It’s hard enough to win at the races. You change your mind at the last minute and your first pick wins at 10-1. You get nosed out for a huge tri. Your jockey goes eight horses wide and gets beat by a head. You win by five and get dq-ed. You explode in jubilation when your two longshots run 1-2, then look at your ticket and realize you punched in the wrong numbers.

Or how about what happened at Northlands Park on Saturday, March 20th. The tenth race was run. There was nothing improper about the race. No cheating, no interference, no unfair starts or broken equipment. The winners cheered as they saw their best come in – win, place, show, exactors, tris, doubles and win threes. The race was announced as Official.

Then it got very stupid. Because of a computer glitch, horseplayers were advised there would be a short delay until the prices were posted. Apparently, the last cycle of bets didn’t make it into the final calculation, or were lost or somehow not accounted for. At Northlands, this might have been a couple hundred dollars. The total parimutuel handle for the  tenth race was about $14,000. Chicken scratch compared to Woodbine.

So some hour and 20 minutes after the last race at Northlands, when most of the fans had departed the track, an advisement appeared on the screens – no announcement – that all bets for the tenth race would be refunded.  Nice break for those who lost, most of whom had already destroyed their tickets, but a decision of extraordinary stupidity for those who had bought winning tickets and now were entitled to just a refund of their original bet.

At first, the track suggested this bizarre decision was a hybrid conclusion between Northland’s management and their Tote system, AmTote, whose computer melt-down caused the mess. But four days later, Northlands indicated they were ordered by the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Association (CPMA), the government body that oversees horse racing, to issue refunds.  The CPMA supports this decision by stating (ridiculously) that horse racing must be “conducted in a way that is fair to the public.”

Let’s poll the guy who had $20 to win on the horse that finished first in the tenth. Or how about the guy who had the superfecta. Let’s ask them – was it fair to watch a race, hear that it’s ‘official’ and then get back only the money you bet?

As a bettor myself, I am unable to cut the track or the CPMA any slack on this. It is a profoundly stupid and thoroughly unenlightened decision. Making it much worse is this – even the daily doubles and win threes going into the last race were screwed up. Regardless of what happened to the pools of the tenth race, the double and win three pools were already determined. There was a finite and exact determination on what would be paid based on which horse won.

Even today, you can still see the charts from Northlands at the Standardbred Canada website and see that Rumers Are Flying driven by  Rod Hennessy came first at odds of 5.90-1 with the favourite Allbouttaj second and 7-1 shot Katies Gun third. That would set up a nice exactor and triactor. $10 win/place would be worth close to $100. The double might be worth $60, the win three was going to pay around $150. Those prices had already been posted. To deny the winners full value (consolation payoffs were announced for daily doubles and win threes) is so blatantly unfair that anyone with a live ticket should consult a lawyer.

Making this even stupider is that this decision will probably cost the track much more than if they’d simply decided that even with the tote system failure, they could have figured out manually what to pay. Now they are obligated to honour any reasonable applications for refunds from fans claiming they bought tickets and threw them away. Any person identifying a $2 or $5 or $10 ticket would have to be redeemed. Since this was the track or AmTote’s mistake, the bettors can hardly be blamed for throwing their tickets away.

Let me cite an historic precedence for this. Not quite the same, but about 25 years ago, executives at Greenwood had to make a decision. A harness race finished 1-1a, back in the days when you could still bet both halves of the entry in an exactor. The computer somehow thought there had been a dead heat and split the payoff in half, issuing an $11 exactor, when just before post-time, the 1-1a exactor had been offering $21. Unlike the stumble bums in Edmonton, the Ontario Jockey Club (well this was in the 80′s) made a very fine decision. An announcement was made that anyone who had cashed an exactor ticket would be given another $10. Since everyone who cashed had yielded their only form of evidence, the track actually paid off everyone who made a reasonable claim. As I recall, Greenwood sustained a loss of a few thousand dollars. But if they’d dug in their heels and refused to compensate the fans and decided, say, the next day to offer the proper payoff, the avalanche of phony claims would have been many times more burdensome.

More important, the OJC made a decision subject to their own expense based solely on what the players were entitled to.

At Northlands in Edmonton on the night of March 20 the winning bettors were screwed out of profits they were fully entitled to. Screwed not by a fixed race or unscrupulous drivers but by a decision that simply illustrates the massive ignorance and incompetence of racetrack officials and those in the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency who have the final say.

