- 6 months ago
A look at two racetracks on opposite ends of the thoroughbred racing spectrum, the famed Belmont Park in suburban New York and the struggling Great Barrington Fair in Western Massachusetts.
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00:00Frontline number 211T, King of the World, producer Drasnan Fanning, director Drasnan Liu,
00:10showtime 5738, air date 11-6-84, WGBH Boston.
00:24Major funding for Frontline is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
00:28Additional funding is provided by this station and other public television stations nationwide.
00:35Tonight on Frontline, the horses, the jockeys, the players, all trying to win.
00:44There's just no form of gambling that is so exciting as the racetrack.
00:51The private world inside a public passion.
00:54I'm already thinking a week or so ahead, and I cannot reveal this name.
00:59But on Saturday, in those bettless races, I saw a horse that will make me king of the world.
01:07Is he in straight-up position? They're at the top of the stretch.
01:09From the network of public television stations, a presentation of KCTS Seattle,
01:22WNET New York, WPBT Miami, WTVS Detroit, and WGBH Boston,
01:29This is Frontline, with Judy Woodruff.
01:37Good evening. I'm Judy Woodruff.
01:39For months now, the newspapers have been full of stories of frontrunners and also rands,
01:45of races coming down to the wire.
01:47But our story tonight isn't about election year politics.
01:51It's about America's favorite spectator sport.
01:53And it may surprise you to learn that that sport isn't football or professional baseball, but horse racing.
02:01If you were one of the more than 30 million Americans who watched the Kentucky Derby on television last spring,
02:07you saw the pomp and ceremony, the public image of racing.
02:12What you didn't see is another side of the track, the private world of horses and horse players,
02:18a side of racing that's captured the imagination and sometimes the suspicions of a public always hungry for a winner.
02:26Tonight, we'll take you inside that other world of horse racing, the sport of kings,
02:31and the passion of millions who would be kings at one of the oldest and toughest gambles in the world.
02:38The film is produced and reported by Irv Drasden.
02:41We call it King of the World.
02:48There are few places that bring together so many Americans so often as this place.
03:04There are few obsessions shared by so many Americans of different backgrounds and persuasions.
03:10A $15 billion industry and some 30 state treasuries depend on their willingness to take a chance,
03:18to risk their judgment and their money, in a venture many believe is at least slightly crooked.
03:25What they're doing is thought by some to be frivolous, even reckless.
03:30By some as an addiction, even a disease, injurious perhaps to the health and morals of a nation.
03:36And by others like Andy Beyer, as life's greatest challenge.
03:43Gambling is certainly one of the great human activities,
03:48but there's just no form of gambling that is so exciting as the racetrack.
03:55It's not just putting money on the turn of a card or the roll of the dice,
04:01but you are investing so much of your intellect and your ego.
04:08That won't be his only investment today, not by a long shot,
04:12though long shots are his passion.
04:15Andy Beyer has an Ivy League education, a steady job and no debts,
04:19which might contradict your image of the horse player.
04:23He's also invested thousands of hours on mathematics and history,
04:28which might change your mind about this game.
04:32Like the rest of us, whatever we do,
04:34he must know the difference between a mindless gamble and a calculated risk.
04:39A $20 tri-key, 8 over 4-6-12.
04:50They're at the post.
04:52A $10 key, 8 slash 4-5-6-12.
04:57A $15 tri-part wheel, 4-12 slash 8.
05:08Slash 3-4-6-8-12.
05:13They are in the game.
05:15And $500 to win on the 8.
05:20On this race, he's made 15 bets, costing almost $1,000.
05:29Zero.
05:31Gallant Prelude is away fast on the outside.
05:33All right, there goes Riege Mann from in between horses.
05:37As the field continues up the back stretch, Riege Mann.
05:40Sprint's clear by two.
05:43There's a tremendous amount of nerve-wracking pressure
05:47when you're winning or losing thousands of dollars
05:50during the course of the day.
05:52You know, the feeling of getting beaten at the wire
05:55out of, say, $120,000,
05:58which happened to me at Santa Anita last winter,
06:01or making great scores that might, for some people,
06:05be the equivalent of several months of work on a job.
06:09It's a very high-pressure activity.
06:12Come on, Riege Mann.
06:15Far the back, Gallant Prelude and Rays Align,
06:17finding his best stride.
06:19And then it's noted with Romaldo moving up with Lord Darnley.
06:23Now as the field moves to the top of the stretch,
06:26fast...
06:26Come on, 8th, now hold him off.
06:28Jesus.
06:28Gallant Prelude takes to the outside, closing in.
06:31Here comes Rays Align.
06:32In between horses from third, farther back, it's noted.
06:35Lord Darnley making his run on the extreme outside.
06:38Moving to the 16th pole.
06:40Fast Breeze and under a left side.
06:42It's a place you son of a bitch.
06:45And it's Fast Breeze and it's front.
06:54When Bayer isn't following even a losing bet,
06:57he's covering the track as a columnist for the Washington Post.
07:0120 years after skipping his last exam as an English major at Harvard
07:05because he liked his chances on a horse named Amberroid
07:08more than he did on a poet named Chaucer.
07:12What makes racing so special and so challenging
07:17is that on top of all the intellectual difficulties that are involved,
07:22dealing with all of the psychological pressures
07:36and the emotions that accompany the rapid movement of large sums of money
07:42is very, very difficult.
