My day at the "Smarty Party"

I have read several articles by sports columnists who were at off track betting sites for the Belmont Stakes. Each story regaled me with their tales of disappointment and woe when Smarty Jones failed to take the Triple Crown. "As Smarty was passed by Birdstone in the few final seconds of the race, crowds were heard in a grand unison of 'awwwww'...” Nice story, but, were you guys even at an OTB facility? They obviously weren't at the same location as me. Everyone At Indiana Downs, just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky, home of the Kentucky Derby, seemed eager enough to watch Smarty Jones grab his place in history, but let's face it, these are gamblers. What they were really interested in was, who was going to come in second, third and even fourth. It was a 9 horse race, odds on all the horses, save for Smarty, were in double figures. Regardless of who finished with him, it was going to be a nice exacta, trifecta or even superfecta. You see, the higher a horse places, with higher odds, the bigger the payoff is. No one at the Downs bet only on Smarty, save for a $2 win bet so they could frame the winning ticket for their grandchildren to see. What’s the point, they weren’t even at Belmont. "Yeah, I was in Indiana when I bet "Smarty to win." Sheesh. Belmont was actually giving away souvenir-winning tickets. I wonder what those are selling for on eBay today? Why would anyone make a serious bet on him? If he won, a $2 across the board bet, the winner would get about $9 on a $6 bet. What's the point? No, my crowd was looking to cash in big on the long shots in the rest of the field. I personally had to make a few bets from friends who couldn’t go to the track, about $30 bucks worth. I got there early, made those bets, stashed the tickets and proceeded to map out my own fortune on the race. I boxed the 5 horse and the 9, Smarty. Box means as long as those two horses, come in first or second, in any order, you win. I also boxed the 9 and the 6, because Louisville favorite Pat Day was riding the 6 horse. I also boxed the 9 & 8. So far I have spent $6 and stand to reap several hundred if those horses come in. I also boxed a trifecta, the 9, 5 & 8 horses. There you are looking at, probably a win of over $1000, for a $12 bet. Before I called myself in to "1-800-I have a gambling problem", I made one more innocent bet. It was a $1 superfecta bet, straight & a quick pick. That means that the computer will randomly choose 4 horses for me & if those 4 come in, in the exact order of my ticket, I would win several thousand dollars. My ticket had 4 – 9 – 5 – 8 as the chosen horses. Obviously, I don’t put much faith in those bets, but they can be fun. As the race begins, the place begins to rumble. The noise level was equal to standing next to a jet taking off. My bets are looking pretty good, 9, 5 & 8 hang in far from the rest of the field up to the stretch. I am already looking for my social security card because when I go to cash in my winning exacta & trifecta tickets they are going to say, ‘you won so much, we need you to fill out these IRS forms’. Now at the OTB site we didn’t see the NBC feed, we had the track feed. In the stretch run they zoomed in for a close-up, only on Smarty, to capture the grand moment. I am still confident. Then, out of nowhere, a horse is passing Smarty. It’s the 4, Birdstone. The crowd is cheering really loud now. As soon as Birdstone crosses the finish line the crowd goes supersonic with cheers of approval. Obviously quite a few of them boxed Smarty with Birdstone. Happiness prevailed & joy was in the air. I heard not one, “awwwww” in the house, except for me. All of my tickets had just become confetti, save one. I had broken out in a cold sweat. I looked down at my superfecta ticket and saw the 4 – 9, and realized that the 5 & the 8 had been in the mix for the whole race, but I had no visual to confirm third or fourth place. The camera continued to follow the winner with no posting of the unofficial results. It seemed like days until it came up…"4 – 9 – 6 – 8". Just like the lottery Pick 4, I missed it by one number. To rub salt in the wound, the 6 horse that killed my $6,000 superfecta was ridden by, Pat Day. Thanks Pat. I gathered my composure, checked the tickets I had bought for my friends and then I proceeded to take the only winning ticket I had to the teller. Someone I bet for had Smarty across the board for a grand total of $6. I collected the $5.90 payoff and headed to the bar.