Race Track Diary, Entry Number 39 – Billy Budd’s (July 18, 2026)

  

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

 Thirty-Nine

39 – Billy Budd’s (July 18, 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.

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

• 39 – Billy Budd’s (July 18, 2026)

  • This Saturday visit might be called the “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” episode. I will expand upon that later.

  • There was a pretty good crowd when we arrived at 3:00 in the afternoon. The World Cup consolation game was on, that being the game played for ‘bronze’ (i.e. 3^rd place), between England and France. I should note that England won by a score of 6-4, which is highly anomalous for soccer.

  • I asked the English waitress how she felt about that.

    • “I don’t know what happened, for them to score 6 goals. They should have done it earlier in the semi-final [ed. note: which they lost]. If you don’t win first place, you are just the best loser.” That’s true, though there is actually prize money for third in the World Cup, so there’s that.

    • Contrast it to horseracing, when you make a successful show bet. It’s not a win, but if the horse comes in third, you still get paid, occasionally rather handsomely. However, that consolation is not an option in most sports.

  • The crowd was the usual mix of regulars and non-regulars (or semi-regulars). It skewed older and mostly male, as is generally the case.

  • At first, we first sat at a table off the main area and began waiting for the bucket-pullers to begin. But then Craig spotted a fellow that he recognized. It was a guy he worked with and gambled with, back in the day. I knew him slightly, as well, from the former racetrack era, but not nearly as well as Craig did. So, we picked up our stuff and joined Freddy at his table (name slightly altered for privacy purposes).

  • Freddy and Craig proceeded to swap stories from the past and share news about the present. There were plenty of stories to relate, about work, betting, health, family and friends. Fred and Craig were both (a building trade), so given the nature of the trade, they moved from job to job, picking up anecdotes as they went. And they did a lot of betting, especially on the horses, though sometimes with trips to Vegas. They even knew a bookie or two, which seems rather quaint now.

  • A few random words of wisdom from Fred:

    • “You get bitter when you get old. But then we were bitter when we were young, weren’t we Craig.” (laughing). “The horses do that to you.”

    • “If we could feed the carnage, it was ok.” (referring to the vagaries of betting, especially on horses).

    • “They’re off...you lose.” (when your horse tucks in last at the start of the race).

    • Me: “I’m waiting for the bucket-pullers to bet.” Fred: “I know, you’re a sick man.” (laughing). He prefers the thoroughbreds, but will bet on harness races too, though he considers them crooked as a dog’s leg.

    • Re: an old racetrack crony, nickname “Water Bill”, because he always drank water, not beer. “He died – likely starved to death. They found him dead in his room.” What can you say except Yikes!

    • Re: the old Northlands Racetrack days. “They gave out door prizes, some were pretty good – T-shirts and stuff. Sometimes they gave out wallets and the odd one had money in it. Craig got one with a thousand bucks in it, once.” (Craig nods in agreement).

    • I mention a work-friend who visited the old track with me one time and won the door prize, a selection of meats worth quite a bit of money. Freddy: “I remember her – the meat lady.”

    • Freddy is still working part-time under the table. He notes (building trade activity) a business recently, changing a couple dozen (building trade activity), high up on the ladder. Which is awfully good for a guy his age.

    • Craig: “He’s a hard worker. The horses drive him to make money.” Me: “Whatever gives you purpose in life, I guess.” Once you hit a certain age, you can become philosophical about such matters.

    • Health problems had Craig sidelined for a while. It was good for him to connect with Fred.

    • Anyway, Fred left about the time that the bucket-pullers came on. I thought he didn’t care for the harness races, but Craig said he was probably just out of money, having made (and lost) a bet or two while we conversed. “Fred actually likes the buckets.”

  • After Fred left, we then turned our attention to Woodbine/Mohawk. But the interval before the first race dragged on and on. A note on the TV screen said it was a weather delay. But it looked sunny there (the view was from the barns, but a big door was open in the background).

  • After nearly an hour, it was announced that the races were cancelled that day, due to poor air quality. That was because of smoke from forest fires, way off in northwestern Ontario. I suppose that the health of the horses were the main concern, as they would be breathing hard, which would not be good for their lungs. No point risking expensive horses’ health.

  • Given that, we turned our attention to some other tracks. I picked up a program for Del Mar, in San Diego. That’s a long way from the smoke of Canada. Besides, I have had some success there in the past.

  • I started in mid-card:

    • For Race 7, I made a beer-bet to show, on #6. It didn’t have the best numbers but it did have a rather significant drop in odds from Morning-Line to Race-time. It came in and paid a very small profit. But it respected the beer-bet rule, and that was what mattered to me at the time.

    • I missed Race 8. I enjoyed a nice glass of beer and a pretty good personal-sized pizza instead of betting. This was just as well, since my preferred horse finished out of the money. The pizza was so good, I got another one to take home to my wife. She agreed that it was rather tasty and a nice break from cold sandwiches (it had been too hot to do much cooking).

    • In Race 9, I bet the 5 to show. Unfortunately, it came in 4^th by a nose.

