by Bob Blanton
“Don’t worry, I just bet $5 to make it exciting. You’ve got to care about who wins or it takes all the fun out of it.”
“And they’re off. Betonme races to the rail leading by a half-length, followed by Dramatic Show and …. Count Down trails the pack. …. . As they head into the first turn Betonme still leads by a length. Count Down is starting to move up. …………. . Down the backstretch they go, Betonme still leading followed by Dramatic show, . . Count Down is making up ground moving into fifth.”
“Come on baby, win one for Simone!” Simone yelled as she clutched the ticket and hopped up and down.
“Into the final turn it’s Betonme followed by River Man. Dramatic Show has fallen off into fourth followed by Count Down…. . as they head for home it’s Betonme, Dramatic Show and Count Down, making his move to the outside. It’s Betonme by a head, Count Down then River Man. Now it’s Count Down by a nose, Betonme, River Man. Count Down, River Man, Bashful as Betonme fades. At the finish it’s Count Down by a length, followed by River Man and Bashful in third.”
Simone tore up her ticket. “They should change that horse’s name to Don’t Betonme,” she said as she watched Betonme cross the finish line in 7th place followed by Dramatic Show. “And that Dramatic Show is only good for the first act.” Simone laughed as she threw the ticket pieces into the air.
Matthew and Simone chatted while they waited for the 5th race to start. The announcer called out, “The horses are on the track,” and Matthew and Simone turned and watched the horses being led out to the paddock area where they had been saddled. “Skywalker looks great,” Matthew said.
“Which one is he?”
“The big bay over there.” Matthew pointed to Skywalker.
“Oh, he’s beautiful. Let’s hope he can run as good as he looks. What are the odds on him now?”
“They’re ten to one right now. They just dropped a little more.”
The horses were led half way around the track to the starting gate.
“Boy, it sure takes a lot of time to get ready for a race,” Simone said impatiently.
“That’s so you’ve got lots of time to place your bets and get a drink; the race track needs to get as much of your money as it can.”
“Come on, come on,” Simone urged. “Get those babies ready!”
“The horses are at the starting gate. They’re having some trouble getting Civil Disobedience into his gate. …. They’re all in …. And they’re off. Go Speed Go takes the rail followed by Civil Disobedience and Skywalker …. They round the curve, Skywalker is making a move on Civil Disobedience but Go Speed Go still leads by a length. Into the back stretch its Go Speed Go ahead by a length then Skywalker and Civil Disobedience followed by the rest of the field.”
“Come on Skywalker, move it, win one for Simone, Honey; come on, Mama’s waiting!” Simone shrieked as she jumped up and down.
Now Skywalker is making a move on the outside, it’s Go Speed Go by a half-length, Skywalker, Now it’s Go Speed Go by a head, Skywalker, Go Speed Go – Skywalker, Now Skywalker takes the lead, it’s Skywalker – Go Speed Go, and at the finish it’s Skywalker, Go Speed Go and Civil Disobedience.
“Oh yes! Yes! That’s my baby!” Simone hugged Matthew.
Matthew watched Skywalker being led to the winners’ circle. The Winthrops were there along with the other two owners and their trainer to accept the prize. They draped a wreath of flowers around Skywalker’s neck. As they started to hand the trophy to Mr. Winthrop, he motioned the man at his side forward to accept it. They were all smiles as they shook hands all around. “Let’s go get our money,” Matthew pulled Simone along.
“What’s the hurry? We’ve got all day to collect, let’s savor this moment.” She pulled away from Matthew and turned back to look at the winner’s circle.
“No we don’t. I didn’t tell you, but I’ve got a great tip for the seventh race. He’s at 60 to one right now. We need to collect the money from this race so we can start laying it on him slowly.”
“Are you crazy?” Simone turned to Matthew, her eyes bulging.
“No, I’m serious. Come on, we can’t put too much down at once or we’ll mess up the odds. And we want to place most of the money down just before the race.”
