i've had relatives who work the horse race track circuit for years as the people who you place your bets with. i went once to the horse races as a kid, picked a horse for 1 race and lost (all in good fun given that i was not old enough to gamble). i haven't been since. i have just about zero interest in any form of gambling. since my friends have shown interest in going to the track lately, i asked my aunt yesterday at thanksgiving if she still works at the track. next thing you know, we are all invited to go to the track today with a table reserved for us at the vessels club (it's like the vip section, it's where all the horse owners hang out). our friend who wanted to go couldn't go so it was just twiddle thumbs and i. again, all in good fun. if i'm not in the right mood for this sort of thing, i can be a real bitch. we paid $3 to park, got in for free (don't know if you have to pay to get in), went up to the vessels club, met my aunt who gave us a free program (it costs about $4), then sat at our table. we ordered dinner and drinks. watched the races on the screen, sometimes walked to the balcony area so we could see the races in person as opposed to just on the tv in front of us.

a photo finish

we were there for races 1-7. i think there were 11 races that night. they were trial races which my aunt said are supposed to be good but how am i to know. they were all short 400 yard races, not very exciting. the one exciting moment was one of those horrible moments in racing--accident/injury. a horse tumbled over a few times and landed on top of the jockey, very likely breaking the horse's leg and possibly his neck. it was just one of those moments where everyone went silent and ran out to see what happened.

we placed a bet ourselves and my aunt placed bets for us too. we marked in the program who we thought would win simply by how funny the name of the horse was to us--not the best way to pick a horse. we did read some of the descriptions of the horses and their histories but it was hard to understand. (side note: don't expect great literature or even much clarity to come out of reading a horse racing program.) we never picked a winner dead-on in terms of getting the placing right (1st, 2nd, 3rd) so we didn't win any cash but a lot of what we picked showed which tells me that we should only bet show. now, i've never understood all this funny business about horse racing bets (win, place, show, exacta, etc.) so it was good that the program has a guide.

win: you win if your horse finishes first, and you collect the WIN payoff.
place: you win if your horse finishes first or second, and you collect the PLACE payoff.
show: you win if your horse finishes first, second, or third, and you collect the SHOW payoff.
exacta: you select two horses, and you win if your horses finish first and second in EXACT order.
quinella: you select two horses, and you win if your horses finish first and second in any order.
trifecta: you select three horses, and you win if your horses finish first, second and third in EXACT order.
superfecta: you select four horses, and you win if your horses finish first, second, third and fourth in EXACT order.
daily double: to win, you select the winners of two consecutive races comprising the daily double.
pick three: to win, you select the winners of three consecutive races comprising the pick three.
pick four: you select the winners of four consecutive races comprising the pick four.
pick six: to win, you select the winners of six consecutive races comprising the pick six. offered once nightly.

nice betting guide, however even with the wager odds guide, i still don't get it. i mean, i understand which horse they think will do better when comparing basic stuff like 1-9 versus 99-1 but i just don't get all the "odd" numbers like 6-5 versus 7-2. i just don't quickly "get" the odds by reading them and i think that shows a basic lack of fraction comprehension taught in the public school system. here's the order of payoffs.

odds for a $2 payoff
1-9 pays $2.10 to $2.30
1-5
2-5
1-2
3-5
4-5
1-1
6-5
....
99-1 pays $200 and up