Saturday, May 24, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven Saturday, May 24, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven Betters'banquet: Riding on a hunch By DAVID WHITING "Just a quarter, man. Hey, you got a quarter," pleads a tattered man, one hand clutching a racing program, the other reaching for a handout. There are hundreds just like him at the harness races flat broke but too hooked to be ashamed, trying to scrounge up the two buck minimum necessary to bet on the next race. The green stuff - thousands of dol- lars worth - flows out of hopeful bet- ters' hands and into the raceway tills practically every night year round, rain or shine. Pulling into Detroit's Hazel Park Race- way for the first or hundredth time is blast introducing the loudspeaker's whine - "The horses are entering the track, you have nine minutes in which to make your selections and purchase your tickets" - and the final, "They're off! ", a single race's betting kitty will often swell to $35,000 before the win- dow closes. But it is not until the weekend - after Friday's paycheck is securely in hand -that the raceway's lighted scoreboard, showing each of the ten races betting totals, really gets hot. When the Hazel Park scoreboard glows, one of the three other tracks in the Detroit area is being pounded by thoroughbred hooves. The setup allows sion, "Never bet on a catchy name or a lucky number." Track fever can be tough to kick, as one young man putting five dollars on Bedford Fury to "win" - a win ticket pays off only if the horse finishes first- discovered after recently completing a stint with Gamblers' Anonymous. More restrained gamblers may bet a horse to "place", or pay if it comes in first or second, but less lucratively than a "win" bet. Betting to "show" means the horse must finish in the top three for the better to collect. Anyone over eighteen can legally take ing out a "sure loser" with stubby pen- cils as they sip Budweiser from paper cups. Beer and stiffer drinks are sold direct- ly opposite the ringing betting tills, a convenient location for someone who just laid a load on a number with the only hope of a return hinging on an ani- mal running faster than any of the other eight horses on the track. Women are noticeably scarce in the strained unsure atmosphere where a week's pay can be lost or doubled in a single night. Yet a few women, many also clad in nylon windbreakers but re- placing the chewed cigar stub with lip- stick stained cigarettes, shuffle up to the betting window and hand over ten and twenty-dollar bills in exchange for the small paper slip with their favored horse's number on it. As the crowd hustles back to the stands with their tickets in a deep poc- ket or tight fist, there are only a few seconds left before the excited horses charge out of the starting gate. The score board flashes, "Track con- dition - fast," and the race begins amidst screams and prayerful whispers of, "Come on, come on damnit." Within minutes it is all over and the first four horses' numbers are on the board. Tickets are disgustingly torn-up and to the accompaniment of disap- pointed curses and excuses. One man biting the ever-present cigar between his teeth It is only a quick stride from the grandstand seats to the swelling betting ques. Off to the side and curiously out of sight lie the windows where the win- ners collect. The lines are conspicuous- ly short. David Whiting is a Daily Night Editor. "As the crowd hustles back to the stands with their tickets in The scoreboard flashes, 'Track condition-fast,' and the deep pockets or tight fists, only a few seconds remain before race begins amidst screams and prayerful whispers of, the excited horses charge out of the gate. 'Come on, come on, dammit.' " an electrically charged experience. As the grandstand - shrouded oval comes into view, conversation instantly turns to horses and money and will remain there for the rest of the evening. As they surge past the pan-handling wizened man who sits massaging his 70-year old stump leg, all comers con- centrate on finding that magic cambina- tion of luck and logic that will make a winner. Rich man and pauper, fond- le their wallets, sensing the cash within -cash to be redoubled or squandered depending on whether the right horse is picked. prospective gamblers to choose their poison at one of two kinds of tracks, but most prefer to concentrate their efforts on one or the other, either harness or thoroughbred racing. The thoroughbred jockey crouches atop his mount, gradually cajoling the animal into an all-out gallop. In harness- racing, the rider sits in an ultra-light, two - wheeled cart, or sulky, harnessed to the horse, making for a somewhat slower but no less exciting contest. The factors that go into a harness gambler's closely-guarded personal for- mula, and the coveted "winning" equa- his or her chances at the track, yet the grandstand galleries are inevitably domi- nated by droves of cigar-chomping mid- dle aged men. These guys, protected from the wea- ther in nylon Ford or Chevrolet racing- stripe jackets, start at the statistic-filled four-bit program, occasionally scratch- "Anyone over eighteen can legally take his or her chances at the track, yet the grandstand galleries are inevitably dominated by droves of cigar-chomping middle aged men." The Saturday Magazine 2 Before the eager gamblers reach the fed. Two bills will get you into the grandstand, an indoor - outdoor affair flanked to the right by the posh club- house where dinner is served for the fore fortunate. Still empty now before the evening's races, the two-buck planks face the 5/8 of a mile oval dirt track, which engulfs a man-made lake and the scoreboard, a featureless monolith waiting to be brought to life by the first race. During the cool weekday nights this summer, between the trumpet's taped tions of the thoroughbred fanatic are as .varied as the races themselves; thus all but the most accomplished gamblers tend to limit themselves to one type of racing. Unlike the fast and furious thorough- breds, harnessed horses must maintain a "gait", something akin to a trot but startingly faster, or face being dropped a few notches in the final standings by the racing judges. A horse's age, jockey, trainer, prev- ious showings, and past showings on the track all influence the experienced wag- erers, who advise with scientific dispas-