07:43And if somebody has a chink in his emotional armor,
07:50this game will find it and exploit it.
07:52I mean, if you're patient, impulsive,
07:55if you have even the tiniest little instinct for self-destruction,
08:00I mean, this game will bring out all of your bad qualities.
08:04For centuries, man's fortunes have been linked to the horse
08:14in war, in peace, in devil's bag,
08:18syndicated as a two-year-old for $36 million.
08:21Maybe that's why $360 million was spent last year on one-year-olds
08:30and why athletes not much more than five feet tall and 100 pounds
08:35can also end up in the money.
08:38It pays, of course, to ride millionaires like John Henry,
08:42who's won more money than any thoroughbred who's ever run.
08:45And sometimes, it pays to bet on them.
08:52That helps explain why horse racing is America's number one spectator sport
08:57with an attendance of 77 million people.
09:01Why, against all the odds,
09:03they persist at one of the oldest tests known to man,
09:06assessing horse flesh.
09:11That's what brought the Vanderbilts and Whitneys
09:13and now the bankers and syndicates to the races.
09:17At the track, breeding and bloodlines count
09:20for people as well as horses.
09:23This side of racing is familiar,
09:26the sport of kings and queens.
09:29If there's tradition and wealth,
09:31an elite of racing is here,
09:33at Belmont Park in New York,
09:34the day of the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
09:36Ladies and gentlemen,
09:38here is the field for the 65th running
09:41of the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
09:45Number one, Slewagol,
09:48trained by Sidney Waters Jr.,
09:50the rider on him for Derro Jr.
09:55And they're up.
09:58Desert wine on the outside.
09:59But there's another side of the track,
10:01whether in the stands or beneath them,
10:03at the TV monitors.
10:06On this side of the track,
10:08in less than two and a half minutes,
10:10more than a million dollars
10:11will change hands on this one race.
10:13Playfellow is in fourth,
10:14and Slewagol is in with six,
10:16on the rail, is in second.
10:18They round the far turn,
10:19the case is fast.
10:21Bounding Basque leads the way bailing.
10:23Slewagol, second by two and a half.
10:25Playfellow is third bailing.
10:27Now, John Henry has moved up on the inside,
10:31is nearest the rail,
10:33is in striking position.
10:34They're at the top of the stretch.
10:37There goes Slewagol on the inside.
10:40Slewagol has the lead lead.
10:42Bounding Basque, second by one,
10:43outside is played for him in third.
10:45And the final way,
10:46making up lots of ground with John Henry,
10:48but John Henry is still playing back.
10:50Slewagol has the lead by two.
10:52Bounding Basque, second bailing.
10:54Bounding Basque, second by one.
10:55It's a drama repeated over and over again,
11:04tens of thousands of times a year,
11:06every 25 minutes.
11:09That's how long you have between races
11:11to get to the window.
11:13We have the two, the 400.
11:15We're waiting for it.
11:16Twice.
11:17One, three, nine, two.
11:20When all the bets are punched
11:22into all the parimutuel machines
11:24in American tracks,
11:26they add up to almost $12 billion a year.
11:29$20 box.
11:32$2.89.
11:35And give me $279 for $20.
11:42At the track, as in life,
11:45about the only safe bet is taxes.
11:47State governments collect some $650 million off the top.
11:52That's why for most of America,
11:54it's the only legal bet in town.
11:56Give me $20 box.
11:59$2.7.
12:00$5.7.
12:04$6.7.
12:05It may also be the most bewildering.
12:13It takes a computer to book these bets
12:15and a linguist to understand them.
12:18Even if you've heard of win, place, and show,
12:21what about quinellas and perfectas
12:24and trifectas that can be wheeled or boxed?
12:28Or the daily double,
12:30picking the winners of two consecutive races?
12:34Whatever you do,
12:35it's one better's opinion against another's.
12:38That's what determines the odds.
12:40And on this day at Belmont Park,
12:42one man's opinion that stands out in the crowd
12:45is Andy Byer's.
12:47Now, as far as today's double goes,
12:50Andy Byer likes his double
12:52that he's about to give you so much
12:55that he was scared he'd be shut out
12:57and he bet it already.
12:59I saw him run to the window and bet it.
13:02He says, I've got to get this bet down.
13:05Here he is, the famous writer, Andy Byer.
13:08Yay!
13:10Thanks, everybody.
13:11Good one, Andy.
13:12When you see a horse
13:16who has had everything his own way
13:19in a previous race
13:21and has earned a reputation
13:25or run a race
13:27that really makes him look better than he is
13:29and now he's getting overbent,
13:31you're supposed to take a shot against him.
13:34And I am going to do that
13:37with all I can muster
13:38in today's second race
13:40because the odds-on favorite, Chopper Charlie,
13:43I hate this horse so much
13:46that they're going to have to drag me away from the wind.
13:48All right.
13:49Byer's eliminating a horse
13:51that won his last race by 20 lengths,
13:54a heavy favorite named Chopper Charlie.
13:56For a long shot he says can't lose, Antigua.
14:00To me, Antigua is an absolute cinch in this race.
14:05If one could get the morning line in this race
14:08to 15 to 1, it would be like going to heaven.
14:11I'll be happy to take 3 to 1.
14:13And in terms of the daily double,
14:15I'm just going to try to get alive to Antigua.