“How much are you planning to bet on this horse?” Simone gave Matthew a quizzical look.
“Let’s see, Skywalker paid sixteen so with $500 bet that’s four thousand. I figure I should bet three thousand on this race.”
“Are you crazy? Three thousand is a lot of money.” Simone did some quick math in her head. “Wait a minute, if Skywalker paid sixteen why are you only getting four thousand?”
“Sixteen is what he paid for a two-dollar bet, so the odds were eight to one,” Matthew said. “So, you made four hundred on your $50 bet.” Matthew looked at Simone to see if she understood.
“Oh, why do they have to make it so confusing?”
“It adds to the mystique, I don’t know. Now come on, we need time to collect the money and then spread the money around.”
“Okay, how do you know all this stuff anyway?”
“I’ve been researching everything about racing on the web, and besides that, I’ve read all the Dick Francis books, and he writes racing mysteries.”
“I see. Who are we betting on this time?”
“The horse is Peace Pipe. He’s the number seven horse in the seventh race.”
“That’s a funny name. Why did they name him that?”
“I don’t know, probably something to do with his being descended from Man of War.”
“I do like these names. Now what do we do?”
“When you collect on my winning ticket put $250 on him to win. We’ll put the rest of the money on him later.”
“Okay, do you care if I put some money on him, too?”
“It’s up to you, but are you sure you want to bet your winnings? This is a lot bigger risk than the last one.”
“Well I came here with $100 and as long as I take that home, I’m no worse off. But if I can win some big bucks, then I’ll have some real money to put aside for Jalin’s education. I want that boy to go to college.”
“Okay, then here’s what we do. We can keep betting on him as long as our bets are at less than 1/100 of the total pool; that way we won’t tip the odds early.” Matthew was assuming that the trainer and owner would be betting most of their money in Las Vegas and other places besides here at the track.
“How much do you want to bet first?”
“Just take care of your bet first. I’ll keep track of the pool and tell you when to collect and bet the rest.” Matthew stationed himself in front of one of the monitors displaying the betting pool for the upcoming races as Simone went off to place the bet.
The pool on the seventh race was at $200,000, so he figured they could safely put Simone’s $400 on Peace Pipe without affecting the odds. He knew that if they put too much money on him early, the odds would become more favorable, thus attracting more bets. He needed to keep the odds high to discourage other betters. By the time Simone got back, the pari-mutuel pool was up to $300,000. He figured that they were pretty safe. If between the two of them they put $3,400 on Peace Pipe that would be less than one percent of the pool by the time the race started, so it should protect the odds.
“Okay, let’s get another bet down,” Matthew handed Simone one of his winning tickets. “Cash it, and put $400 on Peace Pipe. Then we can go outside and place the rest.”
“This is hard work running around to all these different tellers. Are you sure we need to?”
“Yes, we don’t want to tip anyone that someone’s putting big money on Peace Pipe. If we do, then the rest of the crowd could start really betting on him and kill the odds.”
By the time they were announcing the beginning of the seventh race, Simone had cashed six of Matthew’s tickets and had gotten his $3,000 down on Peace Pipe. “I sure hope this horse wins; what are the odds on him now?” Simone asked as they walked bac
k out to watch the race.
“He’s at sixty to one right now, but there are still a couple of minutes of betting left. He’s definitely going off at long odds.”
“The horses are at the starting gate, the flag is up, and they’re off!” blared the announcer.
“Come on boy win this one for Jalin,” Simone clenched her fists and shaking them up and down. “Come on baby.”
