BETTING WITH BOB / ANOTHER CHANCE

Hi, my name is Bob and I’m broke. The Times gave me a mythical $1,000 at the start of this Hollywood Park meeting. I didn’t think there was any way I could lose it all. Guess again.

I had to call my editor and ask for more money. He told me I wasn’t going to get one more mythical cent from this newspaper. In fact, he said The Times had bought a state-of-the-art computer to take over this column.

It took some talking, but he finally agreed to let me share this space with the computer. But there are some guidelines. First, the rest of the meeting will be conducted under loser-leaves-town rules. Whoever ends up with more money gets to come back for the Del Mar meeting. I’ll still get to do my handicap, but it won’t be the same. Second, the stakes in this contest have been raised to $2,000, and I have to get my own mythical money.

Hey, even Donald Trump has cash-flow problems. I’m just riding a streak of bad luck. I couldn’t get a break. You could say I’m having a slump de Trump. But I’ll turn things around. I had to go to my brother to get a loan. I offered him junk bonds for collateral, but he took the pink slip to my mythical Mercedes. It’s a long walk home every day. In fact, he’s even charging me $20 interest a week.

So here I am with another mythical bankroll. But this time it’s not just my reputation that’s on the line. And it’s not just that I owe my brother money. It’s the reputation of the human race that’s at stake. It’s man against the microchip. And if I fail, which I won’t, you won’t have Betting With Bob to kick around anymore.

So let’s get going. It’s Betting With Bob/Another Chance. For Thursday, I’m betting $50 to Win on Indian Wind in the third and $50 to win on Vince’s Dancer in the fourth.

My counterpart, otherwise known as a bucket of resistors and diodes, spit out a bet of $25 to win on Reassured in the fifth and $25 to win on Dakotah Thunder in the seventh.

Wish me luck.

Bob’s Borrowed Bankroll: $2,000

Wednesday Profit Tapped Out

Computer’s Bankroll: $2,000

Wednesday Profit First Time Starter