14:19The doubles that Harvey mentioned
14:21that I ran to the wind as to play
14:23were 1-3 and 6-3.
14:25But, I mean, if you were inclined
14:26to take any other horses in the first,
14:29you know, I wouldn't talk you out of it.
14:31But Antigua's the horse in the second race
14:34and will throw Chopper Charlie all the way in.
14:39Humbug has the lead on the inside by only out.
14:43Antigua on the outside moving into second
14:45and Chopper Charlie between those two is third.
14:48Then it's Righteous Anger and Sionis
14:49only past the eighth pole.
14:51Antigua on the outside now takes the lead.
14:53Humbug back into second.
14:55Then Righteous Anger on the outside
14:56is moving into third.
14:58It's Antigua in front.
15:01Bayer has given the crowd a winner,
15:03even if Antigua pays less than 3 to 1.
15:06But his own daily double also depended
15:08on the outcome of the first race
15:10and a horse named Swoon.
15:12And they're off.
15:13Way from the gate slowly was North Plain.
15:16They move past the stands for the first time.
15:18On the outside, Swoon takes the early lead
15:22by a length and a half.
15:23Charging through second by one.
15:25Tampa Town third, a length and three quarters.
15:28Then it's dance call a fourth and a neck.
15:30Moving up on the outside,
15:31North Plain to be fifth by two lengths.
15:34The field heads towards the clubhouse turn
15:36with Swoon enjoying a two-length advantage.
15:39Early in the race, it looks good for Swoon,
15:42the number six horse, and for Bayer.
15:44But in his heart, the horse player knows
15:47there's no such thing as a sure thing.
15:49On the head, towards the inside of the fifth position
15:52is dance caller.
15:53They race towards the half-mile pole that way.
15:57And Swoon still leads one and a half lengths.
16:00Charging through a second by four.
16:01Tampa Town moves to third at that point.
16:04Dance caller.
16:05As the horses enter the last turn,
16:08Swoon is challenged by a horse Bayer hasn't bet.
16:11The three-horse charging through.
16:13Finally Beagle around the far turn.
16:14Neville's charging through.
16:16Charging up now to take over the lead by one.
16:19The next day, Swoon is second by four lengths.
16:21Tampa Town is next in third.
16:23At the left dance caller, fourth and a half lengths.
16:26Come on, Six. Come on, Six.
16:28Come on, Six. Come on, Six.
16:29Come on, Six. Come on, Six.
16:31Come on.
16:32The next day, Swoon is second by 10 lengths.
16:35Come on, baby.
16:37God.
16:37If the horse player's fate is to suffer uncertainty and pain,
16:59the horse player's salvation is eternal hope and a system.
17:03One way to look for a winner is through study, research, analysis.
17:09It's not the only way.
17:11I find I win more when I put it on a hunch.
17:14On a hunch?
17:15Yes.
17:15What kind of hunches do you play?
17:17Like if I get a dream.
17:19I usually go by the name.
17:21What kind of names do you like?
17:22Like my grandchildren's names and my husband's name and anyone that I know.
17:27Do you have a system? Do you have a method?
17:29Yeah, I do.
17:29What is it?
17:30I can't tell you.
17:32Anybody who plays horses has got to be out of their minds.
17:34I ought to know because I've been playing them for 50 years.
17:37Who do you like in the next race?
17:39Well, according to the thing there, it's the one.
17:42I don't know his name.
17:43Is that who you're going to bet?
17:44I was going to, yeah.
17:47Number one.
17:49See, because on the morning line, he opened up at 8 to 5, right?
17:54So that means that's one of my plays.
17:56If he opened up at 2 to 1 or 3 to 1, I wouldn't play him.
18:00But being that he's opened at 8 to 5, I'm going to play him.
18:06The decision to play him may depend on intuition, insight, or the information printed in America's highest-priced daily newspaper, the racing form.
18:16At the track, on Sunday and every other racing day, the form is known as the Bible, chapter and verse very much open to interpretation.
18:28Not so the tip sheets that claim to give you the winners, sometimes two or three in each race.
18:38Public touts sell their selections to a faithful yearning for something to believe in.
18:43And among the bestsellers in New York is Connie Murgos, a clean-shaven horse picker known as the Beard.
18:52How long have you been doing this, Connie?
18:54How long have you been the Beard?
18:55I've been the Beard nine years.
18:59I think it's nine years.
19:00What did you do before that?
19:02I was a classical musician.
19:04I played the bassoon.
19:05As a concert bassoonist, Connie Murgos played with Stravinsky and Stachowski, the Met and the Bolshoi.
19:13As the Beard, he plays the horses.
19:17First, he measures the distance from the starting gate to the track's electronic timer to get a more accurate clocking of each race.
19:27Then he measures the field.
19:30Connie, what are you looking for when you're looking at these horses on the track?
19:32Well, for one thing, you want to see if they come out nervous, if they come out wet, any change of equipment that they might have, mostly bandages.
19:39Now, you don't want a horse that has been running without bandages suddenly to come onto the track with bandages.
19:45Obviously, something is not quite right.
19:48Have you ever looked at the horses before a race and suddenly decided that a horse you hadn't picked?
19:55Looks exceptionally good?
19:56Yeah.
19:57Yes.
19:57A big move-up, in other words, an appearance.
20:00And conversely, I've seen horses that I've picked that I wouldn't put a penny on because they look terrible on the track.
