Horse Racing

In such a legalized gambling activity like horse racing, how does LCN make any money on that? I mean fixing races? Maybe. Being able to bet on credit? I guess, but some states allow markers for horse racing legally. Other than just for recreational gambling I'm having trouble finding out why people (myself included) naturally associate horse racing with wiseguys. Any thoughts?

Wiseguys love to bet horses. That and the bookmaking. Those are the main reasons people make the association.

As far as wiseguys fixing races, it happens. But not nearly as much as you'd think, And it's much easier to fix the trotters. That's why the trotters are a dead sport today. Roosevelt and Yonkers Raceway were like a candy store for those guys back in the '60s and '70s.

But it got to the point where the average gambler got so disgusted with not having a fair chance, that they just stopped going. That's why Roosevelt's gone and, if not for the video poker and slots, Yonkers would be a parking lot as well. But give it to the Rooneys, they're making money hand over fist with those slots today.

Just don't bring Eddie Mush with you to the track!

Frank, My guess would be because there is a school of thought that still subscribes to theory that they are fixed based on the LCN history of involvement. The same can be said for strip clubs and Italian restaurants. 25 years ago a stretch of Federal Highway between Commercial Blvd and Oakland Park Blvd in Fort Lauderdale had a huge LCN presence, restaurants, strip clubs and night clubs. You know what they say about wise guys, they aren't happy making money unless their stealing it. We have quite a few dog and pony tracks down here and along with a couple Jai Alai futons and back in the day they were heavily mobbed up. I suppose today you could still find a way to fix a race and make a couple bucks by why bother when you can set up a phony medical office, buy a list of Medicare recipients names and SS numbers and bill Medicare for millions of dollars in 3 months time and pack it in before the feds even get suspicious.

They went to the well one too many times with the Florida horse and dog tracks. They got greedy and killed a good thing (good for them, not that I'm saying it's good).

I love the track. Hell, I grew up at the track. New York and Florida. But it's a bygone way of life for the most part .

PB, I still enjoy a day at the track occasionally, a few years back I went with an old friend to the dog track on Belvedere and Congress and he knew a guy that worked with the vets at the track. He marked our programs and we won every race we bet. I was too much of skeptic/chicken to bet heavy but I won a few bucks that day. Are you talking about the Pittsburgh Rooney's in your previous post, if so I didn't know they owned tracks in New York as well?

Yes, they've owned Yonkers Raceway for about forty years. They bought the track when it was already past its prime and going downhill. They stuck it out through the lean years when they were down to like a thousand people a night. Seriously, a thousand people, where Yonkers did forty thousand a night in their heyday.

The trotters are a dead sport. But they finally passed the video slots back in the early 2000's, and Yonkers debuted them in 2006. The rest is history. They're making money hand over fist (like the Rooneys need it---lol). The little business they do off the actual horses is just a very small bonus at this point.

Back in the day when my father gambled he'd drive all the way up to Monticello to bet on a fixed race (that's a four hour roundtrip drive from Brooklyn). Monticello was the most crooked track in the country and the wiseguys used it as a cash machine.

Yup. There was one scam in particular called the "Twin Double" where they really cleaned up at Monticello. Years later it would take on a different form in the "Pick 4," but back then they eventually did away with it at Monticello all together. The track got KILLED. And it just goes to show how short-sighted those guys are. Because back then, the off-the-record owner of Monticello was owned by the Genovese Family .

Are there any states that don't have off track betting any more. If they are you can make money in those states.

Have to have a reliable sports book that gives the right odds. Then you take bets you don't want to make money you don't want to loss money. What you want is to make a percentage off the top on every bet made.

Big players don't want to bet OTB or at the track. They don't want to pay taxes on the money they win. So they will use an illegal bookie.

Trooters are for losers. Every see Pesce in easy money. Remember how he noticed the riders was throwing the race

I used to go to giants stadium to watch the metrostar night games. Then at 10 I would walk to the meadow lands race track. I must have been out of my mind to do that back then.

They filmed that scene at Pompano Park in Florida .

Funny.

Do you guys remember back in the 70's they had the races from Yonkers on TV, every Saturday night on channel 9 WOR I think, right after WWF wrestling, that must have been WOR's night for fixed television.

Stan Bergstein and Spencer Ross!!!!

Thanks PB, those were the good old days.

I would go to the flats during the day and win a lot of money. Then go to Yonkers and lost that an more.

Other times I would go to the flats and lose. Then go to Yonkers and lose

...

...

By Clark Spencer

cspencer@MiamiHerald.com


An astute horse racing handicapper and entrepreneur from Palm Beach County on Sunday blindsided Gulfstream Park and thousands of bettors salivating at the thought of the richest Pick 6 payoff in U.S. history.

But that moment never came for Gulfstream or those bettors. Dan Borislow beat everyone to the punch.

“I was trying to catch everybody sleeping, and I guess my strategy worked,” Borislow said by phone after cashing a Pick 6 ticket worth nearly $6.7 million.

And he doesn’t feel the least bit bad about it.

“I guess the more losers there are, the bigger the winner is,” he said.

About the only other person smiling after Borislow’s big score: Uncle Sam.

