This Is Us- UIC Town Square

[Badactor]

This is what PURE HAPPINESS looks like... Nice!

[tenofswords]

Name: Anthony
First time at a race track: 1971, Belmont Park
Biggest win: Danzig Connection in 1985 Belmont Stakes
Favorite track: Aqueduct
Favorite trainer/jockey: Gilbert Puentes, Ruben Hernandez
Tracks I've been to: Aqueduct, Belmont, Meadowlands, Parx, Green Mountain
Anecdotes: Attended the Display Handicap every year from 1978 through 1991. Also nearly froze to death at the 1990 Breeders' Cup.

[spanky126]

I just gotta know one thing Bev...how do ya get the HORSE to smile like that?

[turbine]

Name: Bryon
First Time at Track: Sometime in the mid 70's at Commodore Downs (Erie PA)
Favorite track: Saratoga by far
Tracks I've attended: Commodore Downs, The Meadows, Churchill, Pimlico, Saratoga, Tampa Bay

Anecdotes: The whole Saratoga experience has peaked my interest in the horse game. I drive up with GAM to join in the revelry at the condo and the "blankets at the track" with Hooper, Hezethebest, jacckk8, among others
Still a novice but learning a lot with the posts from others

[1hooper]

Good to see Bryon on board. A classy addition.
Hooper

[turbine]

Wow classy. That word is not usually synonymous with my name!! :-)

[jeffthebaker]

Name/nickname: Jeff "The Baker" or Cupcake

First time at a race track: Late 60's Santa Anita Turned myself into the Lost and found

Big wins/narrow misses: To numerous to count, picked 5 out of 6 a couple of times on cheap $2.00 tickets

Favorite track(s): Santa Anita

Favorite trainer(s)/jockey(s): Ron McAnally, Eddie D

Tracks you've been to: Santa Anita, Hollywood Park (R.I.P.), Del Mar, Turf Paradise, Los Alamitos, Golden Gate, Pomona

Anecdotes:

[papabear]

Name/nickname: Mike /// IronMike or Papabear

First time at a race track: 1977 as a young boy at Woodbine.

Big wins/narrow misses: I'll Have Another Derby win and Tri .... My best Contest was a 4th for $3k in the Woodbine Challenge.

Favorite track(s):Saratoga

Favorite trainer(s)/jockey(s): I've interviewed most of the terrific folks around WO. Mark Casse and Emma-Jayne Wilson are probably my favorites.

Visited: Woodbine, Calder & Saratoga. Plus most of the harness tracks in ONT. (Hanover, Grand River, Western Fair, Mohawk, Greenwood(gone now), Georgian, Kiawartha, Orangeville(gone) and Flamboro). I've had several visits to QH-track Ajax Downs.

[nan53]

Hi, Nan53 here.
Live in SC, but originally from Albany, NY, where going to Saratoga racetrack was "The August Place To Be" in the summer, before they increased the # of racing days. Went with family and friends from 1973 to 1997, when we moved. Remember how great it was in the early days...you could access and picnic in the infield, where it almost seemed you could run with the horses. It's a beautiful place, but way too commercialized now. It's where I fell in love with Secretariat - and it seemed as though Cordero would win just about every race! Biggest single win was with Personnel Director, @ $75.
Other tracks I've been to are Turf Paradise & Yavapai in AZ, and those cool, rinky-dink ones at county fairs.
I admit I wasn't initially into horseracing, but living with my semi-crazed gambling husband - "bitowisdom" - all these years has drawn me to the sport. 😉

[hrhobby]

Name/nickname: GOOCH

First time at a race track: The Meadows, Washington Pennsylvania

Big wins/narrow misses: If I had a nickel I would be a millionaire

Favorite track(s): Keeneland (By FAR the most beautiful track I have ever visited)

Favorite trainer(s)/jockey(s): Too many to list

Tracks you've been to: I travel for work on a regular basis and if time permits I will visit any track(s) that are in the area I am visiting. I'm guessing my count at this point is close to 40 tracks (BOTH Harness & TBRED since I like to play both)

Anecdotes: I'll share one of my favorite quotes: "FIGURES DON'T LIE BUT LIARS FIGURE"

Thanks for the acceptance into Up In Class & looking to have some FUN

[cerveza]

Name/nickname:Hi, my name is Chris and I live in Pensacola, FL these days

First time at a race track:When I was about 9 or 10 my Aunt took me to Rockingham Park, but I really got hooked in the late '80's while living in San Diego. Practically lived at Del Mar during the meets.

