My blog is a combination of thoughtful, researched articles on betting and handicapping and more off the top opinion pieces. This is the latter.

Last Sunday, I did a stint as a public handicapper at Arapahoe Park in Colorado. I’ve done public stuff before, but this was a little more intense. Before each race the announcer, Jonathan Horowitz, would throw it down to me in the paddock and I would give out three horses.

I mentioned the winner in 6 of 9 races, and I swept the trifecta in two. I thought is was at best a fair day, but the track folks seemed to be really excited and asked me back next week. So, if everything works out, I’ll be back in the paddock on Sunday.

The reports I got from my support section were pretty positive. As expected I stumbled through a couple of races, but eventually I smoothed out. Jonathan and the Arapahoe Park staff were incredibly welcoming and helpful and I really gained a lot of respect for how hard their job is.

I actually had a couple of stumbles. The 6 horse in a race I was doing was the third horse I mentioned and I kept calling him the 3. I got the name right though. In an funny follow up, the 6 finished second and the 3, whom I didn’t actually mention, finished 3rd. There were three scratches on the day, and incredibly enough all three of them were horses I was selecting. That was a scramble.

Here is the best story of the day. I gave out the 7 horse in one race. Now from where they had me on camera, I can only see the first part of the stretch. I see the 7 start to seriously back out of the race, but I can’t really tell more than that.

The cameraman comes back from filming in the winner’s enclosure and says, “the 7 died.” I said, “I know, he backed up big time in the stretch.” The cameraman said, “No, he really died.”

Strangely, I’ve been going to the races long enough that it’s the third time I’ve have a horse pass away during a race.