20:07And you're keeping track of this for every horse in every race?
20:10Every horse, every race, every day.
20:12Who do you like in this race?
20:15I like the three horse, and the one that I'm worried about is the 12.
20:19To me, it boils down to a two-horse race.
20:23We'll see how you do.
20:24What's important here isn't just how the Beard does, but what he does, how he watches a horse race.
20:38There are speed handicappers who use time and track conditions to define a horse's ability.
20:43There are trip handicappers who note where each horse is during a race, whether its racing luck is good or bad.
20:51The Beard is doing both.
20:56They're at the top of the thread.
20:58Three quarters, ten and four.
21:01Donna's World on the outside.
21:03It would be unfair to judge the Beard on any one race, but he had reason to worry about the number 12 horse, Donna's World.
21:11They pass the 8th pole.
21:14Donna's World on the outside continues to lead by a half.
21:17On the inside, impressive gift is second by eight.
21:20That French tab, Eastern Sun, and little old Canapain.
21:24Donna's World in front.
21:27Donna's World beat the favorite, but the Beard wasn't through yet on this day of New York's heaviest recorded rainfall for the date.
21:35The wetter, the better, the Beard said, for the number 8 horse in the last race, Free Saint.
21:41As the horses turned for home, there was neither sight nor sound of Free Saint, until halfway through the stretch, on the outside, one horse emerged from the mist.
21:55Pretty Pretense still has the lead, gaining ground on the outside of challenge.
21:59It's Free Saint.
22:00Free Saint takes the lead.
22:01Pretty Pretense in second.
22:02Free Saint in front.
22:03If the Beard can do it, why can't we?
22:06Are you willing to put in 18 hours a day doing what we do?
22:13You have a shot, then.
22:15Otherwise?
22:16No.
22:17No.
22:18The average person cannot beat this game.
22:21It requires too much work.
22:22Too much work may not fit your idea of the horse player's life.
22:31Consider, then, this loft in New York's Greenwich Village.
22:35These scholars of racing labor 10 to 12 hours a day absorbed in the smallest detail,
22:41preparing reports for a select clientele that will wager as much as a million dollars a week.
22:46What's being produced here is a private tip sheet that reduces to one number the hundreds of factors used to rate a horse's performance for every horse, in every race, every day, in five states.
23:01Interpreting that number is up to you.
23:03This isn't the image of touts and gamblers made popular by Damon Runyon in his stories about the sporting life of an earlier American era.
23:13About dreamers like Harry the Horse and Hot Horse Herbie.
23:18But if he were riding today, Runyon might include rags in the sheets.
23:23Though Len Ragazin is Harvard 49, an economist and a realist.
23:28I speak as a mathematician.
23:31When something is 99.999999 improbable, you speak of it as being impossible.
23:39But that doesn't mean that there isn't that little .1 at the end there.
23:44There are a few people that beat horses.
23:47Very, very few.
23:50You come to me and you say you're raving about a horse.
23:53And how fast does he run?
23:55Well, he runs a mile in a minute and 35 seconds.
23:57That's not an answer.
23:58It doesn't mean anything.
24:00Anybody who's knowledgeable would then ask you, which track did he do it at?
24:05One turn or two turns?
24:07How much weight did he carry?
24:08Which way was the wind blowing?
24:10Did it rain?
24:12Was the track composition hard or soft?
24:15Did they plow it up that morning?
24:17Did he run around on the rail and save ground?
24:19Did he run around on the outside?
24:21Did a bird hit him between the eyes as he ran down the stretch?
24:24I don't know.
24:25All right.
24:25All these variables have been weighted out so that my figure is telling you how fast the horse would have run if all races were on AstroTurf or the Dome Stadium and no weather.
24:36You know, that's what we're giving.
24:38What Ragazin gets for his sheets is $20 a day plus a percentage of what's bet by his customers, who include horse owners and trainers, a psychologist, a tax consultant, and professional gamblers.
24:52He no longer goes to the track, and despite his warnings, Ragazin believes you can beat the races if you go by his numbers.
25:02The biggest winner that I ever had on my sheets was a professor who blew in here one year and blew out about two years later with a quarter of a million dollars in his pocket.
25:14And he didn't know anything about horse racing.
25:16He didn't buy the racing form.
25:17He didn't.
25:19He came in here.
25:20He was dating someone that worked in my office.
25:21He said, this looks pretty easy.
25:23All the work seems to be done in these figures.
25:25And we're all laughing behind his back.
25:27Wait till he tries it, you know.
25:29Well.
25:30Is this what you set out to do in life?
25:33Was this your goal?
25:34This was a very strange right turn, which was precipitated by an earlier left turn.
25:43I was working for Newsweek magazine in lowly positions, and the McCarthy era came around, and I was a red.
25:51And I basically became an unemployable.
25:54To give them, I don't want to smear them, they didn't fire me, but it was evident that I wasn't going anywhere.
26:00And I didn't know McCarthy was a flash in the pan.
26:03I figured it was going to be like that all my life.
26:05I better find a way of making a living where people can't fire me.
26:08And that's when I took this turn.
26:09I never went to a horse race until after I had graduated college.
26:13I knew nothing about racing.
26:14I had no intentions of doing this.
26:16My ambition always was to write orchestral music based on American folk theme.
26:26Here we out in California.
