day 28: The races

Today's memory is about gambling.When I lived in Indiana one of my friends would take me to the House track. It was about 30 minutes away.
It was called Hoosier park.
I was a lovely place. I remember pulling up to the parking lot, and being in awe of the lovely building. I never got to see the Horses run live there, but maybe someday at some park i will.
The first time I went I didn't know anything about Gambling. Frank, my friend, always carried a small notebook with him. One of the small spiral ones. Or at least he made sure to always had one when we went to the track.
I remember the first time we went, we sat in the one of the little booths with a tv. He made me a little diagram of what each bet meant. He started with the win bet.
That is one of the easiest bets, and is actually just like it sounds. You are betting who will win.
I also got confused with the show and place for a while. But eventually I picked it up. Place is for second, so if the horse comes in first you also win, but the percentage is smaller. If it comes in third you lose, or after obviously. Show is for third, so if the horse comes in first or second you also win.
There are other bet trifecta (picking the first three) and exacta (picking the first two) and Superfecta (picking the first four) You can do these straight, so an exacta straight 1-2, has to come 1 first, and 2 second or you can box them, which means either way as long as they come in first or second. There are some other bets, but we didn't go over them, and they really aren't important at the moment. (I think I learned later what a Quinella is when I worked the dog track, since most horse tracks don't use that. It is basically it is an exacta box bet with a different name.)
I am not sure if we bet on the first race. I think we spent a few minutes flipping back in forth between the channels. I know the first few bets I made, i wasn't really betting on the odds.
I can still only slightly read the odds of the horses/dogs. I bet on names.
I remember one of the largest bets I made was for one called Chubby Bunny, which I bet 5 across the board for the race. (Across the board is essentially A win bet, a place bet, and a show bet on the same ticket)
He didn't win, he came in fourth. I think I went to the teller for that one.
One most of the bets we were making, we were using the self service machines. When I wasn't betting, I went up with him and he exsplained to me what he was doing when he was placing his bets.
I don't think the first time Frank bought a book. I think we found one for one of the tracks. So, for a while we were connectrating a lot of the bets on that track. Most horse tracks have 30 minutes between each race, so though we may have been betting exclusively on one track, we were always watching some of the other races going off.
I don't remember actually seeing live racing till later. It wasn't actually horses. it was actually the dogs when I worked the track. I think I was hired right as the season was going off, before they changed the season. I may be wrong though.
I always liked working the twilight races down by the track. It is called the glass, since it is basically against the glass covering the grand stands. The twilight races were always a bit slower so I didn't have to worry about people bothering me.
It is fun to watch the dogs run. luckilY i don't remember sitting down there where any of the dogs got seriously hurt, A couple times the dogs hit the wall, but like i said no major injuries. I think once one of the doggies hurt his leg, but he was about to be done racing, and actually got adopted out shortly after that.
I do remember more than one race where a random dog would get distracted. I know one this dog saw a butterfly and started chasing after it. I think all the dogs that race at the dog track are just out of puppyhood or still puppies, so they can easily get distracted.
Not every race but occasional times, they would walk through the dogs that were up for adoption. A couple times on they dressed the dogs up. I think one Kentucky Derby they had fancy hats when they walked through.
I never worked with the dogs just took the bets, but they were always cute, and it was nice when I would get to pet one. I would probably get a greyhound but I definitely don't have enough space for one.
I haven't been back to the dog track since I quit. But I might go to a horse track or a dog track if anyone invited me, just not the one I used to work, a nicer one.