“Looks like about $1.7 million,” Borislow said of the federal tax cut on his winning wager.

Borislow had good reason to gloat. He became the first person since Gulfstream launched its Rainbow 6 wager on Jan. 10 to not only correctly pick all six winners on the designated races on the track’s daily card, but to also be the only person to hold a winning ticket for any one card — the catch that made the carryover pool swell to historic proportions.

On Monday, though, Gulfstream was prepared to pay off the entire pool whether there was just one correct winner — or a thousand and one.

The track had began publicizing the wager. Track officials projected the final total pool would reach up to $20 million, easily shattering the previous Pick 6 total pool mark of $10.8 million set at California’s Hollywood Park in 2007.

“We’re disappointed like everyone else that we didn’t have the chance to see how high the pool could have gone with a mandatory payout on Monday, but this also proves that you never know when someone will get lucky and hit it,” Gulfstream Park President Tim Ritvo said.

Tracks around the country, knowing their patrons would be absorbed by Gulfstream’s potential massive payoff, even went so far as changing their own race post times so as not to interfere.

Bettors everywhere grabbed advance copies of the Daily Racing Form and began doing their homework for Monday’s card, and a Pick 6 bonanza like none before.

Gulfstream even designed its weekend racing cards to help ensure that Monday would be the day. It carded short fields with big favorites Saturday and Sunday, thereby making it more likely that there would be more than one winning Pick 6 ticket on those days.

After all, it takes only two or more winning tickets to keep the wager going, and the pot building.

But Borislow — the inventor of the magicJack phone system and part-time resident of Palm Beach County — sensed a chance to make a score Sunday. If everyone was so intent on taking aim at the rich payoff on Monday’s card, he figured they might ignore Sunday’s.

And he pounced.

Borislow crafted a ticket costing him $7,600. He bet every horse in the third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth races, along with two starters in the sixth race.

“I’ve been handicapping for a few years, and there are two things that are important,” Borislow said. “It’s not only knowing which horses to bet, but how to bet.”

Again, Borislow was banking on two things: light betting interest as most waited for Monday’s card to roll around, and long-shot winners. He scored on both counts.

When Bagration won the first leg of the Pick 6 at odds of 16-1, Borislow was on his way as those playing mostly favorites quickly fell by the wayside. Cajun Breeze ($22 for a $2 win ticket), Little Bart ($12.80), Signofaffection ($10.40), Cajun Sunrise ($9.60) and Callana ($12.80) rounded out the rest of the wager.

Not a single favorite triumphed.

“I thought this would be a good day because everybody was waiting for tomorrow, and I thought today was my chance to get it by myself,” Borislow said.

He got it all right. And didn’t feel at all guilty about ruining the fun for Gulfstream and those hoping for a handicapping home run on Monday.

“Not with all the money in my pocket, I don’t,” he said.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/26/4138376/palm-beachs-dan-borislow-wins.html

^^^^^^^^

That guy's a tech millionaire to begin with. There's no fucking justice in this world .

Skinny Joey Merlino racing horses!!

PB, a real smart guy I would guess, he invented magic jack and figured out how to beat the odds at Gulfstream. I can't get 3 numbers on the lotto

Now I'm happy that California Chrome lost (aside from the fact that I had the winner anyway).

The owner, Steve Coburn, is acting like such an asshole and being such a crybaby, that I hope he never wins another race.

I love to watch horse racing,but I wasn't very good at picking winners. After I lost more than I won for the hundreth time,I decided that I would still go to the track to enjoy the live action,but I wouldn't place any wagers. Instead,I would make mental bets on the races.

Within 2 months, I lost my mind.

I don't seem to have any luck in gambling. Last year,I lost $8,000 dollars. I'm starting to think that professional wrestling might not be on the level.

How did horse racing play in with the whole illegal numbers games that were and still are around?

Depends where you lived. They'd use the local track's total handle for the day, or in some instances the tote, or in other instances the totals for three races at a time (with a 9 race card that would give you three digits for the day, so you could theoretically play just one number at a time).

Pre-1985, numbers was a HUGE moneymaker. Then the States started with the legal numbers and that was all she wrote. There are still some dinosaurs who book the number, but years ago there were numbers stores and sheet writers all over the place. Everyone in the neighborhood knew where to get down. Today people who play, and book, the street number, are few and far between.

Pizza can probably best answer as he's older but I believe if I remember correctly the number was based on lets say aqueduct. Race 1 2 and 3 where the daily number. So if the 1 horse won then 3 won the second race and then 7 won the third race the daily number would be 1 3 7

Or some modification of that.

I think......

And there u go. Like clock work

I was close. Pizza do I get something for second place?

Look at my post above yours. Depends where you lived.

Yeah, you get second place. Like you would have gotten fourth place at the Belmont if not for me .

I don't know any books that write numbers anymore. A guy who did a few years ago died recently. Some locals who use off shore templates allow you to be bet whether the last number is odd or even. Laying -120

Sucker bet

I would have. Had the 9 for a buck. And the 5 who is still running. Did I tell u that or good guess. I forget

My 5 won the 12th race. He was still running when the next race started

Yeah, but I gotta admit, Stamford died hard with the number. There were a couple stores on West Main Street right up til the late '90s. Then after that big pinch (the Scores extortion case in NY had repercussions all the way up to Fairfield), the little guy packed it in. And no one else was really interested in keeping it going.


