Race Track Diary, Entry Number

Eleven

Century Mile Racetrack (September 19, 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.

11 – Rosslyn Hotel (Prospectors Room) (Sept 19, 2025)
- After a number of visits to the actual racetrack just outside the city, we decided to do our betting at way off-track site again. So, we headed back to the Rosslyn Hotel and the Prospector’s Room to prospect for some horseracing gold.
- This place is fairly spacious, with plenty of space for the race-track aficionados. There are also a fair number of video lottery machines, but these are quite low-key, compared to those at the casino at Century Racetrack. The music is fairly low in volume and actually has a bit of melody to it. That is compared to the blaring of short cuts from vintage rock songs, which seem to be the theme of Century Mile VLTs.
- As is often the case, there weren’t too many horse-players early in the afternoon, about a dozen tops, including ourselves.
- We arrived at about the time that the Woodbine (Toronto) thoroughbreds started running. However, there were only eight races on the day’s card and many of the fields were pretty thin (fewer than seven horses, after scratches). So, even the mighty titan of Canadian horseracing Woodbine is not what it used to be.
- I watched some of the TV touts that were giving their picks for the Woodbine races this afternoon. I couldn’t help but find their names to be rather amusing:
  - Jeff Bratt
  - Elissa Blowe
  - Ron Geirkink
- Those would make a good list of stage-names for a 1980s porn flick.
- It was a mixed crowd of older males at the Rosslyn , of varying ethnicity, though excitable Italians seemed especially prominent. Several were quite voluble in terms of cheering their horse on enthusiastically, then cussing it out (usually very loudly and very profanely) after it lost. That was especially true if the horse died in the stretch (i.e. had a lead early then faded away at the end).
- Some black fellows from the islands were also encouraging their horses, though they seemed more likely to try to cajole and plead with their horses in (4-1, 4-1, come on 4-1, you can do it...) rather than cuss them out. It is always kind of interesting observing how bettors interact with the animals, even though the animals are thousands of miles away.
- As for my own and my brother’s reactions, they were fairly subdued, as none of our bets came in. I had a couple of nice near-Exactors, but neglected to back them up (e.g. I bet 6-5, it came up 5-6 with a late charge from the 5 horse). Backing up an exator means betting it both ways, a sort of hedge-bet.
- At the end, I threw in some money for a couple of Craig’s long bets on some harness races. We went in on a pick-3 together, which means you pick the winner of three consecutive races. We were alive to the third leg (i.e. picked the first two accurately) and our horse led for most of the third, but died in the stretch. It would have paid a very good price, too.
- Mind you, that was just fun betting on the harnesses at Woodbine/Mohawk. It doesn’t actually count, as I am not seriously handicapping them. The bucket-pullers are a mystery to me, though Craig says they are a mystery to him too. :)
- It was that kind of day – handicapping came close, but not close enough. Thus, it was a shut-out day for both of us. I am now feeling more like a normal horse-player, after my 6Win-2Even-2Loss start, which was clearly too good to last. We will see how the next ten visits go.

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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.

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And here is an account of backpacking in Northern Ontario, that a friend and I did some years back. It also has a bit of canoing and some day hikes with my wife.

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 ahiking 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.