Do You Speak Horse Track?

If you know where I live then you probably already guessed. We went to Charles Town Races and Slots last night. Our friends the Andersons invited us to participate in a fund raiser dinner for their son's school. Also, some more friends from town (Greg and Stephanie) were going to be there. Easy decision. There's probably some tips to be learned here for other people raising funds for other causes.

Would You Like to Help With Our Fundraiser? Umm, I'm really busy. Maybe you could call another time. And how'd you get this number?

Would You Like to Help With Our Son's School's Fundraiser? Umm, possibly. What all is entailed? How much do I have to spend in order to help?

Would You Like to Join us at an awesome buffet, bet on horse races, have a drink from the cash bar...and do it all to support our son's school? You had me at buffet. Who do I make the check out to?

I intended to recoup all my costs by hitting a trifecta, but it was not to be. I did bet on a horse called Jeb's Angel across the board in race 6 because I liked the name. Sure enough, it was my only winner of the night. I wasn't the only one who picked a winner however. Marybeth's sister Cindy was also with us. Her husband and I had yet to win a race and she won by picking a name she liked on a horse that was 23-1 to win.

If you've ever been to a horse track you probably seen the programs. It's not just a list of horse names and the odds. There is a ton of information that is listed for each horse but it's all in code. So just because you know how to read english doesn't mean you will understand a single word in the program. However, there are courses and books you can read in order to understand it all....any casino will be happy to point you in the right direction.

Luckily for us, Greg, our friend who was with us, used to work at the track. He can speak and understands horse track. So he explained enough to me so that I could pour over all the numbers and stats and at least look like I knew what I was looking at. It's really funny to see all these guys at the race track studying their programs like they are going to make some kind of "informed" bet.

I have to admit, it is kind of fun making the bets themselves. It feels like you're a real insider when you say "gimme a 2 dollar 3-7-4 trifecta and a number 10 across the board". Then you hand the guy $4 and go back to your seat. Most of the time you don't win and then you get up and repeat the process for the next race. Very exciting. Especially when you're making bets while you're in the buffet. Because you can always take the consolation prize of getting another plate of food while you wait for the next post time.

We spent most of the time in the nice restaurant area of the track. People are dressed up, the food is fantastic and the annoying sound of thousands of slot machines can't be heard. Those things sound like a room full of alarm clocks going off at the same time....alarm clocks are evil. However, down in the lower level it's another story. It's called the "Mainline" in horse track language. Down there they have simulcast betting on just about every track in the entire universe. Do you remember that bar in Star Wars where Han, Obiwan and Luke meet up for the first time? That's exactly like the mainline. Heavy smoke, lot's of really strange looking people, and tons of dirty looks. Next time I go I'll be sure to take some photos of the mainline in order to show everyone here what I'm talking about.

So to sum up, just bet on the name of the horse you like. You'll have more fun, you won't have to learn horse track, and you'll probably beat out all those guys acting like they do understand horse track.