Learning To Bet: Day #9

by Cyrus Rahimi

While great things come to an end, I did not want my experience at the Meadows to end. Luckily today was an exciting one, with an array of food trucks and pop-up shops in front of the grandstands. The atmosphere was exciting to say the least and there was significantly more people here than I had seen at the track before. I walked upstairs to take a seat in the grandstands and came across the MSOA party on the patio. The live entertainment and nacho bar were huge selling points for me and my friend that I had brought along. After spending some time listening to the musical performances, I made my way downstairs to place wagers. I knew that since this was a busy day that many of the races would have excellent horses in them.

I started wagering on race six by picking a trifecta with the two horse to win, with the seven, one, and five to finish. Unfortunately if I had picked the four horses in no particular order I could have won over $700.00. Even with this defeat I knew I would get a good win on my last day. I waited until race eight to place another wager. This time i chose the one, five, four horses straight meaning they had to finish in that order. I got my first win on this bet with a payout of $27.60. I decided to make an exotic wager for my standards on the last race by betting a superfecta. I chose the six-nine, four-nine, six-five, eight-one; this loss was heartbreaking because I could have won $24,044.60 on this wager. Even though I didn’t go out with a big win, I had a great time for my last day. Today, the atmosphere was awesome and could not have been a better last day. I made sure to say goodbye to my friends who owned horses, as well as the wonderful people who I had been placing my wagers with.

I have learned a great deal during my time at the track and have developed my own betting strategy. Throughout my experience, I have found that I personally like to bet trifecta’s and am interested in the research of horse’s previous times along with who they were driven by. My betting strategy is still not as comprehensive as I like, but the #WednesdayWager gave me a good start. Since I started with a lack of harness racing knowledge, I feel that anyone can simply walk in and start enjoying the sport just as I did. Although it can seem challenging at first, people at the track are truly wonderful and take time to help you if you ask. I know I will be returning to the track again one day, hopefully as a horse owner.