Big wins/narrow misses: I was living in Phoenix in '96 and dating a girl who was a poker player. She asked me to take her to get her nails done one afternoon and while I waited I stepped across the street to an off-track spot I knew. Bought a $6 super ticket at Turf Paradise that hit with a 50-1 shot in 2nd. Paid $3,500. My girlfriend and I hopped on a plane to Vegas 2 hours later and got married.

Favorite track(s): Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, NZ

Favorite trainer(s)/jockey(s): I don't really have a favorite trainer or jockey. Anyone who's hot, I guess.

Tracks you've been to: Going to try and do this chronologically - Rockingham, Del Mar, Bay Meadows, Santa Rosa (Cal Fair), Caliente, Turf Paradise, Prescott Downs, Yavapai, Arlington Park, Lone Star, Turfway Park, Ellerslie (NZ), Avondale (NZ) Wanganui (NZ), Moonee Valley (AU), Flemington (AU), Tampa Bay Downs, Suffolk, Aqeuduct, Fairgrounds

Anecdotes: Oh so many - one of these days I'll share my story about Mr. Frisky

[mysaladdays]

with one of the Budweiser Clydesdales at Oaklawn. It was very fun and the horse was very patient and a total gentleman.

[1hooper]

Cerveza,I have to hear the Mr Frisky story.
My father's cousin was the underbidder on him when he went through the sales.
Hooper

[mhorse555]

Jun 26, 2018 12:25:13 GMT -5 tenfurlongs said:

On the old website we used to have a thread entitled “Resume”, or something like that, where members could introduce themselves briefly, from a horse racing perspective. I always enjoyed reading the “bios”, made it more of a community, knowing a little backstory and such. I thought we might try to build a new thread like that. Suggestions for how to structure it below. I'll jump in first.


Name/nickname:the MAYOR

First time at a race track: la downs

Big wins/narrow misses: 255.00 win bet at bay meadows and a 1865.00  dime at CH

Favorite track(s): delta downs

Favorite trainer(s)/jockey(s): ortez brothers

Tracks you've been to: la downs..delta downs..Remington..lone star...SA...sam Houston..EVD...los al...blue ribbon downs...gulf park...daytona

Anecdotes:

[kinley2017]

Hello everyone my name nickname is squint because I refused to wear glasses and always squinted but no more as I had cataract surgery my biggest win was 33,000 on a race at Santa Anita I had 5 dollar superfecta that paid 56oo and a triactor that 3200 for 2 dollars all in the same race also exactorand and 5WPS on the winner who paid 56 dollars to win it was a little lucky as the teller made a mistake or I said it wrong the numbers were 11 10 2 6 but I swear I said 11 10 6 2 and just about threw away my ticket but double checked and started laughing and could not believe my luck
I Grew up in Winnipeg and got the hook going with my mom to the track picking up tickets off the ground. My biggest near miss to many to count.

[bobtailnag]

Welcome Squint. I'm not an official welcomer but I need the practice to get a job at Walmart after losing my last 232 bets. We have a number of pretty good 'cappers here and if you also put a few bucks on a football game now and then, or any sport for that matter, be sure to visit the basement (That's the bottom rung on the ladder here.) If you have any questions at all just post them on the appropriate and somebody will help you. Enjoy!

[tc]

Aug 1, 2019 18:51:15 GMT -5 bobtailnag said:

Welcome Squint. I'm not an official welcomer but I need the practice to get a job at Walmart after losing my last 232 bets. We have a number of pretty good 'cappers here and if you also put a few bucks on a football game now and then, or any sport for that matter, be sure to visit the basement (That's the bottom rung on the ladder here.) If you have any questions at all just post them on the appropriate and somebody will help you. Enjoy!

You are hired!  The pay isn't very good but just think of all the good karma you are bringing to Walmart shoppers.  Now where do I find the weekly specials? 

[bobtailnag]

Next week, Aug 4th thru the 10th, parking is free!

[grommet]

Name/nickname: Eric/Grommet

First time at a race track: River Downs in 1987. The first horse I picked was based on my lucky number (4) - $2 to win. It stumbled badly out of the gate and spotted the field about 10 lengths. I assumed I was out of it, but the horse came flying down the stretch to win and paid a whopping $8. Needless to say, I was hooked. And maybe I’m a bit of a sucker for deep closers because of that race.

Big wins/narrow misses: I’m with everyone else in that I have a catalog of narrow, painful misses - but three are memorable, primarily for the story behind them.

