Even acknowledging that on-track attendance in New York is in the toilet, this was a sparse crowd, when two members of the Stalwart Four were the only people you could find.
Spotting Bobby G. on a bench, our own deliberations on the card commenced. Neither of the first two of us there noticed there were no machines in the bays of any of the windows. And when Johnny M. got there, we still didn't think anything was too strange, until Anthony Stabile came down from the outside broadcast perch, walked past us, and informed us, "Gentlemen, this floor is closed."
Truer words were never said. I don't know how Anthony's picks went on the day, but he certainly had that one right. The floor was closed, and he directed us to the 2nd or 4th Floors.
The 4th Floor was picked to go to, and Johnny D. went down to the photographer's office in the basement to buy the dead heat photo from Alabama Day at Saratoga, the 9th race, Lake Placid, that took the placing judges over 10 minutes to decide the winner of, hampered by the suddenly black. rainy sky and no light at the finish line.
I knew the photographer's photo was not the finish line photo, but I wanted to see what he captured, as well as have a souvenir of the day's very unusual events. Dead heats are rare, but ones that take 10 minutes to decide, and ones that the judges basically couldn't definitively declare a winner of are even rarer. Because of the the poor quality of the finish line photo and the inability to separate Varenka from Regal Glory, both were declared the winners.
At the moment Adam Coglianese took the photo. being right at the finish line, standing on the turf, the inside horse Regal Glory appears to have the narrowest of noses in front. But after they traveled perhaps another foot, Varenka closed even further into Regal Glory's position, prompting the dead heat call.
When I caption the photo it will join other racetrack photos in the home office, one of which is a framed page from the 5th race program from February 11 1983 (Presidents' Day) that of course shows the entries for a race. I keep the page because that's a race that was never run because they closed the track after the 4th race.
The two John's, completely oblivious to weather predictions and the fact that it was snowing heavy, were at Aqueduct's Equestris and weren't giving ground conditions any thought whatsoever until they were told us the track was closing.
And boy was it ever snowing when we got outside! We nearly missed the bus back to Flushing. That storm turned out to be a blizzard, dumping over 15" of snow. (We got rain checks for a fresh admission.)
Coming back up from the basement I went looking for Bob and John on the 4th Floor. No one was there. anywhere. The Garden Terrace restaurant was closed. The place looked like the 3rd Floor, only the lights were on.
Without cell phones, we might have never become The Assembled, but Bob and John called me with their 2nd Floor location, that I relayed to Jose, who is always there a little after the 2nd race. Jose met us, as expected, right after the 2nd race. The Assembled assembled.
There is no better feeling than betting the first race and hitting a $40 exacta. As it turned out, that euphoria eventually melted away as a ticket wasn't cashed on any of the 10 races that followed. Modesty in betting always assures minor damage, even if nothing is hit. The balance at the end only put a small sent in the opening $60 voucher, so moral victory was declared.
The bonus on the day was the alignment of our being at the track on the same day Richie P's Kelleycanrun was competing in the 7th race, a race they were second choice to win at 2-1.
The Assembled met in the paddock and wished Richie well. If anyone remembers, Kelleycanrun last appeared in a similar Maiden Special Weight race on August 24th, Travers Day, finishing an impressive 2nd at 37-1 behind a Chad Brown monster firster, Magic Star, who exploded and overtook Kelleycanrun inside the 16th pole. A good effort was expected on Saturday.
Some things aren't meant to be, and Kelleycanrun, with a different jockey, Jose Lezcano replacing Junior Alvarado, was a little too far back, too long. The sweeping move around the final turn with nothing in front of her was either started too late, or just didn't come with the same effort as back in the last race. She finished a fast closing 3rd. Win bets, boxed tris and a boxed exacted were wiped out by Chad Brown's horses. It's Chad's world, and we just live in it.
