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00811WVXO

Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00811WVXO

Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00811WVXO

Amazon Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00811WVXO

Amazon France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00811WVXO

Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00811WVXO

Amazon Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00811WVXO

In saving her small son from alien abductors, a 24-year-old Earth woman, Katie, finds herself abducted instead. She awakens from a drug-induced coma on a spaceship, in a room full of children, both human and alien, and two other women, younger than she is. The young women adapt to the situation as best they can, keeping the youngsters calm and entertained. But, when a drugged alien man wearing a uniform is added to the captive cargo, it becomes clear that this is an intergalactic slave operation.

The slave traders implant their captives with “translation nodes” in order to allow communication among various groups. These are living entities, normally docile, merely enhancing certain brain functions, such as language acquisition. However, Katie discovers that she has accidentally received a very special “granda node”, a long-lived node with its own cantankerous personality, including a fondness for criminality and lethal weaponry. Fortunately for Katie, it also values its freedom. With its help, she escapes on a fringe planet, dragging the peace officer along—also at the granda’s suggestion.

She finds herself on a strange world, with a somewhat deranged personality, quite possibly a killer, in her head, and partnered with a man from an advanced civilization who abhors killing. He is a Federation Peace Officer, captured by the slavers while attempting to bring them to justice. His task is complicated by the fact that he has sworn to avoid the taking of sentient life during the performance of his duties. He can and does, however, make vigorous use of non-lethal weaponry. Since, before leaving the ship, Katie had promised to help her co-captives gain their liberty, she and the alien peace officer find that they have a common cause.

But first they must find their way off the primitive planet and get to the Federated Civilization, avoiding the slavers who have been left on the planet to re-capture them. Their flight is complicated by the fact that the planet has had a global warming catastrophe some centuries back – the locals refer to it as the Drowned World. This has forced the inhabitants to revert to a pre-industrial state of development; however, they are a wily and resourceful people, mostly helpful, but they can also be dangerous.

Kati (to mark her escape, she adopts a slight name change) and Mikal seek a Federation beacon, which had been hidden on this planet ages ago, to aid in situations such as this, (in accord with a longstanding Federation policy for fringe worlds). They must embark on an arduous trek across two continents and an ocean, seeking the temple that holds the beacon. They travel on foot, by cart, by riverboat, by tall sailing ship, and on pack animals, always pursued by the dangerous slavers.

They must rely on their wits, guile, charm and acting abilities to avoid recapture, while their chasers have advanced technology and ruthlessness on their side. Fortunately, they are able to make many friends who help them along the way, and their quest becomes a series of adventures, both frightening and funny, and involving a cast of engaging characters.

To complicate matters, Kati finds herself falling in love with Mikal, the strange, handsome and amusing alien. He seems to be reciprocating, though they both struggle against an untimely romantic entanglement.

Will Kati and Mikal escape from the Drowned Planet? Can they ultimately bring the slavers to justice, as Mikal has sworn to do? Can they free the remaining captives of the slavers, as Kati has promised to do? Read this book and the rest of the series to find out all.

At about 200,000 words (equivalent to a paperback of about 400 pages), the book is an excellent value.

Wednesday, 15 April 2026

Race Track Diary, Entry Number Twenty-One 21 – Billy Budd’s (Jan 31, 2026)

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

Twenty-One

21 – Billy Budd’s (Jan 31, 2026)