I was at Keeneland in the early 90’s back when they had no track announcer. When the gates opened for one of the races, the infield tote board went dark. When the horses hit the wire, I was excited to have $4 on the winner at 10-1 and a $2 exacta with second horse also being around 10-1. Then an announcer came over the PA system and said that a tote system failure had caused a loss of all mutual pool information - and that everyone would be refunded their bets. Never seen anything like that happen since.

The night before attending my first BC – 1994 at Churchill Downs – I fell asleep thinking about the venture to the Churchill infield on a perfect fall day. The next morning, I woke from a dream about a stark gray horse alone on a long lead in one of the races, with the vantage point being the infield. Later that day my brother and I were watching the BC Distaff – from the infield - and halfway through the race it hit me: a stark gray horse was loose on the lead. Not the daylight lead that I saw in my dream, but regardless I got a serious déjà vu type of feeling. The horse won and paid $96. Then I realized the horse’s name was One Dreamer! Of course I kicked myself for not taking the dream as a potential omen.

Back at Churchill for the 2010 BC, I wanted to place a lottery-ticket bet on the relatively new super high five in the Classic. I asked for a $1 straight 8-6-5-12-2 bet (Zenyatta, Fly Down, Blame, Lookin At Lucky, Paddy O Prado), but the temporary teller accidentally boxed them for a $120 ticket and handed it to me. I would normally never spend this much on a ticket, especially a pipe-dream stab like the SH5, but I was up about 1K for the BC weekend. So I held that ticket and pondered for about 10 seconds. Then reason set in and I voided the ticket for my original $1 bet. Handing that ticket back was a 7K mistake with the sequence coming in 5-8-6-12-2.  I saved my ticket as a reminder to throw caution to the wind when in doubt!

Some of my more memorable scores were multiple P4’s ending with Gun Runner in the 2017 BC Classic (6K), multiple P4’s ending with Debussy in the 2010 Arlington Million (4.5K) and multiple P4’s ending with Street Sense in the 2007 Derby (9.5K). I’m still searching for my first official 5-digit score! One of my favorite scores, though, was the Arkansas Derby in 2003. I arrived at Keeneland with my father and brother and we parked somewhere around the far turn. As we walked around the track towards the entrance, the first race went off and we heard the crowd gasp. Shortly afterwards, we saw horses #8, #2 and #5 run by us with no jockeys – apparently they had collided at the start and all three lost their riders. For whatever reason, I stored those numbers away. They had a ‘Big Pick 3’ that day that included the Wood Memorial, Bluegrass Stakes and Arkansas Derby. #8 Empire Maker won the Wood and shortly afterwards #2 Peace Rules won the Bluegrass. I realized that the Big P3 sequence was following the numbers of the horses that we had seen lose their riders at the beginning of the day. With the #5 horse being the one remaining, we bet that number blindly in the Arkansas Derby - $10 to win on Sir Cherokee - and watched in shock as he went from last to first at 55-1!

Favorite track(s): Hands down, Saratoga. It scores high in every category for me and is essentially horse racing heaven. Some of my fondest memories and biggest scores have come at Churchill Downs, so it will always be one of my favorite tracks even though the track management continues to flabbergast me with unfriendly changes for the average fan over the past 20 years.

Favorite trainer(s)/jockey(s): My favorite jockey of all time is Edgar Prado. He just exuded class and seemed to be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat at times. He will forever be linked to Barbaro, an unforgettable story. My second favorite of all time is Jose Santos. I’m not sure I have a favorite trainer of all time, but if I had to pick I would say Charlie Whittingham.

Favorite horse: Sunday Silence.  His rivalry with Easy Goer is truly what hooked me on the sport.

Tracks you've been to: River Downs, Beulah Park, Thistledown, Hoosier Park, Gulfstream, Turfway, Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Kentucky Downs, Arlington, Hollywood, Santa Anita, Del Mar, Belmont, Saratoga and Happy Valley in Hong Kong.

Anecdotes: I was born on Derby Day in 1967, about 10 hours before Proud Clarion wore the garland of roses.

Attachments:

[tenfurlongs]

Thanks for sharing all those racetrack memories Eric, that was awesome! That right there is what UIC is all about. How do we get you to Saratoga again?

TW

[grommet]

Thanks, Tom! Glad you enjoyed the horse stories. I was looking for some of the UIC gang yesterday at the Travers Stakes but in hindsight that's probably not the best day to track down people you haven't yet met. :0) I plan to be at Toga every year, though, most likely surrounding Travers weekend. Next year I will plan to find the gang on Thursday or Friday preceding. Looking forward to it. Great score for you in the 2016 Belmont, by the way - the all-gray trifecta!

