Race Track Diary, Entry Number Twenty-Nine
29 – Billy Budd’s (April 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.
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29 – Billy Budd’s (April 18, 2026)
It was another pleasant Saturday afternoon, which had people eager to get out of the house. So, it was quite busy in Budd’s.
The NHL playoffs were beginning that day. Though there were a number of hockey playoff games on the screens, the patrons of the establishment didn’t create much of a hockey-related commotion. The fact that the local Oilers team was not scheduled to play for another two days probably accounted for that. I imagine that bar owners throughout the city were disappointed with the scheduling; having the local favourite playing on Monday rather than Saturday was not exactly optimal from their point of view.
As noted, it was a fair-sized crowd at the horseracing section of the pub. Some in the crowd were middle-aged, some were older and a few were younger. At least one table consisted of two young-middle aged women, which was a bit unusual.
There was one older couple (mid-50s perhaps) seated near us. The woman had an unusual voice, something you might associate with being a bit slow. She peppered her mate with lots of questions and made a lot of excited observations. It seemed to me that she might drive him a little nuts, but it all turned out good. When they left, the bar staff were very friendly with them, so I guess they must be semi-regulars. All in all, it was a happy story.
For some reason it gave me a serious case of deja vu, which was odd, but then that feeling of deja vu always is odd.
Later in the day a young couple came in and sat a little off from the horseracing screens. The fellow was intent on betting on the horses while the woman was more interested in her phone. Eventually she wandered off to play a nearby VLT, while he remained fixated on the horses.
So much for the crowd, how about the betting? Glad you asked. As has been my practice for the past while, I keyed in on Santa Anita for the thoroughbred part of the action.
However, I may try my luck with the thoroughbreds at Woodbine soon, as their meet began today. That said, it was an abbreviated card (seven or eight races) with fairly short fields. Presumably that will change as the meet goes on. Craig mentioned that a lot of the Woodbine horses were probably down in the States for the winter meets in Florida, so it takes a while to ship horses and get them acclimatized to a new environment.
On to Santa Anita then:
Race 1 was a Maiden Special Weight for 3 year-old fillies, so the horses had not had time to generate much of a history. My system needs more data, so I skipped the race. Had I bet it, I wold have lost (my pick came in 4th), so that was a good decision.
Race 2 had three closely-matched horses, by my lights, so I picked the one with the best odds. That turned out ok, with my pick leading most of the way, and winning at a price of $8.80 on a $2 bet. It was nice to know that I would be playing with the track’s money for a while.
It was a short field in Race 3, with my favourer horse coming in fourth out of five horses. I bet that race, so that was a loss.
I skipped Race 4, even though my system’s pick had considerably better numbers than the rest. But for some reason, I didn’t like the race. That was just as well, as my pick came in 5th out of 8 horses.
Race 5 was another Maiden Special Weight for 3 year-old fillies. Again, most of the horses had little or no useful racing history, so I gave it a pass. As it turned out, my system’s horse (#6) did win the race by a nose, but was then disqualified for a bump late in the race. That would have been very annoying had I bet on it, so it turned out to be an excellent race to skip.
Race 6 was a Maiden Claiming race, but 3, 4, and 5 year-old Fillies and Mares were eligible. As these also had rather spotty records, and it was a big 12-horse field, I elected to skip again. And once more, that turned out to be a good choice, as my system’s preferred horse came in next-to-last.
The 7th Race was a Stakes Race, on the turf. I finally bet, liking the 2, but it didn’t do much, coming in fifth. So, that was a loss.
In the 8th Race, my system’s pick was scratched. I didn’t like the second choice, so I skipped that race too. Again, that turned out to be a good idea, as my presumptive horse came in next-to-last.
I skipped Race 9 as well. I just wasn’t getting good vibes from Santa Anita today and my system’s preferred horses weren’t generally even in the money. Besides, the bucket-pullers at Woodbine/Mohawk were going now, and they were taking up most of my attention, Craig’s too.
The 10th Race was another Maiden Special Weight, so I skipped it too. My preferred horse was scratched and my second choice came in third. Once more, discretion was the better part of valour.
So, in summary, I bet only three of the Santa Anita races, winning one, for a decent price of $8.80 for a $2 bet. So, I came out ahead (technically by 46%), mostly due to avoiding bad bets.
That’s nice, but as Churchill said after Dunkirk, you don’t win wars by successful retreats. So it is with horse racing: you don’t make money by not betting. Though, on this day I did, so what would Churchill know about it, anyway? Come to think of it, the Allies did win the war, so I guess one could argue that it worked for him too.
