Race Track Diary, Entry Number Eight

Century Mile Racetrack (August 23, 2025)

Introduction

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

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

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

Publisher’s note: A similar account was given earlier in the year. This is a slightly rewritten version, since I wanted to slip it into the proper calendar order in the blog. I have also included some photos from an earlier Derby Day.

8 – Century Mile 5 (August 23, 2025)

This is the fifth visit to Century Mile Racetrack, near the airport.

My brother Craig had been doing some rehab, due to some earlier medical issues, so there was a substantial break between visits to the horse-races. However, he was now able to attend events away from his house again, so we decided to hit the track.
It was Derby Day in Edmonton Alberta, the Canadian Derby, the race with the highest purse of the season in these parts. For this year, the purse was $200,000. It is a bit of a route-race, at one and a quarter miles.
There were also some more high-stakes races on this day, at fairly long distance races as well (over a mile): the Oaks, for $100,000, the Speed to Spare at $100,000, and the Distaff Handicap for $75,000. So, a big day at the local track, one with several races that can really test the stamina of the horses, and also make good use of the track’s one-mile oval.
In earlier years, these purses were likely higher, when adjusted for inflation. But, crowds were also bigger, as were the handles (the amount of money bet on a given day at a given track). And you only had one track to play, the one that you were actually at. So, all the money went to the horses at that track (though, actually it went to the owners, jockeys, trainers, the track and the government). Now, the money is split among many tracks. I don’t know the actual details of how that is done, but it certainly must have a substantial effect on the handles of the smaller, less prestigious tracks around North America.