Degenerates come in all shapes and sizes

Oh trust me. I know people that bet it

Just was watching some Secratariet races. WOW

Anyone ever go to greyhound races? I like the dog races down in the Ft. Myers/ Naples area.

i'd rather watch a dog fight

Welcome, Yankees1951 .

I'm a Bronx guy, but today we live in Delray Beach for part of the year. And I've been to the Kennel Club many times, but more to play poker nowadays.

I've lost money one too many times on dogs who can't stay upright. At least my horses don't fall down. They don't generally win, but they don't fall down either .

OK thanks for the information.

I have never bet on horse racing, dog racing, NASCAR/car racing, or anything like that. My dad remembers how decades ago out west when he was living in AZ they had greyhound racing; but he never went crazy with it, and would just bet a little when friends of his were going there.

He and other family members of his did not play the numbers game(s) that were around before the PA state lottery; but they remember when they were sold in Philadelphia, and you could buy them at locally owned stores, and barber shops.

dogs, I always play a 5-8 quinella

Helluva system, kid .

Hopefully he's boxing his 5-8 exacta

Just figured out how to respond properly. Thank You Pizzaboy, a Bronx Guy, that's neat. We use to have a time-share in Florida near Del-Ray but went S.W. to the Naples area where there are mostly people our age. Yeah that's a nice place to relax if you go there with the mindset that the money in your pocket is already gone. At least for the dog's, Poker if I have the patience to sit there

its a quinella...slightly different than an exacta but i get what youre saying. 5-8 would have to be boxed obviously.

im not handicapping friggin dog races on a wednesday night

you know me...real bright

You're a smart kid, Cheech. Stop knocking yourself. But gambling is just like sex. All intelligence goes right out the window just before the act .

thought I was smart to ask the old lady at the track. picked #2 super trifecta box $24 or wat ever the fuck it is lose. never again goin with the favorite. one time I won it was the guy in the back of the ny post old guy he called it think that was when big brown was breaking hearts. wont forget whatever big race acouple years ago when the horse broke his leg and they killed him rite on the spot. peta was pissed but the rich people that run America told them shut the fuck up we like to gamble.

From a 2005 article on mob ties and horse racing

http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2005/3/20050120-archive158.html

Thank You Jose!!!

Opening day at Saratoga. And everything is all right with the world .

Back to Belmont today .

As most of you know, my Dad's recuperating here from his hernia operation (sorry for being repetitive, I guess it helps me to deal with it by "talking" about it here). So I set him up with a NYRA Rewards account online, being that he's not really up to heading out to The Island yet.

Anyway, you'd have to be a horse player to understand this, but some of these top trainers are getting ridiculous now. A few of them have two and three mounts for different owners in the same race. It drives me crazy enough when it's a big race, like the Derby or the Preakness. But is it really necessary for Todd Pletcher to have three horses in the same race---by three different owners---on a Friday afternoon in September?

I mean, he's a GREAT trainer. But if you're an owner, how much confidence can you have in your trainer if he has two horses running against you?

This shit was unheard of ten or fifteen years ago. It won't stop me from making a bet, though .

Good Luck with your father and I hear you on the trainers, obviously there is more into the odds than the trainers but basically the trainer is giving similar routines to the same horses in the same race. I think it is ridiculous and even gives that trainer an unfair advantage to the betting public when he goes and lays his money down at the window. Follow him to the window and snoop on his bets

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/09/sports...ness-races.html

my good friends uncle is frank in this article

And California Chrome just got beat at the Breeders Cup .

I always talk to the trainers, you don't win all the time but, you win most of the time. Now a days trainers have more than one horse in the race. I know one owner got fed up with that, fired the trainer and placed a different trainer who was only put over that horse. Big improvement to say the least. Horse finally got in the top three in a few races instead of nearly dead last.

todd pletcher? todd pletcher? is he the guy who had that filly " rags to riches" I think I had a horse named curlin, it was in the Belmont I believe. in my remembering

there was something fishy there, because the official photo
was never put up. it was burned up during processing. so much for todd pletcher and co.

I remember that. I don't care for Pletcher (although I love Johnny Velasquez, his top jockey). But my dislike of him aside, Pletcher's a pretty straight shooter. As straight as you can be in that business, anyway.

How everybody with the Breeder's Cup today? Any nice hits? I didn't bet but I watched a couple races.

I like Gary Stevens, too. But I wouldn't mind seeing Mike Smith win another big race.

@Dues Paid: This thread has been ongoing for awhile, so I responded here.

2 4 10 any

im going for no#8 to win. 8 5 7 trifecta

Fuck Bob Baffert. Jinxiest trainer on the planet .

That sucked.

As usual, I get 2 out of the 3 horses on the trifecta. And it was a combination I was considering.

Sorry guys , I did not see this thread. I will stick with this one for future posts on the Ponies.

Would have been great to see Stevens get up with that 10 for the W.