I once read that the editors of 'Bartlett's Familiar Quotations' were considering adding movie and TV dialogue that has become colloquial into their august edition. I don't know if they ever acted on it. My own edition of Bartlett's is fairly old, so there is nothing from 'Cool Hand Luke' in there. I'm sure.
But why not? Certainly, "What we have here is a failure to communicate" worked its way into many conversations and speech after the movie became a hit. A list could be compiled of your own, and everyone else's favorites over the years. Even if the movie is ancient, there can be oft-repeated dialogue. Surely someone has recently said, or paraphrased Captain Renault's words to Rick after that plane took off with Rick's former flame and a dead Nazi major lay at their feet.
The possibilities are endless, but that's not the point of this posting. The lede refers to something Paul Newman said in the movie 'The Color of Money' as he played Fast Eddie Felson and was tutoring Tom Cruise's Vince in the art of the pool hustle. I've always loved the sentiment. And when I win by a wide margin at the races, I love it even better. Fast Eddie is Shakespeare.
This instance started with a phone's blinking light, telling me there was a message. Thank goodness I retrieved the message, because in about 90 minutes the value of the message would have greatly decreased. To zero.
If you read any of these postings, you might be familiar with The Assembled, five males who all once worked for the same company, who gather on a thoroughly irregular basis at Aqueduct, Belmont or Saratoga racetracks. Four of the five carry red, white and blue Medicare cards, and the fifth one is the youngster, fitting into the 50-60 year old demographic. The four all have great futures behind them. The fifth has a great future ahead of them. That's just the way it goes.
By extension, there is a sixth member to the group, who doesn't assemble with the five, but who is a good friend of one of the Assembled, Bobby G. The longtime friend of Bobby G. is a lawyer who actually owns horses. Well, owns one horse at a time, but nevertheless, by virtue of ownership, is on a whole other plateau. Not only is Richie smitten with the racetrack like the others, he is so smitten he's "in the game," as they say. He's like the fourth Musketeer.
I once asked Bobby G. didn't he ever want to go in partners with Richie and also own a piece of the tail? Bobby G. replied, "Are you kidding? It's bad enough one of us has the disease." Bobby G. is a retired surgeon, who sometimes see things with a medical metaphor.
Now when Richie owns a horse it is generally a New York Bred. The New York Breeding program was breathed into life during Governor Hugh Carey's administration. It helped jump start an industry in the state, that while it doesn't rival the Kentucky Bred breeding program, it does create opportunities for ownership and thoroughbred related services throughout the state. There are many breeding farms in upstate New York by virtue of the program.
There are restricted races that are just for New York Bred horses. A horse is a New York bred by virtue of the sire's mating of the mare on New York soil. The mare then generally gives birth to the offspring in New York. Two of the most famous New York Breds were Fourstardave, The Sultan of Saratoga, and Funny Cide, who won the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
Richie's horses have yet to be that famous, but they generally do break their maiden (win a race restricted to horses who have never won a race), and then advance through what are called conditions for horses who have won at least once. After beating other horses who have never won a race, the water gets a little deeper competitively.
Because of the Bobby G. connection, we hear a good deal about who Richie might have in competition. My first winner with one of Richie's horses was with a horse called Sweet Moving D, who broke their maiden on May 7, 2004. I was at the Finger Lakes race track in the Rochester area that year because my youngest daughter was graduating from Geneseo College. If the schedule allows it, a racetrack is always included when away from home. Bobby G. is in the picture from the winner's circle.
Richie, along with a partner who is not Bobby G., are also breeders. This means they own a mare who they contract a stallion to get in foal. The offspring can be kept, or auctioned. Richie and his partner keep. And because they are the breeders, they get to name the foal. In this case, because Richie's wife Donna is a very good dancer, Richie named the horse Sweet Moving D. Nice.
I've met Richie several times. Richie is a plain spoken Runyonesque figure who knows how to mark up a Racing Form and who also remembers Manny Kalish. I generally run into Richie at his box at Saratoga. I've also met his wife. Richie has been going to Saratoga way more times than the 14 times Adelaide tells us in 'Guys and Dolls' that her serially uncommitted fiance Nathan Detroit has been on the train headed for Niagara Falls, only to get off a little early, stepping off at the upstate community of Saratoga in the month of August. Adelaide, you might remember, stays unmarried till the end of the show.
Richie is protector of horses as well as an owner, breeder and handicapper. He stays away from claiming horses, and gives his horses great care and enviable retirement conditions after their racing is done.
Owning and breeding horses is not an investment that is going to generally return a profit in the financial sense. My guess is, Richie and his partner have won perhaps 11 times with different horses since that win in 2004. But no one ever has to be asked to smile in the winner's circle. Winning in horse racing is its own high.
Through the Bobby G. connection, knowing Richie has given me two of the highest win mutuel payouts I've ever gotten. What is now the second highest payout occurred on Derby Day in 2010. Before Super Saver won the Derby that day, Mighty Tuff barreled down the turf stretch at Belmont and caught everyone at the wire, paying something like $66.00 to win. And then I had Super Saver. It was good day.
All of this background for the blinking light story. Wednesday wasn't a nice day weatherwise, and by 3 o'clock I was finished with yard work and the sky was turning even nastier looking. Rain was a definite. In fact, at Belmont it had already started.