The length and intensity of the local thoroughbred horse-racing meet is also very abbreviated compared to earlier years, only 2 or 3 days per week during the late spring, summer and early autumn months. Local harness races take over in the later fall and winter seasons, though again running on only two or three days per week. This is compared to earlier years, where horses ran most days of the week during a meet, with each of the several meets lasting 6 weeks or so.
Horse racing was a bigger draw during that time, as it was almost the only legal form of gambling in most areas. Unfortunately (for horse and horse-racing aficionados) the growth in other gambling venues and related opportunities has tended to make horse-racing fade into the background.
But people still love an event, especially one that gives them an opportunity to dress up in fancy clothes, should that be their desire. Thus, the casino/racetrack was very crowded on this Derby Day, and a fairly decent smattering of the people in the crowd were dressed up, in the fashion of the traditional Derby event. That is to say, large showy hats, dresses and skirts (of varying length) for the women and somewhat dapper hats and vests for the men, along with the odd bolo tie. I thought it was kind of cool, especially on the distaff side (i.e. females), to use horse-racing parlance.
As for myself, I did have on a white buttoned shirt, with dark blue corduroy pants and black leather shoes. In modern times that might be thought of as a bit dressy, I don’t know. I mostly wanted the white button-up shirt for the heat, since it was quite hot on this Derby Day (white reflects heat and the shirt was also short-sleeved). The pants and shoes just went along with that.
We got to the track fairly early – at about 2:00 in the afternoon. The local race card wasn’t scheduled to start until 4:30, so there was plenty of time to kill.
The first signs of how busy it would be was the presence of parking attendants to wave cars into the correct part of the parking lot. This was not normally the procedure; one could generally find parking quite easily. We half expected to be charged for parking, but somewhat surprisingly, this did not occur.
I was reminded of a visit to Spruce Meadows in Calgary, which featured a similar platoon of parking attendants. Of course, that was for show-jumping, rather than racing. By the way, show-jumping (where horse and rider run an obstacle course) is quite interesting, but they don’t allow betting on it.
The next things to notice were signs announcing a $30 per person admission to the race-track grounds, which is extremely steep, compared to my experience at race-tracks in the past. But, there were plenty of people lined up to give them their money, anyway.
As far as we were concerned, that was a bit much, so we gave it a pass. That’s too bad, as I did want to see the track itself, but the experience was hardly worth 30 bucks. Instead, we headed for the casino, which is attached to the track (or perhaps one might say the track is attached to the casino). This area was plenty busy as well, with the betting section for the horse players mostly occupied. That being so, we took up some seats in a nearby section of the casino, thankfully not far from the horse-racing betting machines and racing cashier.
This was a pretty good spot, with some nice seating, either sit-down tables or bar-stool type high tables. So, settled down on to some bar-stools at a high table, bought a few beers and waited to see how things would develop.
As noted above, the casino was already crowded, with a good proportion of the patrons dressed for the races. I don’t know if they were going back into the racetrack grounds later in the day, or had just decided to skip the privilege of standing in the hot sun for hours at $30 a pop. As far as I could ascertain when walking by the track entrance, on the way to the casino, there wasn’t actually a lot of seating outside, which is to say in the racetrack grounds proper. That’s not like the old Northlands track, which had a capacious grand-stand and plenty of space along along the ground and near the rail, as well as a somewhat tony clubhouse. On big days such as the Derby, it might also have had corporate seating set up in the infield.
With a long day ahead of us, we perused the off-track handicapping possibilities. My son and I settled on Del Mar, a track not far from San Diego California. Brother Craig paid some attention to that, as well as putting money down on races at some other tracks, such as the harness races at Woodbine and the thoroughbred races at the local track, once they eventually got going.
Generally speaking, our betting went well. Scott and I suffered a few losses, but each of us picked up a healthy purse on a couple of quinellas, later in the card. That put us well over the top for the day. With reasonable money management, we kept things that way.
I noticed a young woman coming back from watching one of the races. She had that happy aura of someone who had just won a race. Shortly thereafter, I was amused to see Scott score a decent win. It was interesting to see how winning some money pleased Scott, as he also came back beaming from winning his bet.
That said, he wasn’t unduly demonstrative, avoiding the excited yelling and desperate cursing at the horses that some patrons enjoy (or not) while observing the race. Scott makes good money at work, so that scoring some extra dough didn’t really matter. There is just something very pleasing about winning a bet, especially one that you put some serious handicapping effort into. It is affirming, maybe about your intelligence or maybe just about being a lucky person, momentarily Touched by the Racing Gods, so to speak.
There were some folks who were getting quite excited while watching the races, oscillating between joy and disappointment, depending on what position their horse was at, any any given point in the race. I am reminded of a famous football coach, who discouraged too much unrestrained emotion from players who spiked the ball in the end-zone. He said “you should act like it’s not the first time you’ve been there.” I tend to go along with that, as does Craig and now, Scott too, apparently. I guess it is a family trait. Mind you, it would be inhuman not to show some emotion after winning (or losing). The trick is, to maintain balance and perspective.
Both Scott and I are very analytical by nature, as well as being highly educated in math and statistics (he has a PhD in physics, I have a BSc in the same subject, supplemented by extensive post-degree courses in statistics). Thus, we do lean towards quite numbers-oriented handicapping. Craig does a little of this as well, but also relies on his instincts and hunches regarding underhanded odds manipulations, that may or may not go on behind the scenes.
Scott’s mom (my wife) had given him some cash to bet for her, so he was playing for the both of them. I think she did this more out of a desire to play some part in the events, even if from afar. But I think it pleased Scott to know that he was making some mad-money for her.
As I said, it was very crowded in the casino and it got more crowded as the day went on. That necessitated a lot of quick movements to avoid bumping into people, as one walked back and forth between our table and the betting machines in the adjoining section of the casino. But that all turned out ok. People, including myself, were on their best behavior. It is interesting what a bit of dressing up will do, in that respect.
It also meant heading into the horse-racing section, to watch the races on one of big screens, as our casino section’s TV screens were dominated by baseball and golf. While I was waiting to see how my horses did after one race, a nice middle-aged lady struck up a conversation. I guess I must have had some of that happy aura going on as well, since my picks had come in, though a jockey’s inquiry had made the wait a little nerve-wracking.
While watching another race, I noticed an unclaimed pencil on an empty table. Scott had neglected to take a pen or pencil, so I scooped it up for him. Then, a fellow came back, and looked at the table, glancing around with a quizzical expression. I guess I must have unknowingly filched his five-cent pencil. Well, so be it, I thought, as I walked back to our section of the casino. He should take better care of his valuables, especially five-cent pencils, which can be pretty damn handy at the track. Besides, he could easily pick up another one, at one of the Sport-Select terminals in the casino.
After a while, the local races began. The second race was interesting. It wasn’t one of the feature races, but rather a cheap claiming race, but an unusually long one, a mile and five-eighths. The winner ran wire to wire (led all the way). At one point, it seemed as if it was tiring and would be beaten, but it dug in and called up some reserves of energy, finally winning going away, as they say. It was a very impressive performance.
We didn’t actually stay for the Derby, but Craig did make a bet on the race, parlaying a bunch of other wins. Unusually for him, he bet to win, and his horse did come in first, paying $5.90 to win, which is a pretty good price, since it was the favorite.
So, we left early in the evening, having all finished the day in the black (though Craig didn’t know it yet). Scott even won some money for his mom, so all in all, it was a very good day.

