Race Track Diary, Entry Number Forty
40 – Billy Budd’s (July 25, 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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40 – Billy Budd’s (July 25, 2026)
It has been an insane weather summer locally, oscillating between extreme heat and extreme rain and thunder storms, much of the time. This Saturday was one of the hot days, and would conclude as one of the stormy nights. But, fortunately the air conditioning was working nicely in the off-track-betting area of Budd’s, so we received some respite.
It was a pretty good crowd when we first arrived at about 3:00 in the afternoon. There was the usual mix of regulars and non-regulars, largely skewing older and male, though not exclusively, as a couple of ladies shared a table not far from where we were sitting.
Our old racetrack companion Ted wasn’t in attendance but I reckon he will show up every now and again. His usual venue is in a different part of town, in the west-end.
We had some time to kill before the bucket-pullers would start, so I kept an eye on a few thoroughbred tracks, namely Saratoga, Gulfstream and Del Mar, for big odds drops from Morning Line to Race-time. However, no interesting angles came up during our time of waiting.
Here are a few general notes of a non-racing variety:
One guy yelling (though not very loudly): “Come on Johnny, run away, run away!” I have heard this encouraging vocalization before; I don’t know if the fellow has a favourite jockey of that name or just uses that as a general term of endearment/abuse for any and all jockeys (like any American G.I. during WW2 being called “Joe”).
One of the waitresses laughing, while talking to somebody (off in a far part of the pub): “I needed some extra money, so I brought out the girls today.” And it turned that she had, as became evident when she served our side of the pub, later on.
I realized that one of the two women sitting behind us was Lil, the lady that some guy was trying to smooth-talk during another visit. She and the other lady were very intent on the horses this time and seemed quite knowledgeable. I got the feeling that they must have lived around horses in their younger days, maybe growing up on a farm or having relatives in the racing game.
Me (to another fellow):
“It looks like your high-beams are still on.”
He looks around in confusion, then notices light being emitted from his shirt pocket. “I’m not used to these smart phones, this is my wife’s phone that she lent to me.”
He turns the smart-phone flashlight off and fishes out a flip-flop phone from another pocket. “I’m used to these.”
Me: “Yeah, those are good.”
Him: “With smart phones, you touch the wrong part of the screen and you don’t know what will happen.”
Me: “Right. Whoops, I think I just launched some missiles.”
The waitress nearly tripped going up the small staircase to where some of the off-track-betting tables were located. But she managed to catch herself and recover without spilling a drop. According to my earlier observations, there were glass spilling or glass breaking incidents during racetrack diary entries #2, #15 and #23. So, given that this is diary entry #40, the time is about ripe for this event to happen again, according to Poisson process statistics.
The screens were full of tornado and thunderstorm warnings, as the afternoon and eventing wore on. Craig and I traded some dark humour about the weather paranoia of recent years. However, we did get caught in a wicked thunder-storm on the way home at about 9:30, which lit up the sky like high noon and dumped oceans of rain, which necessitated pulling over to the side of the road, as visibility went to nearly 0. There is a lesson there about taunting the weather gods.
At about 4:30 the harness races at Woodbine/Mohawk started:
Race #1 was a Trot and all my systems had the #6 horse taking it. Oddly enough, the morning line had it third, but the crowd wasn’t fooled, as it was bet way down, to 1 to 2. I went with it, strictly as a beer bet, betting it to show. It came in second, paying a whopping 2.10 to place and the same to show. So I won my beer bet, but a lot of people must have gotten burnt rather badly on the win ticket. Note that this was the only Trot race today.
In Race #2 I bet on the #4 horse, to place. It finished way down the track.
In the 3rd Race I was shut-out. That was just as well, as the horse that I planned to bet came in fifth. None of the top three horses in the race paid much on a bet anyway.
In Race #4 there was big odds-drop on the #4 horse, going from 10 to 1 in the morning line to 2 to 1 by race-time. In addition, one of my systems had the horse rated quite highly (second), so I put a place bet on it. It won by a neck, paying $5.90 to win and $3.30 to place. It would have been nice to get the win, but you take what you can get.
For the 5th Race, I bet the #6 horse to place, as both of my systems had it rated at or near the top. The #10 horse was the favourite, but it came out of the gate very poorly and was never in the race, finishing last. It was then decided by the judges that it didn’t get a fair start and all bets on that horse were cancelled, with bettors getting their money back. My #6 horse actually won the race, so I won my place bet, which paid $8.70 to win, $5.00 to place. The fact that the judges cancelled bets on the favourite probably cut down those payoffs, likely by no small amount. The decision struck me as a dodgy one that cost me money.
In Race #6, I bet horse #6 to show, as my “long-shot with a shot” system liked it. It did come in third, not far off the winner, but it was bet down to less than 2 to 1, so the show ticked only paid $2.40 per two dollar bet. My notes say “kind of a joke”, as it was 5 to 1 in the morning line. So it goes.
I skipped the 7th Race, as it was a short field and had a decent purse. It just seemed like a tough race to call. My systems did like the winner, but picked it 2nd best. The horse it liked best came in next-to-last, so it was a good race to skip. The winner (#6) ran an interesting race, laying up in last place until the 3/4 pole, then charging down the stretch, to finish in first place. Nice to watch, as long as it didn’t beat out your horse.
In Race #8, I bet the #1 horse to place, primarily on the basis of a rather large odds drop, from 8 to 1 to 3.7 to 1. Neither of my systems thought much of it, but I have learned to respect these odds drops. It turned out that it ran almost wire-to-wire, winning the race by two ticks (i.e. two-fifths of a second, which translates to somewhat more than a length). It paid nicely, 9.40 to win and 5.10 to place.
As for Race #9 , I skipped it. My favoured horse was a huge long-shot, and I was tempted, given the odds that it was going off at. But I decided against it. It came in 7th, the crowd’s estimate of its potential being correct. There was no show-betting allowed, which seems odd for a 10 horse field.
In Race #10, I bet the #6 horse to place. It was rated second by both of my systems and it also had a substantial odds drop, from 6 to 1 to 3 to 2. It ran wire-to-wire in first place, paying $5.20 to win and 3.20 to place.
I skipped Race #11. My systems liked the #5, but I didn’t feel confident about it. As it turned out, the #6 horse won, paying quite handsomely, 16.30 to win and 7.50 to place. One of my systems did rank the #6 second, but only slightly better than a few other horses, so it didn’t seem like a good bet. Besides, I had been hitting most of the races, getting at least a bit of money, so I was beginning to feel that luck was bound to turn against me soon.
Race #12 proved that my premonitions were accurate. I bet the #7 horse to show, as it was favoured by both my systems and was going off at 50 to 1. But it came in dead last.
Race #13: skipped it.
Summing up, I bet 8 races and won money on 6 of them. I skipped 5. Most of the prices were short, but I managed to grind out a profit between 10% and 30%. The uncertainty is due to my bad record-keeping on one race, where I am not sure if I bet place or show (though I am fairly certain that it was place).
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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.
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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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