Selin Memorial Happy Minute Recap
What a great time in Tucson last weekend, catching up with old friends and, most importantly, remembering Pete Selin.
Rillito Park was as charming as ever. For once I actually made money there, and lots of it. I pretty much abandoned handicapping off the PPs in favor of picking horses out of the post parade with no regard for their odds. In the average Rillito race, where the field is limited to eight, five or six of the entrants will look as if they've come straight from winter on the farm. They have long hair, and are either overweight or frighteningly scrawny. And I'm not the kind of guy who can routinely tell the difference between a nice horse and a very nice horse, but I'm sharp enough to tell the difference between a racehorse and a pleasure hore that happens to have a saddlecloth with a number on it.
So most of the weekend I picked the three best-looking horses in the race and boxed them in an exacta. If there was only one who stood out, I bet him to win and place. Pretty darn simple and extremely profitable. I cleared $200 profit without ever spending more than $10 on a single race.
The Selin Memorial Happy Minute on Sunday was just a beautiful occasion. About 20 friends of Pete's turned out, including shippers from New York, Kentucky, California, and, of course, Texas. We drank, we gambled, we told stories, and we laughed. In fact, I laughed harder than I have in a long time, and that's saying something because I'm a dude who laughs a lot. I had hoped to gather storied from people to post on this blog, but when it came down to it we realized that most of the stories can't be published without embarassing the other people involved who are still living! If you want to hear the best Pete stories, you ought to just plan on coming next year.
The event's organizers put up a lot of their own money to make the race happen and for that the rest of us are beyond grateful. Big props to Mike Costanzo, Rich Scheidt, and Scot Waterman for the most perfect tribute since a hearse drove the body of PR guy Allen "Black Cat" Lacombe down the stretch and over the Fair Grounds finish line in 1989.
Even if it had been possible, Pete would have preferred this "chicken-fried" stakes race at Rillito over a $1 million-dollar Grade I at Keeneland. It brought everyone together again and that was the most important thing.
A few other random thoughts on the Tucson trip...
The University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program has some mighty fine new digs. When I went there we worked out of a basement. Now they've moved on up to this deeeluxe apartment in the sky. They've got this massive flat-screen TV where the students (and, I suspect, sometimes the staff) can chill in these huge, cozy armchairs and watch races on TVG and HRTV. Is that the greatest or what? I spent about one minute in that office and wanted to re-enroll.
Also on the topic of the RTIP, the few current students I met were very cool. There was this guy Pete, who called the Selin Memorial Happy Minute, and gave out winners all day Sunday. He knows a lot of the horsemen around Rillito and accurately predicted the winner of the Selin, relaying a fascinating story about how exactly he knew who the best horse in the race was (I can't confirm the tale so it would be totally reckless to repeat it here, but let's just say it's very appropriate that there's a conspiracy theory with chicanery involved in a race named for Pete, a man who loved to research and write about the dark side of racing!). And he gave the race a solid call, from what little I could hear.
The other RTIP student I met was Jon, who covered the race for the RTIP Update newsletter. He wore a great hat (as any good turwriter should) and also had some amusing Rillito stories. And I've since read his articles in the most recent Update and they're damn good. Better than whatever I was writing when I was there, that's for sure.
It's good to know there are still fun, crazy, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable young fans (and future industry professionals) coming through that program. It would be nice to see one or both of those dudes end up in Texas in a few years.
When it comes to simulcasting, I never thought I'd feel lucky to live in Texas. But damn, they just straight-up don't have it in Tucson anymore. I didn't get to hear why, but a city that used to have some great off-track facilities just a few years ago now has nothing. How frustrating to show up at the track on Saturday and find out we can't even see the races from Gulfstream or Santa Anita. I always thought Tucson would be a nice place to retire, but nevermind that idea.
When I did see the results of Saturday's racing online that night, I was glad to see that Great Hunter and Kip Deville came through, as did my choice in the Sam Houston feature. Sweet.