“Losing It takes the lead, followed by Paxton and Velvet Rose a length back as they hit the first turn. … Coming into the backstretch, it’s Paxton, followed by Velvet Rose with Jolly Roger a close third. The pack is trailing by two lengths. Down the backstretch they go, it’s Paxton by a length followed by Velvet Rose and Jolly Roger neck and neck. Peace Pipe is making a move through the pack bouncing to the outside. Into the far turn it’s Paxton, Jolly Roger, Velvet Rose is fading, and Peace Pipe is really making a move on the outside. Charging down the home stretch it’s Paxton and Jolly Roger neck and neck, with Peace Pipe charging down the outside, back by a length. Now it’s Paxton, Peace Pipe and Jolly Roger. It’s Paxton, Peace Pipe, Jolly Roger. Peace Pipe is putting on an incredible burst of speed as he heads Paxton and takes the lead. Paxton is digging in, trying to retake the lead, but Peace Pipe is too much for the old boy. At the finish, it’s Peace Pipe by half a length, Paxton, then Jolly Roger two lengths back but a length ahead of the field.”
“Yes, thank you, Jesus!” cried Simone, as she jumped all over Matthew, hugging and kissing him.
“Simone, please don’t make a scene,” Matthew ears were bright red.
“How much did I win?” Simone was out of breath from her screaming and dancing.
“I assume you bet $400.” Simone nodded her head, “Since he paid 110, you took in $22,000.” Simone almost fainted as she heard how much she had won.
“Thank you, Jesus, Jalin thanks you,” Simone turned her face up to the sky. “Oh lord that should be enough to start a good college fund, don’t you think Matthew?”
“No doubt. I think Jalin will be able to go to any school he wants.”
“How much did you win? What are you going to do with it?”
“Well I bet, or you did, $3,000, so that makes my take $165,000. I’ll just have my mom come and cash the tickets.”
Simone was hugging Matthew again. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Now the Internal Revenue Service will be there to collect their share,” Matthew said, “so be prepared when you cash your ticket.” Simone made a pouty face at Matthew when he mentioned the IRS.
Matthew was happy that the pool had climbed to over $3,500,000 before the race started. Their winning shouldn’t draw too much attention, but he was sure that his mom would have some explaining to do when she collected such a large percentage of the pot.
“Can’t we just collect them a little at a time and not tell anyone?” Simone asked.
“You don’t want to mess with the IRS, they’re the guys that brought down Al Capone. It’ll be almost impossible to collect that much money and not raise attention. You’re better off paying them now and not have them visiting you in the middle of the night.”
“They take all the fun out of life.”
“I know what you mean. Now if they ask about the other money you bet, tell them you placed the bets for Margaret Brandt. I’ll tell Mom as soon as I get home.”
“All right. I’m in the money, I’m in the money,” Simone sang as she waltzed off to collect her winnings.
When she came back, she was clutching a check and looking ecstatic and unhappy at the same time. “Man, those IRS guys were jumping all over me as soon as I tried to collect my money. Then the racetrack made me take a check instead of good old green backs. I wanted to run my fingers through the money.” She gave Matthew a hug.
“Well at least you won’t have to worry about getting mugged. You missed the last race while you were in there.”
“I was being robbed by the hoods with those IRS badges. Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah,” Matthew was trying to think of how to explain all this to his mother.
. . .
Simone dropped Matthew off at his house, wishing him luck in explaining everything to his mom. Matthew went into the house. It had never occurred to him that he would have to explain his winnings to his mother. He hoped she wouldn’t be too mad at him, not that she had anything against gambling. His father had taken him to the races several times before he died, but over $160,000 was going to be hard to ignore. His mother was in the kitchen. It was 6:00 and she was just getting dinner ready. Matthew rushed over to help.
“How were the races, honey?” she asked.
“Fine, Mr. Winthrop’s horse won,” Matthew said as he carried the dishes to the table to set it.
“That’s great, did you have a bet on him?”
“Yes,” Matthew was somewhat relieved that she at least had expected him to get a bet down.
“That’s nice. It makes the race so much more exciting if you have some money on it. I hope you didn’t lose too much on the other races.”
“I didn’t lose anything.”
“Did Mr. Winthrop place the bets for you?”
“No; remember, I went with Simone. She placed them for me.”
“Did she win on the Winthrop’s horse, too?” His mother looked up from her cooking.
