The Other Ten O'Clock

There's a famous black and white photo taken decades ago by Art Kane of jazz musicians arranged on a Harlem stoop, spilling over at the sides onto the sidewalk and the curb. It was all staged and planned. Louis Armstrong is in the first row, and to the right, sitting on the curb, accompanied by a gaggle  of youngsters. It was taken fairly early in the morning, with those invited expected to be there at 10 o'clock.

Jazz musicians are of course night owls, playing late at night into the early hours. One of the musicians is reported to have told another musician, "So, this is what the other 10 o'clock looks like."

And that's how it was yesterday at Aqueduct when The Assembled assembled for the first race on the card, scheduled to go off at 10:50 A.M. The normal fall post time had been moved up from 12:35 to 10:50 to accommodate Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland being simulcasted that afternoon. Clever scheduling allowed bettors to have enough time to bet races from both tracks and still have time to handicap in between. It's all about goosing the handle.

Jose B., Bobby G., Johnny M. and Johnny D. all had winning, or at least break even days. Jose B., true to his nature, toggled between Keeneland races and Aqueduct. He was not having great success with his Keeneland picks, but lassoed a few of the day's longshots at Aqueduct that kept him from declaring he was tapped out.

The rest of The Assembled were content to only playing Aqueduct. Bobby G. left after the ninth race of 10 races, getting the horse player's prayer answered: "Please dear God let me break even, I need the money."

Johnny M. had a good day and Johnny D. had a GREAT day, cashing tickets in the last four races, hitting three exactas in a row starting with the 7th race, and pretty much having one of his best days at the races ever.

The only downside to the day were the surroundings on the second floor Clubhouse area. There aren't many places to sit since NYRA compressed the available seating because of near zero attendance, but those that were there had no problem filling the outside air with smoke from cigarettes and pot, since it is now legal in New York. Belmont in April will be greatly looked forward to.

Since the 10th race at Aqueduct went off at 5:15 , and the Breeders' Cup classic was going off at 5:40, Jose B., Johnny M. and Johnny D. opted to go to the 3rd floor where the Classic could be viewed on one of the simulcasting TVs..

The front of the 3rd floor is dominated by the dining area called Equestris, seating that overlooks the track behind a nice expanse of glass, but that is only accessible by buying into a terribly overpriced buffet. We used to take advantage of the buffet, but have been passing that one for years now that the price is beyond silly.

The remaining trio from The Assembled settled into the study carrels on the third floor and watched The Classic. There is no sound on simulcasting TVs, but it wasn't hard to know what was going on.  In fact, on the second floor for live racing, the announcer John Imbriale could hardly be heard.

Aqueduct is showing its age, and is in desperate need of maintenance. The seats we were in on the second floor, two sections from the boxes were not painted, and looked like they were suffering from alopecia. Seats in my row were sagging from crumbling concrete, a decent size piece that just lay there. But hey, that's what you get when you get in for free, without even having to pay for parking.

The 3rd Floor was an oasis compared to the 2nd. Johnny M and Johnny D. no longer play the Breeders' Cup. There are too many entrants, and too many foreign horses, creating way too many unpredictable  and unlikely results for the average handicapper.

But by following racing all year, The Classic contains horses you know of, even without a set of past performances. And so, Johnny D. boxed an exact with the highly touted Flightline, Hot Rod Charlie and Epicenter with his XpressBets account before leaving for the track.

The modest wager went for naught as Epicenter broke down and had to be vanned off. Hot Rod Charlie was not so hot. Flightline dominated, as expected, and released an explosion of praise anointing him as The Greatest, or one of the greatest. 

Set your context. In my very early days of going to the races over 50 years ago, my friend, who worked for Racing Star Weekly and American Turf Monthly, pointed out a guy in the stands named Gil, who worked for them and who had seen Man O' War run. I never met Gil, but I'm guessing Man O' War was the greatest horse he had ever seen.

Jose B., ever the handicapper who thinks outside the box, concocted an economical Triple for $1 each of Flightline keyed on top, with Olympiad and Taiba boxed underneath. It was a beautiful bet that rewarded Jose B. $83 when Olympiad and Taiba ran 2-3 behind the speedy Flightline.

So, despite the smoke and lousy physical surroundings, it was a good day for all, Even a great day, especially for Flightline's connections that are so numerous that if the winner's circle were indoors they would have exceeded a fire department warning about how many occupants can be in one space at the same time.

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