Rillito Park was as charming as ever. For once I actually made money there, and lots of it. I pretty much abandoned handicapping off the PPs in favor of picking horses out of the post parade with no regard for their odds. In the average Rillito race, where the field is limited to eight, five or six of the entrants will look as if they've come straight from winter on the farm. They have long hair, and are either overweight or frighteningly scrawny. And I'm not the kind of guy who can routinely tell the difference between a nice horse and a very nice horse, but I'm sharp enough to tell the difference between a racehorse and a pleasure hore that happens to have a saddlecloth with a number on it.
So most of the weekend I picked the three best-looking horses in the race and boxed them in an exacta. If there was only one who stood out, I bet him to win and place. Pretty darn simple and extremely profitable. I cleared $200 profit without ever spending more than $10 on a single race.
The Selin Memorial Happy Minute on Sunday was just a beautiful occasion. About 20 friends of Pete's turned out, including shippers from New York, Kentucky, California, and, of course, Texas. We drank, we gambled, we told stories, and we laughed. In fact, I laughed harder than I have in a long time, and that's saying something because I'm a dude who laughs a lot. I had hoped to gather storied from people to post on this blog, but when it came down to it we realized that most of the stories can't be published without embarassing the other people involved who are still living! If you want to hear the best Pete stories, you ought to just plan on coming next year.
The event's organizers put up a lot of their own money to make the race happen and for that the rest of us are beyond grateful. Big props to Mike Costanzo, Rich Scheidt, and Scot Waterman for the most perfect tribute since a hearse drove the body of PR guy Allen "Black Cat" Lacombe down the stretch and over the Fair Grounds finish line in 1989.
Even if it had been possible, Pete would have preferred this "chicken-fried" stakes race at Rillito over a $1 million-dollar Grade I at Keeneland. It brought everyone together again and that was the most important thing.
A few other random thoughts on the Tucson trip...
The University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program has some mighty fine new digs. When I went there we worked out of a basement. Now they've moved on up to this deeeluxe apartment in the sky. They've got this massive flat-screen TV where the students (and, I suspect, sometimes the staff) can chill in these huge, cozy armchairs and watch races on TVG and HRTV. Is that the greatest or what? I spent about one minute in that office and wanted to re-enroll.
Also on the topic of the RTIP, the few current students I met were very cool. There was this guy Pete, who called the Selin Memorial Happy Minute, and gave out winners all day Sunday. He knows a lot of the horsemen around Rillito and accurately predicted the winner of the Selin, relaying a fascinating story about how exactly he knew who the best horse in the race was (I can't confirm the tale so it would be totally reckless to repeat it here, but let's just say it's very appropriate that there's a conspiracy theory with chicanery involved in a race named for Pete, a man who loved to research and write about the dark side of racing!). And he gave the race a solid call, from what little I could hear.
The other RTIP student I met was Jon, who covered the race for the RTIP Update newsletter. He wore a great hat (as any good turwriter should) and also had some amusing Rillito stories. And I've since read his articles in the most recent Update and they're damn good. Better than whatever I was writing when I was there, that's for sure.
It's good to know there are still fun, crazy, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable young fans (and future industry professionals) coming through that program. It would be nice to see one or both of those dudes end up in Texas in a few years.
When it comes to simulcasting, I never thought I'd feel lucky to live in Texas. But damn, they just straight-up don't have it in Tucson anymore. I didn't get to hear why, but a city that used to have some great off-track facilities just a few years ago now has nothing. How frustrating to show up at the track on Saturday and find out we can't even see the races from Gulfstream or Santa Anita. I always thought Tucson would be a nice place to retire, but nevermind that idea.
When I did see the results of Saturday's racing online that night, I was glad to see that Great Hunter and Kip Deville came through, as did my choice in the Sam Houston feature. Sweet.
posted by Jimbo @ 3/06/2007 07:19:00 PM
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