I’m hoping there are a few bettors in Edmonton who are refusing to cash for the refund and are consulting their lawyers. With all the problems facing horse racing in this country, it is discouraging to the extreme to realize that the governing officials in this country apparently have no regard for the honour of a winning bet.

Woodbine’s Glenn Crouter calls ( about once a week in March) to remind us that Opening Day of the thoroughbred meet at Woodbine is the surest sign that spring has arrived – certainly it’s a far more reliable barometer than the spring equinox!

Apparently God is a horse-player. According to forecasts, there could be a record high in the mid 20s when the players reconvene at Woodbine on Good Friday. The money guys at WEG are relieved; the winter play on the harness races was depressingly slow – for the first time since maybe the bronze age, handles regularly dropped below a $ million a night and that is the point where Woodbine suggests it’s a losing proposition. Expect the bettors to pour close to $3 million through the windows on Friday.

I have a better reason than usual to pay closer attention to race results this year. Arthur Silvera trains a two year-old colt by Max Forever (who?) and this youngster is owned by David Cassidy, a horse lover famous for being Keith Partridge of the Partridge Family tv series. Cassidy apparently is a huge radio listener and a big fan of Down The Stretch, Canada’s most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper, so when it came time to name this two year-old, Cassidy was adamant.

“We have to name him after Peter Gross!” he insisted. Cassidy recalls his co-star, the very beautiful Susan Dey, talking to him constantly in the 70s about me and it aroused his curiousity (I’m taking some liberties with the truth here).

Anyway, for whatever reasons, there is now a horse working out at Woodbine called Peter The Gross. I visited barn 35 on Sunday morning to meet my namesake and he is a very good-looking horse. Silvera advised me not to get too excited about the horse’s short turn prospects.

“He’s got four white socks,” pointed out Silvera. “Some people think that’s the kiss of death.”  Peter The Gross, however does have a very attractive chestnut colt and is expected to make his racing debut as early as May. My ego being what it is, I can’t help think of the fame and attention I would receive if next year, Peter The Gross should win the Queen’s Plate, or Kentucky Derby or even….the  Breeders’ Cup Classic. I could go to the race, get a pass for the celebrity parties, renew my romance with Susan Dey.

Some great racing on the weekend with some spectacular payoffs and boy did I get screwed. Handicapping the races from Dubai is very difficult because so few horses have actually run at that track. Take the 6th race on Dubai Cup day..the winner was Al Shemali who paid a dazzling $292 to win. I was watching this stuff at home and when the $10,000,000 Dubai Cup was loading into the gate, I attempted to bet $2 win/show on the five-horse, Gloria de Campeao, because I noticed the horse did have one good race on the track. When I tried to punch in the bet, the disemboweled voice at HPI advised me,

“Win/show is not available at Dubai for race eight. You may hang up at anytime.”

I didn’t want to hang up. I wanted a bet on Gloria De Campeao.  But at the races at Meydan, win/show doesn’t exist. If you bet to place, you can finish third and cash. I didn’t know that. By the time I re-entered my bet, the race was off and I got shut out. I think you know how this ends…Gloria de Campeao  went off at 25-1 led all the way, opened up two lengths in mid-stretch and then a 40-1 shot, Lizard’s Desire came flying up late and to the naked eye, appeared to nail Gloria de Campeao on the wire. In fact, the jockey on Lizard’s Desire was pounding the air in celebration for his shocking win. However, after a long look at the photo, the judges were able to see that Gloria de Campeao’s nose was a good eighth of a inch ahead at the wire. It paid $52.40 to win an d$15.50 to place and I didn’t get a dime.

I was also close in the Louisiana Derby on Saturday. I took a horse called A Little Warm on top in exactors. Ridden by David Cohen, A Little Warm went off just a shade under 7-1 and took the lead down the backstretch in this $750,000 Stakes race at a mile and an eighth. A Little Warm led all the way down the lane and looked like the winner until Mission Impazible under Rajiv Maragh came flying up late to win by less than a length. The exactor paid $123, leaving me asking the age-old handicapping question – Why didn’t I take my horse on the bottom?

The Sam-Son Farms hopeful, Hotep, trained by Mark Frostad went off at 25-1, but ridden by Patrick Husbands, he had no punch, loitering near the back of the field and finishing 11th.