    • For the 10^th Race, I made another show bet, this time on the #7 horse. It had very good numbers, in addition to a substantial odds drop. It came in place and paid tolerably well.

    • I skipped the 11^th, as most of the horses had never even been in the money in their past performances. Amusingly enough, the three that did have some history came in 1-2-3. Too bad that I missed that, but so it goes.

  • That put me even on the day. Actually I came out a little better than that, as when I put my bet through the machine, it gave me an extra voucher. So, from that point of view, I came out ahead, about 10% in ROI terms.

  • This was interesting, as I had accidentally put a bunch of vouchers through the laundry earlier that week (I forgot to take them out of my shirt pocket). That mistake washed every last bit of ink off the vouchers, so I was out a fair bit of money. I suppose that fickle spirit of the racetrack will eventually return the money – the extra voucher was a down payment on that promise. At least that’s how I choose to interpret things.

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

  

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

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

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.

Race Track Diary, Entry Number 37 – Billy Budd’s (July 4, 2026)

  

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

 Thirty-Seven

37 – Billy Budd’s (July 4, 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.

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

• 37 – Billy Budd’s (July 04, 2026)

  • This Saturday was quite auspicious for a number of reasons:

    • First off, it was the American holiday of Independence Day. That would probably mean some interesting diversions at the U.S. racetracks; fireworks, flag-waving and other patriotic signalling. And this was the 250^th anniversary, so there could be some interesting shows.

    • Secondly, the World Cup of Soccer (or footie, as the English say) was on. Canada had made the Round of 16 and would be playing Morocco on this day. That might be interesting too.

    • Thirdly, the track at Seattle was having their wiener dog races. That could be good for a laugh, as these are not the world’s most clever dogs. Sometimes, just getting them to run in the correct direction is an achievement.

• 
  
  

  
  

  • Having said all that, it was actually a rather sparse crowd by the time we arrived. I guess soccer and wiener dogs just don’t have quite the appeal I expected.

  • Once again, we missed most of the thoroughbred races, as other commitments took priority early in the day. I did try to repeat my success of the previous week, by looking for a big odds drop to bet on, at the Woodbine thoroughbreds. However, not such betting opportunities arose, either at Woodbine or Gulfstream.

  • Craig, however, picked up a superfecta at Gulfstream (pick win-place-show-fourth), though it didn’t pay as well as we hoped it would. It was a good race; the winner really turned on the jets to win at the wire.

  • So, to the bucket-pullers then:

    • In Race #1, I bet the #6 horse to place. He led most of the way, but tired in the stretch, finishing well out of the money.

    • In the Second Race, I bet the #6 again, but it never really fired, finishing well back. A heavy favourite (2 to 5) won. As Craig puts it, no bankers will have to jump out of windows after that race.

    • I should note that right about then, some storm warnings came on the screen. No, that’s not the name of a horse, but rather cautions about developing thunderstorms and the possibility of a tornado. We didn’t actually get any bad weather during the evening, though a tornado did touch down in a campground in the general area of Edmonton, causing a few serious, but non-fatal injuries to some campers. It has been a rather wild-weather summer so far on the Canadian prairies.

    • I skipped the third and fourth races, as Craig and I were alive to some Win-3 bets. Besides, there didn’t seem to be any obvious choices to prefer. That said, my system would have gotten the 3^rd race (Dublin Dasher), but would have failed on the fourth, with none of my picks even finishing in the money.

    • I was getting thirsty and impatient by the fifth race, so I made a beer bet on the #3 horse to show. It did win the race but was a very heavy favourite, so it only paid 2.50 to win and 2.10 to place and show. That would seem to indicate that the track had to dip into the minus pool on the show bet, so that was a sort of moral victory. Plus, I could now have a beer.

    • In Race #6, I bet on the #6 horse to show. It had some good numbers (post bias and late kick) and was going off at 7 to 1. It obliged by running to form, closing from 6^th to 3^rd in the stretch. In so doing, it paid a fairly reasonable $4.50 per $2 bet in the process.

    • I skipped the 7^th race, as I was busy devouring a small pepperoni and mushroom pizza, which was pretty good for pub food. Plus, I was pretty darn hungry and hunger is the best spice that there is.

    • In the 8^th, I bet the #2 horse to win, but it got overtaken in the stretch, losing by a couple of lengths.

    • In the 9^th, none of my preferred horses came in the money. The good old #6 came in to win, paying just shy of 20 bucks. So, if one was going for the post bias, that would have made your day.

    • In the 10^th, my preferred horses were 4-5 and the race came in 5-4. I picked the 4 to win, as it had much better odds (3.5 to 1 vs just under even money). In the long run, that’s a good plan but it stings in the moment.

    • We left a bit early, skipping the 11^th and 12^th races, just in case there was a major storm brewing.

    • In summary, not a great day, but not a disaster. I got 2 out of 7 races, though one of those only paid itself back and the other paid for itself and another race. So overall, a relatively small loss for the day (but still a loss).

  • 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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

• 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

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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 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.