26:29This is a 19th century folk song about gamblers and a horse of another color.
26:53Old Stubar, uh-huh, he was a white horse, uh-huh, but those gamblers, uh-huh, they paint him red, red, red.
27:02And he went, uh-huh, went a very great fortune, uh-huh, just before he fell dead.
27:08He fell dead.
27:13Man, he fell dead.
27:15Bet on Stubar.
27:15Bet on Stubar.
27:17Bet you might win, win, win.
27:19Bet on Stubar.
27:20Bet you might win.
27:21Bet on Stubar.
27:26Bet on Stubar.
27:27Was born, born, born, pulled a jacket that rode him, swore he blew them, in a storm, in a storm, man, in a storm.
27:44Been on Stuball, you might win, win, win, been on Stuball, you might win.
27:50In the folklore of racing, old Stuball was painted red so that insiders could hide his true identity and cash a big bet.
28:01Such stories also are part of the history of racing.
28:04Drugged horses, bribed jockeys, fixed races.
28:09Inevitably, they raise questions about the honesty of the game.
28:13Every horse player has an answer, including Andy Byer.
28:17How is this game played? How honest is it?
28:20I think it's pretty honest, but let's say there's enough larceny that it is a factor that an honest man has to reckon with and deal with.
28:36You've written about your experience at a small track, Great Barrington.
28:40What happened to you there?
28:42I'm always skeptical of tales of extreme larceny in racing, but I went up to Barrington, just because I like cheap racetracks with rock-bottom horses,
28:59and there I saw what had to be the most scandalous races I've ever seen.
29:09Barrington is kind of an extreme case.
29:11Even a former steward there told me that they should post a sign at the gate that says,
29:19you know, beware all ye who enter here.
29:29Good afternoon, everyone.
29:32This is Al Vescro, welcoming you to the eighth day of the Great Barrington Fair,
29:37the longest consecutive running and annual fair in the United States.
29:41The slogan used at the fair in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, is the Belmont of the Berkshires.
29:48It's only a slogan.
29:50It's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a slogan, but it's only a
30:20The beauty of racing also exists at the fair, at the first light of morning, on the backstretch.
30:49These, too, are thoroughbreds, but not the champion three- or four-year-olds of the major tracks.
30:54Often, these are ailing 13- or 14-year-olds who've run as many as 100 races or more.
31:03Few pay their own way.
31:06Many will soon be sent to the packing house for 35 cents a pound.
31:12If some of these horses are broken down, so are conditions on the backstretch.
31:17This side of the track can be a dangerous place for both beast and man, as almost any trainer
31:22will tell you.
31:23It's kind of a rough game, I'll tell you.
31:26It's kind of a tough game.
31:28How is it a rough game?
31:29Well, you know, there's good horses and there's bad horses, and it's kind of hard to bet.
31:36Is that the only reason it's hard to bet?
31:38Well, there's a few others, but we can't mention them right now.
31:43Do you ever have any idea ahead of a race that you're in that you either are or are not going
31:50to win that race?
31:52Yeah, you do.
31:55At first, these trainers also were reluctant to talk for the record.
31:59Then they decided they weren't coming back to Barrington anyway, for more reasons than
32:04one.
32:05They stayed in front of my stalls all night long, the night before my horses run.
32:10Because we've already had one that someone got to him.
32:12What do you mean somebody got to him?
32:14Somebody put a stop to him here at the barn before the races.
32:18How do you do that?
32:20With a syringe.
32:21With a syringe.
32:22And, you know, whatever they use, I don't know.
32:27And his neck is still draining from it, and we've had four different vets in, and all
32:31have verified it was from a dirty needle.
32:33So someone did get to the horse.
32:36At the fair, there's no trumpet call to the track, and no guarantee of what might happen
32:45when the starting gate opens.
32:46Horse ambulance, please go to the starting gate immediately.
33:04The regular ambulance to the starting gate immediately.
33:08Men, there's a rider down near the far turn.
33:13A rider is down on the far turn.
33:20Stay right there.
33:21Stay right there.
33:22Stay right there.
33:23Sit down there.
33:24Drop that rope, will you?
33:25I mean, officer.
33:26Okay.
33:27Goes to the inside of the trash.
33:30Horse County on the outside.
33:32Heading to the finish.
33:33Here they are.
33:35It's not always easy riding at the fair or getting to the steward's tower to claim a
33:51foul.
33:52She's going to claim you.
33:53She's going to claim you.
33:54She's going to claim you.
33:55She's going to claim you.
33:56There's, we can't be there.
33:59Even when the race is over, the result may be in doubt.
34:03More often, it seems, at the fair.
34:05Look, around this turn here, he almost dropped Richard and I both.
34:11Last time around, sir?
34:12Yes, sir.
34:13That's the one I told you?
34:14Yes, sir.
34:15That's the one I told you?
34:16Yes, sir.
34:17That's the one we ran back.
34:18Yes, sir.
34:19That's the one we ran back.
34:20Yes, sir.
34:21Didn't look like enough, but we're running back again.
34:22Okay, Marissa.
34:23Oh, man.
34:24We had to check our horses and stop him from running.
34:25He's coming right on.
34:26Where's the other jock?
34:27Over.
34:28Well, he didn't even hit the board.
34:29Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.
34:30There has been a crash.
34:31It's a crash.
34:32It's a crash.
