Toph Speaks

This past weekend, Diabla and I jetted off to Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey to take in the 2007 Breeders Cup. Our main reason for attending, besides the festivities, is because Diabla’s family has two horses who were participating - Dream Rush (who ran on Friday) and Irish Smoke (who ran on Saturday). Unfortunately, due to the track conditions and the weather, the horses did not perform as expected. Both had a good showing and paid for themselves, but you can’t win them all.

The point of this Toph Life is to introduce you to the 3 main things that go into an event like the Breeders Cup - how you dress, how you bet, and the parties. I will mainly focus on how you bet and what to wear.

Betting on horses is really what makes it all worth it. There are a number of different bets you can place. Now, if you’re reading this part, then I’ll assume that you’re a beginner. Since you’re a beginner, then let’s look at the easiest bets you can make. We’ll start with the Win, Place or Show bet. Now, let’s say we have a race with ten horses and you love the 5 horse. You now have a few options of betting with Win, Place or Show with the 5 horse. The first bet is the Win bet, which is a bet that your 5 horse will be the first to cross the finish line. The next bet is a Place bet, which is a bet for your 5 horse to come in first or second place. The next bet is a Show bet (or Across the Board), which is picking your 5 horse to come in first, second or third place. You can place however much money you would like, from $1 to whatever you want. Naturally, the long shots will pay you the most if you get it right. The fun part is when you start adding Exactas (or Quiniela), Trifectas, Superfectas and Pick 3 - 6. A Pick 3 - 6, depending on the track and how many races are running, is for you to try and pick the winner of 3 - 6 consecutive races. You should always do a Pick bet, because when it hits you make some good money. When I bet, I’ll typically do a Pick bet at the start, and for each race I’ll do a Win/Place/Show bet combined with an Exacta, Trifecta or Superfecta. An Exacta bet is when you chose the horses that you believe will finish first and second. Now, if you add a “Box”, then it doesn’t matter what order they come in. So, an example of how that would sound if you were placing it at the booth would be, “Race 2, $2 Exacta Box, Horse 5 and 2.” If you bet, “Race 2, $2 Exacta, Horse 5 and 2,” then you’re saying you want the 5 horse to come in first and the 2 horse to come in second. This bet will cost you $4, because you’re putting $2 on each horse. As you can suspect, a Trifecta and Trifecta Box is a bet on three horses, and a Superfecta and Superfecta Box is a bet on four horses. On the last race of the Breeders Cup, Diabla put down a $2 Superfecta Box, and got screwed over by a long shot (Lear’s Princess, whose owners we knew and they were boring, horrible people who didn’t deserve for their horse to come in third) coming in third. She would have won $3,000 for a $24 bet. She cursed the Latina skies.

As for what we wore, you can bet that we looked sexy. It was a beautiful Jeresey Fall, which meant it rained the whole time we were there and was miserable. How I miss Jersey. On day one, I wore black pinstripe slacks, a light blue shirt, a light-gray sweater, a gray tie and a dark gray blazer. Diabla had on her bright red Manolo’s, gray hoes, gray skirt, white button up, and her new favorite sweater vest. For day two, I had on dark khaki’s, white button-up, a navy v-neck sweater, a dark brown blazer, and a pink and navy tie (which I can’t seem to find). Diabla wore a brown skit, navy button up, and a brown sweater vest. I ravaged her in the paddock. The horse’s were jealous of my package.

As for the parties? With all the cougars, jaguars and lions in that place I thought I was in a friggin’ jungle. And you know what? I loved every second of it. See you next year in Santa Anita Park.