Introduction

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

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21 – Billy Budd’s (Jan 31, 2026)
- We took a week off from the races, as Craig and his wife were invited to a relative’s place; meanwhile I was suffering from a minor virus. But everthing was back to normal by the next weekend, so it was back to Billy Budd’s for some horseracing fun.
- It was a Saturday, so there was a big crowd at the horseracing section of Budd’s. They must have a good lunch special on Saturdays.
- In fact, it was actually a full-house near the screens, so we had to sit for a while at an off-screen table. But that was ok, as it gave me a chance to annotate a program for Santa Anita, to assist in later crunching of numbers, and for Craig to peruse the bucket-pullers of Woodbine/Mohawk.
- By keeping a close watch on the horseracing section, I soon detected a couple of seats opening up. I checked it out with some friendly older gents who were sitting nearby those seats, who gave us thumbs-up to move in. One fellow said he hoped that "moving his ass" would bring him a bit of luck. Sure, why not.
- I don’t know if it brought him any luck, but it seemed to work for me, at least on the Santa Anita races:
  - For the first and second races at Santa Anita, I was shut-out, due to the lack of seating.
  - On the third race, my numers showed two horses as clear choices. Feeling a bit cautious, I picked the one with lower odds, though still remarkably good odds. It and the other horse the numbers liked, dueled it out with my choice narrowly winning. I must confess, however, that I had bet my horse to place, so it didn’t really matter much to me. But it paid a surprisingly nice price to place, so I didn’t kick myself too hard.
  - In the fourth race, there were three horses with very comparable figures. It was also a short field. So, I took a flyer on one of them, whose odds seemed good. Again, I wimped out, putting down show money. It actually won and paid a nice price to win, a little over 3 to 1. But the show ticket was a joke, not doing much more than paying for the bet. Clearly, a lot of people had bet the same as I had. So it goes.
  - The fifth race had only one horse with high numbers, by my system, as two others with good numbers had been scratched. With odds of nearly 10 to 1, I could hardly say no. But I did scale my bet down a bit, as I assumed the crowd must know something that I did’t know. Apparently they didn’t, as my horse came in first and payed-off very nicely on my win ticket.
  - Picking three races in a row was starting to feel a bit spooky.
  - The sixth race was a Maiden Special Weight race, meaning none of the horses had won a race in their life yet. In fact, only one of them had actually even run a race. The others had no form at all, other than workouts. I don’t really know how to evaluate workouts, so I was inclined to skip the race. But there was a big odds-drop on one horse, so I took a shot on it and the horse that had run a race previously, putting a token bet on an exactor (that means a smaller than normal bet, though honestly all my bets are token bets by a serious player’s standard). Anyway, that duo came in, so I picked up some more token winnings.
  - I got shut-out on the seventh race, as I was printing off a program for the Woodbine/Mohawk harness races, when the printer ran out of paper. That necessitated getting a staff member to refill the machine. It reminded me of office-days, waiting on the secretary to refill the printer (some offices didn’t trust just anyone to fill the printer, even when they were highly-skilled data scientists/analysts). That took a bit of time, which made me miss the race. I probably would have bet the winner on that race, based on my numbers, but that is just a hypothetical.
  - The eighth and ninth race sent me back to the real world, since neither of my horses were in the money.
  - There was no tenth race, so that was it for Santa Anita.
- With the thoroughbreds of Santa Anita complete, I could now indulge myself in a libation or two. My firm rule is to avoid any alcohol during the thoroughbred session, as it can inflame one’s animal spirits (as John Maynard Keynes put it), thus leading to non-optimal betting strategies. However, I will indulge a bit for the harness races.
- Here’s another observation, inspired by Keynes.
- The cute young waitress who served our section had an accent, which everyone seemed to remark upon. Most people thought she must be from Australia or New Zealand, but no, she was actually from England. She added that her home town was near Wales, so that probably gave her accent a bit of a Welsh tilt, which people were mistaking for Australia.
- The older gent who sat next to us bantered with her over the accent. He expressed some surprise that she came to Canada rather than going to Australia. I suppose that was in reference to the weather, though perhaps he meant that her accent would blend well with the locals down under. However, she said that English people are often quite curious about Canada, maybe even moreso than Australia.
- With the larger crowd, there were more people chatting and cheering their horses on:
  - A voice from down below:
    - "Is that the five on the rail coming up fast?"
    - "The six quit on me! Damn it!"
    - (this fellow must have been watching a different screen than I was, because coincidentally the six did not quit on me, as that was about the same time as I won a 10 to 1 bet on a six horse).
  - Some well-dressed middle-aged ladies across the way, not too excitable:
    - "My mouth gets dry when I eat chocolate."
    - "Was that your horse that just won?"
    - "I suppose it probably was. Well, I guess we can leave now."
  - Some serious handicappers below us (maybe insiders, referring to the local harness races):
    - "That horse was just loping. Just loping and he still won."
    - "Just look at his fractions."
    - "Yeah, just great fractions."
    - "No surprise, the trainer is a very sharp guy."
    - "And the driver is one of the best around."
    - "Yeah, piece of cake."
- We now directed our attention to the harness races at Woodbine/Mohawk.
- I had been doing some analysis of the bucket-pullers over the previous week or so. It involved a fair bit of tedious spreadsheet setup and data entry. With only four cards (ten races in each, so about forty races), there weren’t any obvious angles with speed ratings and such.
- However, I did detect a very significant signal from large odds-drops. This has long been something that players watch for, assuming that it means inside information, whether of the honest of scurrilous sort.
- So, I paid special attention to that during this card. It was still a useful angle, though not profitable on this day.
- Nonetheless, we picked up a few winners, so I kept most of my profits from Santa Anita intact. Craig located a triactor ticket that he hadn’t realized was a winner, so he recovered most of his losses too (it was a so-so payoff).
- Most of the crowd had thinned out, but a couple (man and woman) came into one of the horseracing section booths. It seemed like an odd choice, as it was quite empty now. But, perhaps they didn’t want to be seen, so a mostly empty horseracing section would be just the ticket. Hardly anyone present and those that were there were focussed on the horses.
- Near the end of the harness races, a new waitress came on shift. so she asked how we were doing with the horses. We gave a non-committal shrug, while she stared at the screen and said "I know nothing about this." Me neither.
- Then the devil-horses of Australia came on the screen. Time to go.
- I won most of the thoroughbred races at Santa Anita and lost most of the harness races at Woodbine/Mohawk, but kept a reasonable profit for the day anyway.
- And that about sums it up for this trip.