The winner, Mission Impazible, a son of Unbridled’s Song, is trained by Todd Pletcher for Twin Creeks Racing Stable. So far no one horse has emerged as a clear Kentucky Derby Candidate, but I would be willing to take another shot on A Little Warm. In the Derby, with as many as 20 horses, you do want one that can clear the mob early and stay out of trouble.

Maybe I’ll bet $2 win/place.

The 2010 Thoroughbred racing meet starts next Friday at Woodbine and that’s usually good enough to bring all the bettors out of hibernation ( they certainly have been sleepy at the standardbred races this winter, considering the alarming drop in mutuel handle). But even the really smart guys at Woodbine could not have thought of the spectacular marketing and promotional bonanza they’re going to receive in the near future – a crowd drawing concept possibly unrivaled in the history of sports ( or as fight promoter Don King would say…”in the history of history!”).

Down The Stretch contributor Perry Lefko ( who turned 50 yesterday) deserves most of the credit for this – maybe Woodbine will give him one of the plastic media cards that i have that works for free chicken and pizza in the food court. Lefko has written a feature story on former Partridge Family lead singer David Cassidy who has owned, raced, bred and sold horses for close to forty years. For the past decade or so, his trainer has been the Woodbine based Arthur Silvera and this year, they’re working on a promising two year-old colt. Turns out the only real problem this young horse had was the lack of a name. At first, Silvera wanted to call it Downthestretch, which would have thrilled us, due to a little publication called Down The Stretch that we publish religiously every month.

“Downthestretch describes the important part of the race,” said Silvera. “Just when the running really happens.”

Sadly, that named was already spoken for and the Jockey Club of Canada had to reject the idea. What could Silvera and Cassidy do? Cue the hero, Perry Lefko.

“I suggested they call the horse Peter The Gross, ” says Lefko. “Everyone knows what a great fan you are of horse racing and how much work you put into Down The Stretch and most important – how much you bet on the races.”

Cassidy and Silvera ( for reasons unknown) loved the idea. This little colt’s dam is Polar Capp and his sire is Max Forever, so perhaps his breeding is not as brilliant as if he was a son of Storm cat out of Dance Smartly and now he’ll have the burden of carrying the namesake of a guy who can’t pick the exactor in a three-horse race.

Must admit, though, it is a thrill to have a horse I<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> named after me. There is a precedent for this kind of thing. There actually was a horse called Harold Ballard that won a few times at Woodbine in the 80s. One glorious day, I took him on top in a triactor and cashed $1000. My buddy Jim McKenny told me that someone once called a horse Jim McKenny, but apparently that one was guilty of crossing over in front of the starters gate on a few occasions. According to McKenny, Jim McKenny (the horse) was carted off the racetrack one day and never seen again.

So I am very much looking forward to track announcer Dan Loiselle calling Peter The Gross’ first race. Which of the following phrases do you think he will use?

“…and away back in last is Peter The  Gross..”

“and then we go back to Peter The Gross who is making short, choppy strides…”

“Peter The Gross has gone very wide into the stretch and seems to be headed towards the betting windows!”  Of course, the day that Peter The Gross makes his racing debut will be one requiring racing fans to arrive early to assure a seat.

Surely a gigantic crowd will show up to witness a horse whose  reputation very much precedes it.

I admit it is boring to hear (or read about) a guy bragging of his racetrack scores, but I had two very nice moments on the simulcast gambling last weekend that served to reinforce my theory that the daily double is the best possible legal bet in this country.

On Friday, working my cash through the races at Aqueduct,  I was examining the 6th race with my typical disdain for the favourite. It was an ugly race for maiden special weights trying a mile and 70 on the inner track. The crowd made Ramon Dominguez the 3-2 favourite on Bob’s Pinup Girl, so I looked elsewhere and bet a couple of horses with minimal form. I included the rail horse because inside trips do very well on the inside track at Aqueduct and verily, there was # 1 Seeing Clearly and jockey Mike Luzzi roaring up in deep stretch to win by half a length at delightful odds of 13.6-1. My double strategy often buys me as many as four horses in the second half and that is what I did that Friday, so when 9-2 shot, Most Happy Fella scored by a neck, it was a very pleasing moment for me. By the way, the great pacer, Most Happy Fella has been dead since the mid-80s; this one is a thoroughbred horse, unlikely to make the same kind of impact on his species .