Was it Lezcano's ride that compromised Kelleycanrun? Her 3rd place finish was behind two Chad Brown trained horses this time, Shelter Island and Balon Rose. The winner, Shelter Island was a firster, owned by Peter Brant. Does Chad Brown have to win nearly every turf race, and does owner Peter Brant need to keep winning as well? It looks like the best we can hope for in the next outing for Kelleycanrun, is that Brant and Chad Brown are somewhere else. Home, maybe.
Richie's ownership is who the Assembled vicariously live through. Richie has real skin in the game— ownership. I once asked his longtime friend Bobby G. why didn't he ever go in with Richie on a horse partnership?
Bobby, who is a retired surgeon, sharp as a tack, who naturally thinks in medical terms, replied, "It's bad enough one of us has the disease,"
The 7th race was a downer, but, there are still four more races. Wounds are licked, tickets discarded, and fresh opinions are formed. Unfortunately, even with a nice price exacta for $1 for Jose, the wheels had come off The Assembled's handicapping. The first race victory and payout now seems an eon ago,
While handicapping, I put together some numbers that could answer my question of what percentage of favorites are winning. Watching the telecasts, favorites seemed to be clocking in at something above the universal 33% victories. And above one-third it is: 45%. That is a significant average for the meet so far.
Bobby G. uses his phone to make bets, getting track odds with no municipality's surcharge.. Jose goes to a teller. Johnny M. and myself use a voucher with a starting amount and then use the self-service SAM (system activated machines) machines to make our wagers. SAM machines have made redundant a vast number of tellers who used to work the windows. On Saturday,there were two teller windows open on the second floor, with probably 12 or so bays open that had SAM and voucher machines.
So-called SAM machines have been around for decades now. They allow you to put in a voucher, a ticket that you've put an amount on, follow the icon prompts, and self-enter your bet for however many tracks they're taking action on. And there are a lot of tracks.
Yesterday I missed touched the touch screen at the outset of a race and was presented with choices in Australia. I started over.
The machine subtracts the amount of your bet from the voucher and calculates your new balance. As it's done this, you've pressed icons that have produced your tickets, the same tickets you would have gotten with a live teller.
With the advent of the SAM machines, obviously fewer tellers are needed. There are still enough people who do not use the SAM machine, and wait in a line for a teller. Since the track these days is hardly overflowing with people, there is little wait for a teller. And for the SAM machine, there is usually never a line to use them. It's as if you've got your machine.
If your bets win, you can bet off them as if they were a voucher, or you can combine their payout and get a single ticket. The machines make no math errors. But you can a HUGE one..
There is a very important step in using a SAM machine. Press the lower right icon to get your voucher back. Your money. The machine is not a robotic ATM that will flash and beep if you forget to take your card, money, or receipt. At Saratoga one year I took $100 out of an ATM and got six 20s, for my $100 withdrawal, $120. I remember counting the flutters as the bills emerged and realized there had been six phtttts. I've never had an an ATM before or since that screwed up.
In Monopoly, when you pass GO you get $200. At a SAM machine, if all you do is take the tickets representing your bet, and do not hit the RETURN BALANCE icon in the lower right corner, you will in effect leave your money in the machine for the next bettor. You have metaphorically dropped your money on the floor for someone else to find. And it does happen.
I once realized way too late that I didn't press the icon to get what should have been a $12 voucher. Someone else using the machine, when they checked out, got my $12 added to their voucher. Fair game.
Leaving the track, Johnny M. starting asking me if I remember when I first instructed him on how to use the machine. He always remembered me emphasizing to him that you have to hit that RETURN BALANCE icon.
Sometime around the 8th race Johnny M. tells me he used the machine, checked out, and suddenly had a voucher worth $200 or so more than expected. He knew it wasn't his, but there is no way at this point to find the person who forgot their RETURN BALANCE voucher.
He was confused at first. Where did this extra money come from? He hadn't hit any bet that returned $200. I told him I remember sitting next to him and hearing him mumble something on and on, checking tickets in his hand. Someone talking to themselves at he race track is common. I thought perhaps John was reciting the rosary without the beads, hoping to appeal to spiritual sources for a winner.
He already had a winner.
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