Learning To Bet: 3rd Day
by Taylor Kalkbrenner
The best part about #Wednesdaywager is the tremendous amount of experience with wagering and my significant improvements. As much as I would love to try some of the more complicated styles of betting like exactas, trifectas, and superfectas, they are something I will try again further into my venture.
Today, I returned to the track and got to know one of the owners at the racetrack by the name of Dale Geruschat. Boy, did he help me! Dale gave me some great information that I had not clue about.
The fourth race was beginning when I got to the racetrack so I was eager to jump right into some betting. As I began talking to Dale, I started to ask him questions about which horse I should bet on for race 4. He said that I shouldn’t bet this race at all which completely shocked me, but his explanation helped me to understand a perfectly good reason of why certain races are not the smartest move to bet on.
For starters, he told me that considering the fact that it just stopped raining, the track would be a muddy mess. He then preceded to tell me that the horses for this race were two year old filly trotters who have had barely any starts at all prior to this year. He also explained to me that these horses are very unpredictable and you don’t have a clue about what they will do out on the track. Considering how nice Dale was to help me with wagering, I decided to take his advice and to not bet on race 4.
The other races I bet on today included races 5,6,7, and 9. As for race 5, I decided to be adventurous one last time for the heck of it and try an exacta box. I did a 6 10 two dollar exacta box. The 6 horse was Theyluvmycherries driven by Aaron Merriman and trained by Brandon Preston and the 10 horse was Terror Grin driven by Dan Rawlings and trained by Dirk Simpson. The results of the race being 3 2 10 declared that I didn’t win but I was happy at least the 10 came in third.
Race 6 came around and I decided I was going to bet a horse to win. I was studying my program carefully trying to pick the best horse. I was between 6 and 3 and looking over times and drivers, I decided to go with 6 and I was also relieved when Dale said he was actually thinking of betting the same horse. The 6 horse was named Rusty Hefner driven by Tony Hall and trained by Randy Bendis.
As I was going to bet race 6, I ended up running into a close friend of mine from high school. She was supposed to be going bowling and ended up at the racetrack for a little bit. She told me she was interested in betting but she had no idea how any of it worked. The cool part is that I got to use my knowledge to help her make her first bet. I am definitely not an expert, but I was able to use some of my information to help my friend. Race 6 happened and I was unlucky once again with the 6 horse coming in fourth.
As race 7 came along, I overheard the announcers saying that this would be a good race to bet on. I also agreed, considering I recognized many of the names of the drivers. I was looking closely over the 4 5 and 6 horse, checking their latest times, there rankings, etc. 6 must have been my favorite number that day because I ended up going with the 6 horse again with the name of Let Loose Hanover driven by Aaron Merriman and trained by Phil Goldwater. The 6 horse came in third which made me mad but I was happy they were at least placing high.
The last race that I bet on for the day was race 9. So far today I wasn’t feeling too lucky due to the fact that I didn’t win one race today, but I was eager for my last race of the day. I was between 3 5 and 6 and at first was wavering between 3 and 5. I have never seen much of the driver of the 5 horse so that was what was holding me back from picking that horse. I ended up taking a chance and going with the 5 horse for this race. The 5 horse was Bullpup Driven by Eric Neal and trained by Randal Neal. I didn’t win which disappointed me, considering I didn’t win any races today.
Although I didn’t win any today, I have learned so much and have developed quite a love for betting. I am taking it step by step, but the next time I wager, I would like to move on to exactas and trifectas.