34:33It's a crash.
34:34It's a crash.
34:35It's a crash.
34:36It's a crash.
34:37It's a crash.
34:38Let's just determine your attention, please.
34:40There has been a claim of foul lodged by the rider,
34:43number seven, against the rider of the unofficial winner
34:46in the first race for possible interference on the turn for home.
34:51Please hold all mutual tickets until the result is declared.
34:56Listening to the tout, it seems all too easy.
35:00He trades on the innocence and illusion that go back
35:03to racing's beginnings.
35:05Damon Runyon would have known Clocker Dan.
35:07Clocker Dan.
35:08And Marilyn George.
35:09Thank you, sir.
35:10Hey, another good car today, winners.
35:12Hey, George got another one today.
35:14Here we go, winners.
35:16Hey, seven more with a double.
35:18Hey, long shot winners here with George.
35:20Hey, seven more with a double today.
35:22Thank you, sir.
35:23Clocker Dan winners.
35:25At Belmont or at Barrington, what every horse player wants
35:29is what other horse players might not have.
35:32An edge.
35:33An edge.
35:34A tip.
35:35Inside information.
35:36Hey, we got winners.
35:37Hey, sir.
35:38Well, I'll give you something good here.
35:40Here.
35:41Bet the three specials today.
35:42I bet that hundred dollar double today.
35:44Slip me ten and you'll do all right.
35:46Ha, ha, ha.
35:47Slip me that dollar you'll win the double.
35:49All right.
35:50Thank you, sir.
35:51Hey, lucky George got the double again.
35:53Hey, we got winners.
35:55Danny double with George.
35:5774.
35:58Hi.
35:59What do you like?
36:00Anyone?
36:0184.
36:02I got tickets.
36:04And at Barrington, tips are found almost anywhere,
36:08even at a bedding window.
36:10That was close, boy.
36:11Couldn't get any closer.
36:13I got tickets.
36:14So what do you think?
36:15Any more tips?
36:16The other good one.
36:17This one?
36:18I'm 5'8".
36:19I mean, the end of the hovers.
36:21Huh?
36:221-4?
36:23For this race?
36:24For this race?
36:25Hit it.
36:26Yeah.
36:27Another way to bet here isn't by looking at the horses, but at the tote board, where late and rapid changes in the odds can tell you where the smart money is.
36:44We were tipped to the number 8 horse.
36:47Five minutes before the race, it was 4-1.
36:50Then 3-1.
36:525-2.
36:532-1.
36:55By the time the 8 horse, rambunctious again, neared the starting gate, he was even money.
37:02That pays $4 on a $2 bet.
37:05They're in the stretch for the finish.
37:08McNeely on the inside.
37:10Rambunctious again on the outside.
37:12Those two are stride for stride.
37:14They are heads apart.
37:16But it was the Perfecta payoff.
37:19$30.20 for picking the first two horses that made it such a good bet.
37:25Horse players line up to bet Perfecta races because they pay bigger prices.
37:30For that reason, too, they also tempt someone wanting to fix a race.
37:34If you know that certain horses won't finish in the money, especially favorites, you can bet combinations on all the other horses in the race.
37:44And especially if they include a long shot, you can collect a big payoff.
37:49At Barrington, there were several Perfecta races each day.
37:53And at least one of those races hadn't gone unnoticed by trainers on the back stretch.
37:59Does anything ever happen in races here that make you suspicious?
38:04Yeah.
38:06It has to be by the way the betting is done.
38:09It isn't all the public that's doing that.
38:14Like the other day when they had that Perfecta.
38:16The horse paid $49 to win and the Perfecta only paid $43.
38:21That's ridiculous.
38:22What does that tell you?
38:23It tells me that someone bigger than we are are betting a lot of money.
38:28Whether it's...
38:29And controlling the races?
38:30Someone's controlling them.
38:32Someone's trying to control them.
38:35And they're on.
38:37Showing quick foot from the outside.
38:39One problem for anyone trying to fix a race is the payoff.
38:43If enough money is bet on any combination of horses, it will distort the odds, drive down the price, and arouse suspicion.
38:52Someone drove down the price at Great Barrington on September 21, 1983, in this race.
38:59They come off the turn for the first time.
39:02Your leader is Stone Balance.
39:04I remember the race because I was a steward at the time.
39:08And there was a very strange betting pattern.
39:11But we in the stands could not see anything wrong with the race.
39:14We reviewed the films and reviewed the films.
39:17And it just looked, everything was above board.
39:20That race was looked into? It was investigated?
39:22Oh, yes. Yeah.
39:23Whenever there's an unusual betting pattern, then that's when we start investigating.
39:29And you would call that unusual?
39:31Oh, yeah.
39:32Herman Slim Summers should know.
39:35He's worked at racetracks more than 40 years.
39:38And he was in charge of racing at Great Barrington.
39:41When you see an unusual betting pattern, if there is some kind of manipulation of a horse race, who is doing it?
39:47Who's profiting by it?
39:49Evidently, a person or persons that are heavy gamblers, trying to create a coup.
39:59Do I think they're fixed? Yes, I do think they're fixed.
40:02Why didn't I do something about it? Yes, we did do something about it.
40:05But we didn't have the time to put together the facts to be able to apprehend those individuals involved.
40:14James Mosley was a member of the Massachusetts Racing Commission at the time.
