I've been getting lots of questions about the absence of pics from the annual Las Vegas Family Vacation(tm) - I dunno why we didn't head out this year, but the whole family got together this Saratoga, NY in August which has to count for something. (hey - if you can't bet on the hard eight, why not bet on the six horse?). Anyway, my brother came down from Syracuse, my mom, dad and katie drove up from Medway and I took the Amtrak from NYC.


We were in Saratoga for two action-packed days of racing. First day, first race, first time ever betting on the horses, my brother and I pick the winner, exacta box, and we're up $150. As expected, it was all downhill from this point... [day 1 stats | day 2 stats]


So, apparently my dad makes this pilgrimage every year (who knew?) and this is the first time the rest of the family tagged along. Here's Big Dig scouting the scene with the rest of this Irish Mafia friends.


My dad's friends rented out a house in Saratoga for, I think, the whole month. Jonathan and I were hanging out there pre/post races - just long enough to notice one of the photos included in a larger 'wedding collage' hanging on the wall. It's a bit blurry, but yeah, that's the bride all stretched out on the hood of a late 70's Corvette. Hot.


So the six of us are trying to get into the grounds on Sunday morning when they hit us up with a $10/head cover (or something like that). Joey.B out of nowhere pulls one of the cops aside, flashes this mystery sherriff's badge and like a Jedi mind-trick, we're following him through the gates with comped passes. Who knew?


'Dig paying some respect to the lucky finger puppet in hopes of a little trifecta luck.


I dunno why my mom thought Jonathan would need, what?, 20 rolls of paper towels for his senior year at school, but here's Katie bearing the grunt of the load in the back of the Lex.


Mom, me, Shoops and J.J.Money. And for the love of Chirst, stay off the hydrant.


Jay pulls off a frontside headlock-to-fence beatdown. Those kids got class.

And, of course, the results of our ill-placed bets...

day 1
race	bet	type	horse	cost	return	up/down
1	$5	exacta box	2, 9	$5	$65	$60
1	$5	show	1	$5	$7	$62
1	$20	syndication	JS	$20	$0	$42
2	$5	exacta box	1, 4	$5	$0	$37
2	$20	syndication	??	$20	$0	$17
2	$3	exacta box	1, 9	$6	$0	$11
3	$5	exacta box	1, 4	$5	$0	$6
3	$5	exacta box	4, 9	$5	$0	$1
4	$5	exacta box	5,7	$5	$0	- $4
5	$5	exacta box	1, 2	$5	$0	- $9
6	$5	exacta box	6, 9	$5	$0	- $14
7	$5	exacta box	4,1	$5	$0	- $19
8	$5	exacta box	12, 7	$5	$0	- $24
8	$5	show	12	$5	$0	- $29
9	????	????	????	????	????	????
total						- $29

day 2
race	bet	type	horse	cost	return	up/down
1	$20	syndication	JC	$20	$0	- $20
1	$5	exacta box	2, 6	$5	$0	- $25
2	$5	exacta box	2, 8	$5	$75	$35
3	$5	exacta box	4, 5	$5	$0	$30
3	$3	trifecta b	2,3,5	$12	$0	$18
3	$5	show	3	$5	$0	$13
4	$5	exacta box	3,10	$5	$0	$8
4	$5	win	5	$5	$0	$3
4	$5	show	3	$5	$7.50	$5.50
5	$5	exacta box	2, 7	$5	$0	$0.50
5	$2	trifecta b	2,3,7	$12	$0	- $12.50
6	$5	exacta box	???	$5	$0	- $17.50
7	$3*	trifecta b	2,4,6	$6	$0	- $23.50
7	$5	show	1	$5	$0	- $28.50
8	$3*	trifecta b	1,3,5	$6	$0	- $34.50
8	$5	win	7	$5	$0	- $39.50
9	$6*	trifecta b	1,2,8	$6	$0	- $45.50
9	$5	win	5	$5	$0	- $50.50
total						- $50.50

The two day toll puts me at a $79.50 loss. Come'on hard eight!