Teachers Share Lesson: Play All 9-1 to 19-1 Odds

Biscayne Boy broke from the No. 2 post position in the second race Jan. 4 at Santa Anita and moved up to fourth by the half-mile pole. It was a six-furlong sprint for 4-year-olds and up. Going into the stretch, the horse took a 1 1/2-length lead. At the finish, Biscayne Boy was in front by five lengths. The horse returned $22.20 for a $2 bet.

In the grandstand, sitting in the last row of reserved seats in the middle of the stretch, were two sisters with long, black hair, who looked and dressed alike. After they finished clapping and cheering for their nag and jockey, they quickly rose and walked down the stairs to the betting windows to cash their tickets.

The women were each known as “Teach” inasmuch as they both worked at a high school in the San Fernando Valley. Sometimes, as a pair, they were referred to as the “Twins,” but mostly, on greeting one or the other, people would smile and greet them with “Hi, Teach.”

Friendly, but somewhat reserved, if you engaged them in conversation, the two would happily tell you that they used a system that they played only on weekends, holidays and the summer vacation months. What they didn’t tell many people was that the system enabled them to win enough money so that they could buy special books and small classroom items for students who needed a helping hand.

Of course, they lost some days, too, but since they didn’t bet every race, their winnings usually made up for their losses, and even put them slightly ahead for the year.

The system was to bet every horse in the race going off at odds from 9-1 to 19-1. If there were no horses at those odds, then they would skip the race. Sometimes there were as many as six such horses and other times there was only one. No matter how many, though, they would wager $2 on each horse.

What the system gave them was a chance to cash in on lots of winners, all of which were long shots paying from $20 to $40. Although there was no art to their handicapping, they, of course, relished the action and the excitement of the races.

If asked about the logic behind such a long shot system, the Twins would explain: “Logic is only for the classroom and educators. We just want to have fun and hit some long shots.” Sometimes they would even tell you that “betting on favorites is for the proletariat!”

In any case, after Biscayne Boy romped to victory, Truly Naughty, from the No. 3 post position in another six-furlong sprint, this time for 3-year-old maiden fillies, broke last in a 12-horse field.

However, in a bold move, the nag moved into fifth at the quarter pole and ran third by five lengths into the stretch. At the finish, Truly Naughty pulled away to win by 2 3/4 lengths, paying $25.20 to win.

The Twins won two more races that day. In the fifth, another six-furlong sprint, Dolphin Street, despite a No. 1 post position, won by a head, returning $24 for every $2 ticket.

The ninth race at 1 1/16 miles for 4-year-olds and up saw Miss One Mile run from 10th to the lead at the quarter pole. From that point, the horse held its lead around the oval and finished first by 2 1/2 lengths. It’s payoff was a satisfying $37.80.

For the day, the Twins each had invested $40, betting only seven races. Their total returns were $109.40, and they each left the track with a profit of $69.40.

In checking out the system, I discovered that the current Santa Anita season that began Dec. 26, 1989, proved that the Twins not only were having fun but that they also were leaving the track more days with money in their purses than without.

During the first 12 days of the season, through Jan. 10, there were 106 qualifying races. Total betting was $454 and returns amounted to $587.40 for a healthy profit of $133.40. Of the 106 races, 22 resulted in cashed tickets, for a winning percentage of .207.

On 10 of the 12 days, at least one horse won. Two horses won on five days, three horses came in first one day and four horses stuck their noses in front another day.

Here’s how to work the system. Simply check the totalizator board before each race and watch the odds.

The lineup and odds to $1 for the fourth race on opening day, Dec. 26, 1989, were as follows:

1--Surprise Ambush, $8.30

2--Kaboi, 1.60

3--Green Embers, 77.20

4--Rolling Donut, 31.40

5--Premier Danseur, 8.80

6--Mythical Being, 13.20

7--Fly Till Dawn, 4.60

8--Ole’ Nakatani, 6.00

9--Clever Return, 27.10

10--Joy Maker, 6.70

The horse to bet would have been Mythical Being, which romped home an easy winner by four lengths. It paid $28.40 for every $2.

Two other horses won on Dec. 26. Oh Wow took the third race, paying $21.60, and Oeilladine, racing to victory in the seventh, paid $24.20. Betting on horses in eight qualifying races came to $30. Total returns for the day hit $74.20 and winnings came to $44.20.

Obviously, there’s no way to guarantee that you are going to win every race. For example, one time when checking the Racing Form for the last race of the day at Hollywood Park, a gray-haired old lady who looked like my grandmother peered over my arm and asked about a horse that had odds of more than 100-1.

I told her that the only way the horse could win is if every other horse in the race stopped for tea and crumpets at the half-mile pole. That this horse was so bad that it shouldn’t be let loose to run around on a race track but should be out sniffing the flowers and giving rides to 6-year-olds. That a magician was needed to transform the steed into a super horse!

After the nag won and paid more than $200 for every $2 bet, the elderly lady came charging after me, screaming, yelling and insisting that I touted her off the horse. She irately claimed that if I hadn’t touted her off the horse, she would have bet it, instead of the favorite.

Which only proves that wagering on the nags is far from the exact science some people think it is.

The Twins will lecture to anyone who will listen that if Sir Isaac Newton had ever handicapped the nags, the physicist, mathematician and philosopher would have been so confused that he never would have come up with his law of gravitation. What he would have come up with would have been a handful of losing tickets!