40:18He also remembers that perfecter race and has come to his own conclusions about it.
40:24In my opinion, it was, it certainly, it's conceivable that it wasn't fixed.
40:36Let me put it that way.
40:40So in other words, yes, I think it probably was.
40:42I think there was some hanky-pank that went on.
40:46Have you ever had a horse run and lose that you thought should have won the race?
40:50Oh, yeah, lots of times.
40:52You can't come right out and accuse the jockey of holding no horse, because it's hard to tell sometimes.
40:58But you sure hear a lot of those stories around here.
41:00Yeah, you do.
41:01What I hear you saying between the lines is that somebody sometimes at least knows something about how these races are going to end up.
41:07I say most of these, uh, gimmick races are all, uh, that's the ones they try to, uh, try to fix.
41:14Guaranteed, they do.
41:15And it's, it's not only this track, not only here, it's probably other tracks, too, that they, uh, you know, you got two horses,
41:23and usually, if you can get the right horse in second, you'll get a better price as a perfecter
41:29than you would if you bet the horse outright to win, you know?
41:32They're on the last turn.
41:34Stone Balance has it by five lengths.
41:36About all that's known for sure about this race at Great Barrington is that the winning horse paid $49,
41:42but the payoff for the first two horses was only $43, and that it should have been much more.
41:49Stone Balance in front.
41:51Based on our parlay system, that horse, that Xacta, with the $49 horse on top,
41:57should have paid approximately $200 or better.
42:01With a $43 payoff, you know some big money went down on that Xacta.
42:06Uh, maybe possibly, uh, thousands of dollars were won on that particular Xacta.
42:13We'd like to know about that.
42:14In New York, betting patterns on perfecter races, also called Xactas, are being closely watched for what here is called a bad payoff.
42:25In this basement office at Belmont Park, Detective Joe Pomerico is charting the bets being made on a perfecter race.
42:33If he sees anything unusual, he says he's got to suspect that someone is trying to fix a race.
42:39It's happened before at big tracks, where there's big money.
42:43Are there some big bettors out here?
42:45Oh, definitely.
42:46What's the big bet?
42:47You got that?
42:48$2,000 a race, $1,500, $5,000.
42:53I say you have professional gamblers, they may go for $10,000 a day with no problem.
42:58The New York Racing Association now spends $11 million a year just to police its tracks.
43:07It wasn't always that way.
43:10The association's internal security force now includes an investigative unit run by former New York City detectives,
43:17who weren't brought in until after a race-fixing scandal during the 1970s.
43:23We've looked at the matter, we've investigated ourselves, we've interviewed over a hundred people right here in this office.
43:31It's true, it's after the fact, perhaps several years after the fact.
43:36I don't feel it was as widespread.
43:39People have this image of illegal racing running rampant during that period.
43:43It wasn't quite that.
43:45There were a number of selected races that we feel at this point were fixed, but it wasn't as rampant as people might think.
43:53It's important what people think, especially legislators and horse players, but there's more than reputations and credibility at stake here.
44:06Every racing day in New York, the money is counted and weighed.
44:10If even one bill is missing, it will show up on this scale.
44:14Every racing day, millions of dollars move in and out of the track's money room, in and out of the pockets of horse players,
44:22enough of whom think the game's honest enough to keep coming back to the races.
44:27I'm the happiest person I know.
44:33Every day when I pick the racing form off my front stoop and sit down with it, my life is full of excitement and challenge.
44:43And as long as I can do that and am ambulatory enough to get to the bedding windows, I'm going to be happy.
44:49I mean, there are just so many people who go through their lives without a fraction of the kind of excitement and challenge that I get every day.
44:58I can't imagine doing anything else.
45:01There are times when Andy Byer does nothing else, as at the start of a new racing season in Florida.
45:08It's one of his major betting efforts of the year.
45:11We went along for the ride, which with a horse player's memory he knows can be a roller coaster.
45:18I had one period at Saratoga a couple of years ago where like the first 10 days of the meeting I lost $22,000.
45:27And I sat down with the racing forms for that period to say, you know, what's going on?
45:32And I came to the conclusion I was doing everything right.
45:35This was just one of those random chains of events that was undoing me.
45:42How did you end up at that meet where you were losing?
45:45I won the $20,000. I made an admirable comeback.
45:50Ladies and gentlemen, Hialeah Park is proud to present the Flight of the Flamingos.
45:58There is more to horse racing than just money.
