Day 8: Lake George Rest Day

 

Date: August 11, 2017

Rest Day

 

We spent the entire day at Saratoga Race Track and what a day it was!  We slept late this morning - all of us. Skipped breakfast and drove straight to the track.  We all felt like kids going to Rocky Point!  We couldn't wait to get there!

History and Background:  The Saratoga Race Track opened in August 3 1863, and is the fourth oldest race track in the US.  It has a capacity to hold 50,000 people.  The track is open 6 weeks a year beginning on the 3rd Friday in July and ending the Monday of Labor Day weekend. Races run 6 days a week for 40 race days. The only dark days are on Tuesday. Throngs of people come from all over the world to see the races here in Saratoga Springs. Each year just under 1 million people visit Saratoga Race Track. The annual handle for those attending is about $150m with a handle of $571m worldwide. That makes the per race handle about $1.43m.  These numbers are ok for an average to give you a feel for the money being spent on these races, but the reality is that most of the bets are placed on Saturday and Sunday so its more like a long tail curve with Saturday and Sunday as highest volume days.

The track opens each race day at 11:30a and the first race is at 1:00p.  We arrived today at about 12:30p.  We stayed for all 10 races and bet on the horses in all of them!

And there off ...  
 

Just outside the gate

First order of business was to buy the programs and TIP sheets.  TIP sheets - hmmm! We really didn't know what TIP sheets were but as soon as we walked through the gates we were immediately greeted by this man below.  He had two colored sheets a green and pink one.  The green one contained favorite picks for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place for all 10 races.  The pink the same but for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.   The green favorites were from a gentleman expert and the pink a lady expert.  Each sheet was $2.  We didn't know if the TIP sheet was a sham, but Brian thought he needed all the help he could get so he went for it and bought both sheets for $4.  I guess you could say this was Brian's first bet of the day.  And as it turns out, it was indeed money well spent!

TIP Sheets

Brian used the TIP sheets primarily for his picks

Here is one of the published programs for all races with the horses and odds!

I used this program primarily to select my picks

It wasn't quite a full house today, but here is a view from our seats - looks pretty full from this angle.

 

Here we are moments before the first race.  We all looked over the program and the TIP sheets.  We all placed bets.  Three of us won this race.  Brian and me with the 6 horse and Steve with the 1 horse.  Sadly, it was Michelle who bet on the only horse that never made it to the finish line - horse number 3.
 

Ready to win!

For every race, before the horses are placed in the gate, they are strutted across the front of the track for all to see. I have to tell you, seeing these horses up close is breathtaking - such beauty!  Thoroughbreds are so lean and strong!  All the horses that ran today were between 2 and 3 years old and of both sexes - stallions and fillies.

Race one line up

And there off ...

Close to the finish line

Sadly horse number 3 broke her leg in the final stretch. The jockey was thrown from his saddle as well but he was fine. You can see poor Sweetneida here below in last position.  It was just devastining to see and watch her suffer in pain.

 

A team of trainers went out to help her immediately after the race finished.  They managed to get her in a trailer and drove her off the track.

We really didn't want to think about what would happen to Sweetneida, but sadly we all knew.

____

So we figured the next logical thing to do was to melt away the sadness with something cold - coffee, coffee, buzz, buzz, buzz Ben and Gerrys ice cream!

My favorite too!

So let me recap here how the rest of the day went.  It was a fabulous day!  We bet every race, each of us with different strategies on how we picked the winners.  Steve played the number 1 horse in every race.  Michelle played the number 3 horse in race one and race ten. Brian and I both bet big; Brian using his TIP sheets and me using my advanced betting skills. 

Brian was the big winner - winning over $200 and netting a positive number. Both Steve and Michelle almost finished close to breakeven, both winning the final race!  Well, I was the big loser - losing over $200. I did learn something from this experience; to buy the TIP sheets from the guy at the front gate and sit near someone who says he doesn't know what he is doing :).

The following are some random shots of us ...

 Here is just a sample of the beautiful stallions and fillies ...

Michelle and Steve both holding up their winning ticket for the last race - horse #4 Cashless Society to win!  Both Brian and I played the 4 and 2 horse (win/place in any order) and lost after a photo finish calling the 10 horse before the 2. The final results 4, 10, 2.

You can't win, if you don't bet, so we bet big and we bet strong - if it wasn't the trifecta or quinella, it was the exacta or wheel, and sometime we just bet the horse to win, place and/or show.  We played them all!  We had a blast!  

We ended the night at George Henry's for dinner; we sat at the bar to eat.  We ordered chicken wings to split. Steve and Brian turkey and roast beef sandwiches, Michelle scallops and me a cob salad.

A perfect end to a perfect day!
 

We are here in Lake George again tomorrow.