Now, on to the Woodbine/Mohawk Harness Races:
Race 1 was taken by the #5 horse, a favourite which had been bet down to 2-to- 5. It had several good features, in terms of speed and pace. But the odds were prohibitive, so I let it pass.
Race 2 was similar, with a bet-down favourite (#6) prevailing wire-to-wire. Its odds weren’t quite as bad, though it was bet down to less than even money.
The first race that I managed to bet was Race 3, which I promptly lost.
The #6 horse went off at decent odds and had quite a few good indicators, including its post position. However, it broke stride part way through the race, so that was it for my horse.
Basically, this means that it has stopped running in the style required for the race (a trot in this case). When this happens the horse is supposed to pull off to one of the outside lanes, lose some distance and then, if it returns to stride, it can try to come back. In most cases that will be very difficult. In extreme cases it can get disqualified (e.g. if it significantly interferes with other horses when breaking stride).
Breaking stride can happen in any race, but it is more common in trot races than pace races.
The #1 horse, which was the favourite at 1-to-5 also broke stride, almost at the start of the race, then again near the end. To complete the comedy session, the #2 horse and #3 horse also broke.
Naturally, 4 horses breaking in one race, including a heavily bet-down favourite, as well as the second-favourite (my horse) raised some suspicions in our minds. The fact that the winner was 20-to-1 ($40.90 to win), the second place horse was 65-to-1 ($61 to place) and the third place horse was 72-to-1 ($68 to place) did not escape our attention. It did have all the indications of a betting-coup.
Having said all that, a quick review of several days’ results shows that most days will have 2 or 3 horses break and sometimes there will be several in the same race. But what about then having 3 long-shots come in? Was this race on the up and up? I suppose we will never know. But if nothing else, it does make for a good horse-racing anecdote.
In Race 4 I bet the #6 again, and lost again, with it coming in fifth place.
The winner was the #4, a horse named Johnny Angel, paying a big $2.60 to win. I had a bit of a laugh about that, as when I was about 4 or 5 years old my older sister used to play a record of a song with the same name, repeatedly, as teenage girls often will. I liked the song, probably because my big sister liked it. I got some teasing for that from my older brothers, including Craig, who was with me today.
But on this race, Johnny Angel was not kind to me. Or so I thought. It turned out that Craig had picked the Triactor for this race (I threw in a few numbers too), so we each got a few bucks from old Johnny. It took a while, though.
I should just note that horse names have a strange fascination for betters. It is hard to pass up a horse that has a name that has some sort of sentimental value for you.
I skipped Race 5, in terms of win betting, as we were alive to a Win-3 that had started with Johnny Angel’s victory. Besides that, none of the horses in the race stood out to me.
I also skipped win betting in Race 6. Our Win-3 was alive to a favourite in this race, but it got nipped at the wire.
Race 7 was another heart-breaker. I had a win bet on #6, at 4-to-1 and we were alive on #5 on another Win-3, at about the same odds. The 5 and 6 were coming down to the wire in first and second, so it looked like we were bound to win something. But then the #3 horse came flying and nipped them both by a nose. It won at 18-to-1. So, no money for the win bet or the Win-3.
I fell for the horse name thing, in Race 8, betting on a horse called Sugar Pie Honey. It had high odds and had come in third in its last race, so I threw a show bet on it. However, it came in next-to-last, so I lost again.
I skipped the win bet in Race 9, as we were alive to another win-3. The horse that we needed for that bet came up short.
By the 10th Race, I had become quite annoyed by all these close calls. So, with that wonderful sensation that "I am due", I bet on the #6 in this race to win. It had several favourable indicators, so I stepped up the bet by a factor of 5. And it won! That said, it only paid $4.50 to win, but since I had stepped up the bet that was enough to cover all my losses so far at the buckets.
I skipped win bets on the 11th and 12th races. We had a triactor in the 12th that didn’t miss by much and that was that.
Totalling things up, I came out with a 25% profit with the harness races, mainly due to a strategic (lucky?) decision to step up a bet.
So, not including exotics such as Win-3 and Triactor bets, I won a single race at the Santa Anita thoroughbreds and a single race at the Woodbine/Mohawk harness races. But by judiciously (or luckily) skipping many races that I would have lost, and stepping up my bet amount at the right time, I came in ahead for both the Santa Anita and the Woodbine races. Which is great, but kind of nerve-wracking.
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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’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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