46:27than just money an aura a spectacle a magnetism that draws the crowd not only
46:34to the bedding window but to the rail
46:46on the far outside back the sailor as they race for the first turn it's night
46:50ship on the rail and with the lead by ahead
46:53a goes dream pressuring the pace from the outside as asked to run slips through on the inside
46:58quickly grabbing the lead asked to run now in front by ahead there's the risk in controlling
47:041,000 pound animals specially bred for hundreds of years bred for speed and stamina but also for
47:11courage there's the setting of bucolic splendor is seventh and moving through in between horses
47:18followed closely by susie's table then a gap of four back to garrigan
47:23there's the heart pounding uncertainty the glory of the race to the finish
47:27move now as the field turns for home and they're at the top of the stretch rising raj in front by
47:33ahead pego's dream attacks on the outside second garrigan is right there third susie's table with
47:39the late move toward the inside and max the sailor then farther back it's ready to prove and they're
47:43in the last furlong on the outside it's pego's dream rising raj is not true yet those two matching
47:50strides here's the late move by susie's table and here's the wire pego's dream
47:55and there's the money not as money alone but as the vindication of a horse player's judgment
48:04and there's the test of character a man trying to control fate and himself taking chances he's
48:15calculated can beat the odds
48:17knowing that to beat the game he not only has to pick the right horse but make the right bet
48:30was there a lesson to be learned in that race i'm not sure if there was a lesson i mean i
48:37in a perverse sense i was pleased by the result because i mean the horse that i liked lost and i
48:45won 900 bucks you can't win them all if you're looking for a profound lesson but you know if if
48:51when you're wrong you can uh you know anticipate the ways in which you're likely to be wrong and still
48:59at least save your ass or or even make a profit as in this case you know i'm really pleased i mean
49:04i'm gonna hit the home run ball you know a certain amount of the time and i don't expect to do it
49:10all the time but you know you know a profitable result you know uh was i'm you know i'm i breathe a
49:17sigh of relief at this result at least
49:19buyer's a working man remember he must write and send his column to the washington post
49:28he never misses a deadline or a race for him this too is work and so far he's earned almost
49:37ten thousand dollars in less than a week at the races he's going for fifty thousand in as many days
49:44ten dollar part wheel one four nine slash one four nine slash six twelve
49:54ten dollar part wheel one nine slash you don't have to understand what he's saying to understand
50:03what he's doing even when his track record was on the losing side he never stopped gambling never
50:09stopped believing that this time this race based on what he learned and a little luck he'd be a winner
50:16and uh twenty dollar perfect of box one four nine
50:24and to win he knows he must manage his money and his emotions
50:34come on with this four
50:39come on kenessa
50:46once in your life come on baby
50:51nine
50:53nine
51:00come on four come on four come on four nine four one oh get up you son oh jesus
51:15there are just going to be plenty of times when you know your best laid plans will uh will go astray
51:22this game is complex enough that nobody's going to be right all the time very few i mean you're not even
51:29going to be right fifty percent of the time
51:33which is perhaps as much as anyone can hope for
51:36which is enough to win if you know how to play the odds
51:40to do that buyer must be willing to stand by his convictions
51:44and when necessary to go against the crowd
51:47looking for a winner knowing there will be days like this
51:52if you had to write about this day what would you say
51:56uh it's just another testament to the glorious uncertainty of the turf
52:03uh i mean this is just another day it happened to be a you know a losing day
52:08uh in which there were you know
52:11there are a lot of bad things that can happen in this game
52:14uh that you have no control over
52:17and a lot of them happened today you know i will not lose sleep tonight over you know over this day's events
52:24i mean these were just ten more races in the long continuum of my gambling life
52:29and uh um you know i you know neither i nor any you know gambler can afford to get uh you know too upset by you know relatively minor reversals like this i mean i say i
52:44how minor was this reversal today uh 2 472 dollars
52:51there's a popular saying at the track you can beat a race but you can't beat the races
52:57that won't stop millions from trying
53:00from lining up at the betting windows each new racing day no matter what the odds
53:05like andy buyer they will suffer reversals unlike buyer the great majority will discover that gambling doesn't pay
53:15at the end of the day like this horse player most will still be looking for a winner
53:20even among the thousands of losing tickets that litter the floor of the grandstand
53:25but it's possible that something besides money or weakness brings them back for more
53:31something in the human spirit a need to look ahead to go on to the next race
53:38what do you like for tomorrow
53:40well there are ten tomorrow it unfortunately isn't too uh glorious a card
53:45but i mean i'm already thinking a week or so ahead and i cannot reveal this name
53:50but on saturday in those bettless races i saw a horse that will make me king of the world
54:03andy buyer went to florida last winter hoping to win at least fifty thousand dollars
54:08he won't say exactly how he did but he says he wasn't disappointed
54:12however buyer did not go to the great barrington fair this fall
54:16the massachusetts racing commission has revoked the fair's license
54:20as for the horse buyer said would make him king of the world
54:23it lost its next race
54:25but neither buyer nor apparently the horse gives up easily
54:29a few days later the horse did win
54:31helping buyer to his biggest winning day that winter
54:34but in june at the belmont stakes buyer had even better luck
54:37making what he calls a healthy year's salary
54:40in one day at the races
54:43and later this month the breeders cup series at hollywood park in california
54:48will be worth more than a million dollars a race for horse owners
54:52the horse players will be there including andy buyer
54:56next week on frontline
54:59we belong to two camps
55:04that have been in a bitter strife
55:07for the last sixty years
55:09they should be enemies
55:10but instead a palestinian and an israeli
55:12come to america with a message of unity
55:14we would not have been together
55:16if we don't belong to the same camp
55:20camp of peace and just
55:22in synagogues and universities they confront the emotions
55:26the politics and the possibility for peace on the west bank
55:30what you are saying means that
55:32we have to decide who is right
55:33with the force of guns
55:35you want to do it
55:36you want to have war
55:37guns, guns, blood, blood
55:39to my mind the palestinian problem
55:41is a jewish problem
55:43this is unholy war
55:45two men with a mission
55:47the arab and the israeli
55:49good luck
55:51that's next week on frontline
55:53i'm judy woodruff
55:56and we'll be right back
55:57all right
55:58thanks
56:13you
56:16i'm
56:18i'm
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