I noticed my telephone had a steadily blinking red light, telling me there was a message. Bobby G. had called perhaps a half hour ago and left me a message that Richie had Animal Posse in the 6th at Belmont, with one of the Ortiz brothers on him. Either Ortiz, Irad, or Jose, have been lights out at the Aqueduct racing this past winter. I think even nationally they were ranked one-two in winners. They are consistently top riders. This called for a wager. Winter hibernation was over.
A check of the XpressBets website and NYRA told me it was Jose on the horse, and despite the rain, the race was still carded for the turf. This is significant.
Having a top jockey on your horse means the agent for the jockey feels the trainer, Carl Domino, has got a potential winner in the race. I knew of Animal Posse, but had lost track of him. I had forgotten to get him on my Watch List that you can create through the Daily Racing Form website.
Turns out, Animal Posse is going to be starting for the first time, and that they are only one of two four year-olds in the Maiden Special Weight NY Bred Race. All this I didn't know, nor did I know what his workout tab might have looked like. I'm making my thoroughly modest wager as a fan because of just knowing the ownership.
New York Bred maiden races usually attract big fields. The breeding/ownership program has a lot of participants, and big State Bred fields are usually always assured. In this case, 12 horses, the maximum for the distance at Belmont on the turf, are going to be in the starting gate. I later found out on post-race call with Bobby G. that Linda Rice, a top New York trainer, had a horse on the Also Eligible list, number 13. This meant that if there was a scratch, her horse would draw in. Her first call jockey it turned out would have been Jose Ortiz. So, a scratch brings her horse in, and leaves the Animal Posse connections needing to look for a jockey who is not committed to the race. There is no scratch. There is a God.
At this time of the year, because all horses in the Northern Hemisphere are generally born by January-March, a four year-old horse competing against three year-old can be seen as an advantage. They are assigned higher weight on the scale of weights set by the Jockey Club, on the belief that they are generally bigger and stronger than a three year-old who is really not fully matured. But an unraced four year-old can be viewed with suspicion.
Where have they been? Sick? Hurt? Hard to handle? Certainly one, or all of those is a possibility. Turns out Animal Posse is a gelding, generally done to a horse to quiet them down and allow them to be trained.
But a Maiden Special Weight race means there can be no claiming. So, there is no indication from the ownership that they are willing to part ways with the horse. A few weeks ago at Aqueduct I noticed an unraced horse in a $40,000 Maiden Claiming race who had been bought at auction for nearly $300,000. The air went out of that balloon since the auction. I forgot to see if anyone claimed the horse. They didn't win.
Turns out Animal Posse is rated at 8-1 in the Morning Line, the initial odds that the track's oddsmaker thinks their chances are. An 8-1 shot is not really a long shot, and certainly not a favorite. The distribution of money bet causes all odds to fluctuate up or down. More money on a horse, the lower the pari-mutuel odds. Relatively little money, the odds soar up.
By the time I made my modest bet and tuned to XpreeBets on my computer to watch the race, I was glad to see the race did indeed stay on the turf despite the light rain, and that the odds on the 3 horse, Animal Posse, were an astounding 23-1. Large fields can keep the odds up on some horses, but I wasn't expecting this.
And it wasn't post time yet. The odds kept drifting up like a hot air balloon as post time approached. 36-1; finally 43-1. Jesus, I've got money on a 43-1 shot! They don't usually win.
A 6 furlong race (3/4 of a mile) is a sprint, somewhat like a 60 meter dash in track and field. The start is everything. Blow the start, and you're cooked. Animal Posse is breaking from the three hole in a 12 horse field. This is good, and the jockey is good at all aspects of the game, so when Animal Posse immediately gets out well, and surges to the front, well, there's only one way to win now. All the way baby.
A lead with a relaxed look is wonderful. And Animal Posse is clicking off fractions of 22 3/5 for the quarter, 45 3/5 for the half, so far leading significantly at every pole. The Belmont turf has been producing course records of late, so even horses that may not be world beaters are setting fast times.
Into the stretch, when a horse is expected to change leads, meaning land on their opposite foreleg first for the straightaway run, Animal Posse appears to have handled the gear shfit, and despite feeling Whatstotalkabout bearing down on them, is not backing up. If anything, they are accelerating, while the other horse is gaining. At 43-1, there's nothing wrong with second, especially with win bets backed up with a place bet.
The wire looms, and no one is quitting. Animal Posse prevails by a very big nose, A Jimmy Durante nose, or half a head really, a margin that's visible even without the photo.
Four years-old and you win your first start. You either go up from there, or toil in the next condition and drive everyone nuts. But the moment is now.
When I see Richie next time at Saratoga I will have to bow heavily to the maven. Last year I caught up to Richie in his box. But if you know anything about how finicky they are at Saratoga and protective of the people in the boxes, you know you can't be wearing shorts, and you have to get past a picket line of ushers.
Last year I was wearing shorts when I manged to reach Richie in his front row box. I approached from the apron side, and blew past the girl at the steps. After discussing the next race with Richie I got up to leave by going up the inside steps. When a woman usher spotted me in shorts she nearly got bug spray out to shoo me away.
Shorts or not, Belmont, Saratoga or at home, an $89.50 winner with a $31.40 place price over the favorite ridden by the other Ortiz is sweet. And even in the rain, wearing raincoats, no one has to be asked to smile in the winner's circle.
And money won is twice as nice as money earned.
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