On Sunday, there was a daily double chaos in the off-track shops. Sounds like the start of a Dick Francis thriller doesn’t it? The first race at Aqueduct was called off because trainers refused to bring their horses to the eligibility barn on time as part of a protest over New York State officials not moving fast enough on the slots program. And at the same time, the first race at Gulfstream was eliminated because of multiple scratches of horses that had come in contact with a sick horse at Calder.

As much as that threw my daily double handicapping into total bedlam, I regrouped for the fifth races, which was really the fourth. The less than knowing punters had installed Air Lord and Ramon Dominquez as the 1-2 favourite and he sure looked much the best, but these kinds get beat all the time. I was just guessing taking a couple of stabs against the choice and in late stretch, the 9-horse Hard Iron came out of nowhere to collar the odds-on choice at the  wire. hard Iron was 12-1 and i had him hooked up with four horses in the second half of the double.

It was a sad bunch of special maiden weights going a mile and 70 on the dirt, but Victor Santiago is now my favourite jockey. He took Book smartly out of the gate, stalked the pace for seven furlongs, then pulled away in deep stretch for a convincing win by a length and a half. I’m sure glad that I read Book correctly. A son of Gold Token out of Spiral Binder (get it?), Book was 21-1 and helped me cash a double that paid $272.00

So in the span of three days, I hit for $151 and $272 in the double. On the Saturday night, like many other suckers, I bet $8 on the 649 lottery and come up with nothing. I have never won over $100 in the lottery, but have lost count of the number of triple digit doubles I have hit in the past three years.

The most disappointed person on the planet when Rachel Alexandra was beaten at the Fair Grounds Saturday had to be Oaklawn Park General Manager Eric Jackson. After the race, Rachel’s owner, Jess Jackson announced that the 2009 Horse of the Year is not in top shape and won’t be taking on Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom Stakes at Oaklawn on April 9. Oaklawn had jacked the purse up from $500,000 to $5 million if the two sensational lady horses were to meet, but now the best scenario is that unbeaten Zenyatta will show up.

Rachel Alexandra seemed to have the easiest of assignments in Saturday’s New Orleans Ladies Stakes. She faced only four opponents and as far as the Daily Racing Form past performances are concerned, none of those four were even qualified to carry Rachel’s purse, or whatever female horses keep their accoutrements in. Trainer Steve Asmussen blames himself for not having the horse in shape, but jockey Calvin Borel gets few points for style in this race. He swung Rachel way too wide on the first turn (how do you run in the four path in a five horse race?) and admitted after the race that he was under orders not to set the pace. Again, what was everyone thinking. Running relentlessly on the front end is Rachel Alexandra’s game. Strangling her down the backstretch while a glorified claimer cut out easy splits probably discouraged her. Halfway down the backside, Borel took an overly animated look behind him that appeared to pull somewhat on Rachel’s head. Around the far turn, RA did make an impressive move to get the lead, but Zardana, coincidentally an unheralded stablemate of Zenyatta, had a full head of steam and in mid-stretch got past Rachel. The winner of the 2009 Preakness and Woodward Stakes did dig in nicely through the stretch, but Zardana had the momentum and won by less than a length. Zardana is trained by John Sherriffs, who just 24 minutes after Rachel’s defeat, send out Zenyatta in the $250,000 Santa Margarita Stakes at Santa Anita. And if Rachel Alexandra was not race-ready, Zenyatta sure was. The six year-old mare did what she had done in all of her previous 14 wins – she started slowly, loitered in last place for almost a mile and then made an exhilarating move from 8th, swallowing up her opponents with disdain and winning by a widening length and a quarter. At the top of the lane, jockey Mike Smith had tons of momentum and a wall of horses in front of him. He yanked Zenyatta – almost violently – to the inside and she found the smallest of openings and for the final 16th, racing fans saw the definition of greatness as Zenyatta didn’t so much overhaul the front runner Dance to My Tune, she inhaled her.

Rachel Alexandra certainly deserved the Horse of the Year honors she won for 2009, but right now, who would deny that Zenyatta is the greatest horse on the planet. Her race was faster and she ran with a much greater handicap – carrying 127 pounds, at least 11 more than any other horse in her race, while Rachel was beaten by a horse toting just two pounds less.

Zenyatta’s owners Jerry and Ann Moss have assured Oaklawn that she will run on April 9. Although racing fans…and Oaklawn executives are surely unhappy that the two super ladies won’t meet in the near future, Asmussen and Jackson deserve credit – in the case of Rachel Alexandra, they have always acted in the horse’s best interest, never giving in to any personal ego.