Yesterday I went to Lone Star Park to place my parimutuel investments. I got my usual station and began my methodical breakdown of Belmont Park. It was Race 1 and I loosely watched as my Place wager cashed at $17.20 for every $2 wagered, then I was interrupted by the vulgar shouting of one of the losing horseplayers in the gallery. I looked up to see a young man, maybe 19, ripping up his bets and tossing them in the air. I got up from my seat and told the kid to pick up his tickets and let me see them. I needed only to glance at one of the shreds to figure out his losing problem. I told him he was betting too many combinations in the exotics, and then I showed him that one of the two horses he had on top ran 2nd at longshot odds.
I saw he was holding a simulcast past performance program that had just about every track running that day. I told him he shouldn't waste his money on those. That all the info he needed he could find on his smartphone for free. I opened up the program to Race 2, and noticed he had circled his next selections. I took out my marker, and proceeded to cross out the scratches and all the horses outside the top 5 in the ML, in the process I had scratched out the majority of who he liked. I handed back his program and told him you only need to worry about these 4 horses (the ML favorite was scratched), handicap them and give me your top 2. It took him maybe 30 seconds and he had picked the #2 and #10. I too liked the #2. He asked me what bet he should make and I told him to bet them both to Win only. He asked how much and I told him he should risk the same amount as last race and split it equally on each.
He came back and we watched the race, he was fidgeting and sweating profusely. At first he was cursing the horses he had backed. Then he was claiming his jockey was throwing the race. As they came down the stretch I told him watch #2. He begain rooting hysterically, while I stood cool, calm and collected as #2 came from the clouds to cross the wire first by a neck.
I took his program and scratched out the rest of the horses in each race outside the top 5 ML with my marker. I told him to bet his top 2 to Win for each race and let me know how he ended up at the end of the day. When I saw him again he was all smiles and walking with a swagger to him. He was a new man in a matter of a few hours. He thanked me and offered to give me half of his winnings. I refused and told him to go put that towards school or your bills. I told him he wasn't ready for this business venture. When you are able to invest stress free because you know all the percentages will result in long term profit, then you'll be ready. And I walked out of the building humbled as Lord Quasimodo had saved yet another life.