Hollywood Park: Horse Racing

I decided to take the day off on Wednesday; partially to do some shopping, but also to head off to the horse races. I grew up reading the Black Stallion books. I've always had this thrill about horse racing. I only go on occasion so this was an awesome day -- though perhaps a bit cold.

I barely made it to the first race. I put a bet on Ruffled Feathers. Lost the bet.

Then in the second race, I spent a little more time looking at the program and placed a bet on Driveliketiger to win and Gold Country to show. Lost again though Driveliketiger did show -- if only.

For the third race, I went with Carnival Queen to win and Go See Cecie to show. Lost again though Carnival Queen did place.

This wasn't going well. So I created this mathematical formula to pick winners. I picked Recess to win the fourth race and Stanford Dolly to show. Luck was with me and my formula. I won.

For the fifth race I decided luck was with me. I went with Dinnr with Nikki C to win and Victory Dash to show. Then I did a trifecta of Dinnr With Nikki C to win and then Victory Dash/Siberian Heart to come in place and show. Yes!!!

For the sixth race, I decided luck wasn't going to be with me again so I tried to play a bit more conservative. Instead of picking a winner, I went with Horowitz to place and Discontent to show. I also went with a trifecta. Well, Horowitz was a show and Discontent came in fourth. Well, I figured that after two good races, luck was going to disappear at some point.

For the seventh race, I went a bit conservative again. I went with Fort Funston to show, Usurp to place and then did a trifecta with Bad Boy winning and Usurp/Funston. Usurp won so I got some money back, but still lost money over-all.

For the final race, I decided the field was too large to go with a trifecta, but I decided to go back to my "aggressive" ways. I went with Zohan to win and Silverado Gold to show. Lost again. Zohan did place so if I'd gone conversative I would have made back some of my money.

I will have to say: some of the folks that I saw at Hollywood Park looked a bit shady. People constantly talking on the phone, taking down bets and such. I don't know.

Over-all, four hours of fun. And I won a trifecta bet and two of the horses I picked to win actually won.