“She sure did,” Matthew wondered when he should bring up the subject of how much they had won.
His mother dished up the spaghetti and they sat down for dinner. “Jessica, would you say grace for us?”
“Okay,” Jessica sang grace.
“Thank you for the world so sweet,
Thank you for the food we eat,
Thank you for the birds that sing,
Thank you, Lord, for everything.”
“Amen,” they all said in unison.
“That was really nice, Jessie,” Matthew patted his sister’s arm.
After they had dished up the meal and his mother had had a glass of wine and part of another, Matthew decided that now was the time to own up. “Mom.”
“Yes, Matt,” His mother looked at him suspiciously.
“About the races. I kind of had another hot tip.” Matthew gulped as he anticipated her response.
“I thought you said you didn’t lose anything.” Her voice started to rise.
“I didn’t lose. That’s just it, I won a lot of money.” Matthew looked down at his plate.
“How much money and where did you get this hot tip from?”
“Well, Mr. Winthrop told me that some of the owners would hold their horses back for a few races to let the odds build up on them, then run them to win so they could make a lot of money betting on them. So, I looked up the horses running today and a couple fit that description. So, I did some more research on them, and one looked really likely.”
“How much are we talking about?”
“Well between what I won on Skywalker and this horse, Peace Pipe, it’s over $165 grand.” Matthew winced as though he was going to get hit.
“$165 thousand, how did that happen? I can’t believe this!” his mother hollered. “You’d better do some explaining.”
“Well, I bet $500 on Skywalker.”
“$500, do you know that’s what I spend on food every month?”
“Yes I know; if I’d lost it, I was planning to work extra jobs to make it up. Honest, but I was pretty sure that Skywalker would win. I researched him, too, and he’s a great horse with really good parentage. He just started the year out slow. So anyway, I won $4000 on that bet. So I bet $3,000 on Peace Pipe.”
“$3,000 that would pay the house payment for a month, both the first and the second.”
“I know, but we wouldn’t have had it anyway, and I kept five hundred of the winnings. Then Peace Pipe won at 55 to one odds, so that’s the $165,000. I’ve got the winning tickets right here. It’s too much money to have someone else collect for us, with the taxes and all. I thought you could go by the track tomorrow and collect,”
Matthew hurried.
“I can’t believe this; I don’t know whether to be happy or mad at you. How could you risk so much?”
“It wasn’t that much. Remember I only started with $500. And we could really use the money. It’s enough to pay off most of the second. We’ve got so many medical expenses this year, you won’t have to pay too much in taxes and maybe we can keep the house,” Matthew gasped for breath. “I’m sorry; I should have told you what I was going to do.”
“It’s all right. Now what am I supposed to do? Jessica, stop playing with your food, or you won’t get any dessert,” she lightly tapped Jessica on the arm.
“Well, you just have to go collect. There will be someone there to collect for the IRS; they always want their money before you get a chance to spend it. If they ask you why you bet so much on the horse, you should say you saw a tip on the Internet, and since you were betting your winnings, why not. Or something like that,” Matthew blurted out.
“Or something like that,” his mother started to smile. “How much will the IRS take?”
“I think it’s 20 percent. I should have asked Simone what they took from her.”
“What did Simone win in all this?”
“She got $22,000 less taxes. She’s going to use it to start a college fund for Jalin, her little boy.”
“That’s nice. Maybe we should do the same.”
“No, pay off the second, I’ll get a scholarship. And I’ll be working before Jessie starts, so I can help pay. We would never be able to afford to buy another house.”
“All right, we’ll discuss this more tomorrow; but I think you need to go to church next week.”
“Okay.” Matthew quit talking figuring he was getting off lightly.
Candy Store
The next day after school, Matthew went into Webmasters.com to catch up on the work he usually did on Sunday afternoons.
“Hi, Simone,” Matthew said as he entered the reception area, “have you come down from cloud nine yet?”
“No not really. How about you?”
“Mom kind of grounded me yesterday. Figuratively and literally.”