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Here are some photos from an earlier Canadian Derby, at the old Northlands site (from 2015, so exactly 10 years earlier).

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Since I am running a book publishing blog, here is a plug for a horse-racing oriented short story that I wrote.

A Dark Horse

In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil. Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

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Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

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Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

(BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

A Dark Horse

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 a book about my dad’s sapper unit that I wrote:

The Sappers' War: 12th Field Company Royal Canadian Engineers, Oct 1943 to Sept 1945

What follows is a review of the history of the 12th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers, primarily relating to the time that the company was in the Italian and Northwestern European theatres during World War II. Though the book focuses on the experiences of a particular company of Canadian military engineers, it also discusses some of the wider issues of the second world war and how it affected the people wholived through the era, civilian and military. Among those are my father (a sapper or military engineer) and mother (a war worker in wartime Britain and ultimately a war bride).

Thus, this is meant to be an informal and unofficial history of the company, written by an interested party in an effort to understand what these men went through during this period, and how that experience affected them and other people who lived through the war. The military aspects of the company's history are there (e.g. training, fighting, building bridges, detecting mines, maintaining routes), as are the cultural factors that influenced them and their times (e.g. the movies that they watched, the drinking they did, the many diseases they faced, their interactions with the Italian, British and other civilians that they lived among, their worries for the future). Some focus on life on the British home front is also given, via the experiences of my mother and her family.

Since many people had family and relations that lived during this time, it is my hope that the account will be of general interest to them, and to any that have a particular interest in this critical interval in history. Also, though the text relates specifically to Canadian sappers, I believe that many of the experiences will be common to the soldiers and loved ones of other nations who lived through the war, especially Americans and those from Britain and the British Commonwealth.

The primary sources of this document are the 12th Field Company War Diaries and related orders, with some material from The History of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers, Volume 2 as well as various official histories by the Department of National Defence. Various other published sources are used as well, especially when discussing the wider issues of the war or the army experience (e.g. Churchill’s history of the war), or conversely when relating very specific episodes of the war (e.g. Popski’s Private Army in late 1944). Personal accounts of my father’s or mother’s stories also augment the narrative. I have tried to fit those in during appropriate time periods, though some stories are more general and have therefore don’t necessarily relate to the time period being discussed. Nonetheless, they do help capture the essence of “being there” during the war years.

The War Diary is a day by day account of the primary activities of a given unit, as recorded by personnel in the headquarters staff of that unit, and signed off by the commander of the unit. As such, it is an official record, though the writers often brought a bit of their own character into the document. Naturally, as a relatively brief document it can’t hope to capture the complexity of the individual stories of 280 or so men, so the family lore generally has no corresponding entry in the War Diary, though there are sometimes tantalizing hints and near-verifications of these personal accounts.

There are a number of other sources for the book, from official histories to popular history books. I include quotations and references from these works (an eclectic mix), as I believe that they also shed light on different aspects of this period of time, and besides that, are just interesting accounts, in and of themselves.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B09HSXN6Q2

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09HSXN6Q2