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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

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

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And here is an account of cycling the Kettle Valley Rail-Trail:

A Ride on the Kettle Valley Rail Trail

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GBG8JE0
U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GBG8JE0
Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01GBG8JE0
Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01GBG8JE0
Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01GBG8JE0
Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01GBG8JE0
India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01GBG8JE0

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01GBG8JE0

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01GBG8JE0

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01GBG8JE0

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01GBG8JE0

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01GBG8JE0

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01GBG8JE0

The book is only 99 cents U.S. (equivalent price in other currencies). It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

The Kettle Valley Rail Trail is one of the longest and most scenic biking and hiking trails in Canada. It covers a good stretch of the south-central interior of British Columbia, about 600 kilometers of scenic countryside. British Columbia is one of the most beautiful areas of Canada, which is itself a beautiful country, ideal for those who appreciate natural splendour and achievable adventure in the great outdoors.

The trail passes through a great variety of geographical and geological regions, from mountains to valleys, along scenic lakes and rivers, to dry near-desert condition grasslands. It often features towering canyons, spanned by a combination of high trestle bridges and long tunnels, as it passes through wild, unpopulated country. At other times, it remains quite low, in populated valleys, alongside spectacular water features such as beautiful Lake Okanagan, an area that is home to hundreds of vineyards, as well as other civilized comforts.

The trail is a nice test of one’s physical fitness, as well as one’s wits and adaptability, as much of it does travel through true wilderness. The views are spectacular, the wildlife is plentiful and the people are friendly. What more could one ask for?

What follows is a journal of two summers of adventure, biking most of the trail in the late 1990s. It is about 33,000 words in length (2 to 3 hours reading), and contains numerous photographs of the trail. There are also sections containing a brief history of the trail, geology, flora and fauna, and associated information.