[hugh]

Name: Hugh Pierson (Hugh)

First time at a race track: About 10-15 years ago (Harness Racing)
Michigan used to have a couple tracks that I would attend which are now not around.
Indian Casino's have run them out of business with many casinos operating in the state.

Big wins/narrow misses: None really. I didn't bet big dollars, it was just for entertainment, and one I really enjoyed.
One time, I bet on a horse to win that broke away from the harness, and started running the opposite direction on the track.
That was a bummer too because he had a nice lead at the time.

Favorite track(s): None

Favorite trainer(s)/jockey(s): None

Tracks you've been to: Muskegon MI (Great Lakes Downs) and Jackson MI (Jackson Raceway) both are harness racing.
Northville Downs in Detroit is scheduled to close in 2021.
There was at one time talk of Thoroughbred horse racing in Flint, but that never developed.
Another was supposed to open this year near Saginaw MI, but that is now on hold until possibly next year.
So, at this time, Michigan is not an ideal spot for horse racing.

[mowens33]

Name: Michael Owens
Boston, Ma
Engineer, Skyworks Solutions
Married, 3 kids, 2 grand-kids

First Track: Suffolk Downs
Pace handicapper and Sartin disciple!
Tracks: NYRA Tracks, Woodbine

I'm glad to be aboard!

Mike

[Badactor]

Lil Badactor...

I have always loved horses!

[Deleted]

Hi my name is Tim/lt1
First track I went to was AQU 1980
Favorite Track Belmont
Favorite trn/jock Joe Taylor[Parx] Joe Bravo
Tracks I've attended AQU,BEL,SAR,MEADOWLANDS, PIM,LRL,YONKERS,ROOSEVELT.
I'm have been a member of the Sartin Methodology Group since 1990. 

[paghat]

Name/nickname: Paghat

First time at a race track: 1982 Calgary race track

Favorite track(s): Would like to visit Saratoga race track.


Tracks you've been to: Calgary, Belmont,Fingerlakes, harness tracks.

Anecdotes: When I was 13, I wanted to be a jockey, when I was 30 I wanted to be a trainer,when I was 35 I wanted to be a breeder. I still want to train and breed.

[Badactor]

Welcome to the forum, paghat!

[kdmfox]

Name is Ken

Have been an occasional lurker here. Harness fan mostly. First track was Foxboro Raceway. It's now underneath Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots. Been to most of the east coast harness tracks.

Not my largest score, but certainly the biggest for a $2 ice cold super in the last race at Foxboro, one night eons ago. $9,800.

Have put together contests. Working on a new forum destination. Have a t-bred interest.

[Badactor]

When the stay-at-home orders are lifted...
I want more time with my daughter & grandsons!

Be safe... be smart... and stay healthy!

Dell Yount with Stephanie, Cyrus & Mikey.

[diablo313]

Hi Everyone, name is David 
First time at a race track: Can barely remember it, my Dad took me to Woodbine, I'm guessing when I  was about 8 or 9. Don't remember how it went/ wins losses but do remember all the tickets on the floor, the roaring fans, and the thrill of the finish line. 

Big wins/narrow misses: Biggest win was a $300 tri at Mohawk raceway - Standardbred.... Near miss, the year Orb won the KD...had Golden Soul queued up for the exacta, but thought a $2 win long shot bet, would pay more so bet that instead (I had never bet KD and had no idea payouts were so much higher ;-) $2 Exacta: (16-4) paid $981.60, my $2 Win bet paid 0 - doh.
Favorite track(s): sadly I have only been to Woodbine, Greenwood (old toronto track -now gone) and Mohawk. 

Favorite trainer(s)/jockey(s): I don't get to go or play enough to have a base to judge from but I follow and have heard Mark Casse interviewed, seems pretty even keeled.

Anecdotes:  
Del waxing poetically about his time as a pari-mutuel teller, helping people make and cash their first bet, makes me think of my big win above...owe it all to my teller that night. Was my first time at the track, had no idea how to bet (more than "to Win"). He patiently waited while I fumbled through each wager, offered helpful tips, and even suggested the winning ABC X AB X ABCD tri ticket build as a way of getting a bit better coverage for less than a box!
Dad is gone now, and I regret not ever asking him to go with me once I got the bug as an adult. Nice thing though is my youngest son (27) picked it up last summer and we have been a couple of times and play online together when we can....  

This is a great site, very friendly and supportive, with no ego's or agendas...