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START YOUR DAY WITH
A HORSE LAUGH HERE

Thanks to horse owner Dave Champion
for passing this on.

TTJ WINS ELITE 8 CONTEST: Congrats to Trevor Tilston-Jones for picking four winners in the eight grade 1 stakes Saturday to win $100 for Breeders’ Cup play. His winners were: Joking (The Vosburgh), Forever Unbridled (The Beldame), California Chrome (Awesome Again), Avenge (Rodeo Drive).

Al "Parlay Man" Ilott

AL “PARLAY MAN” ILOTT NABS ANOTHER PARLAY: First he won the Place in the Sun place parlay contest to win a trip to Mexico. Now Al Ilott has increased his $6 show parlay to $81 in five races at Mohawk last Friday to post the highest parlay of the month in the new 5-Alive contest. See his tickets and how he did it here.

So, not only does Al receive $81 for being the highest parlay of the night, he also receives a Thursday night prime rib buffet for two for having the highest parlay of the month. Will you be next? Double YOUR parlay tomorrow night and/or Saturday night simply by playing a five-race $6 show parlay on the track or tracks of your choice. And consider playing parlays regularly for fun and to turn a little into a lot.

Click to expand

DO THE DOWNS

Want highlights for the next 10 days? Click calendar.
What tracks are running in October? Find out here.
What are today’s $$$ carryovers? See them here.
Want to follow sports in the Race Book? Jays-Bombers-NFL

EVERY FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Free VLT tournaments starting 8 p.m. Get into the draw for 10 chances to win $20 in wagering vouchers. Top winner from each night participates in a month-end finale for more spins and $250 in prize money.

EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT: 5-Alive "Double Your Winnings" contest from 7 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. and $10 buy-in poker. Registration 8 p.m. Game starts at 8:30 p.m.

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PRIME RIB BUFFET WITH A THANKSGIVING TOUCH TONIGHT: Tonight’s regular Thursday prime rib buffet will feature Thanksgiving touches as well such as roast turkey with dressing, Swedish meatballs and butternut squash soup. All you can eat just $26.95. Reserve at 204-885-3330.

Chicken a la king at Breeders' Cup brunch

HOLIDAY RACING ON THANKSGIVING MONDAY: Since Monday is a holiday both in Canada (Thanksgiving) and the U.S. (Columbus Day), major tracks will be racing starting with Belmont at 11:55 a.m. and Woodbine at noon. (For full schedule, click on October above.) Catch stakes action at Northlands Park.

BOOK NOW FOR THE BREEDERS’ CUP BRUNCH four weeks from this Saturday -- $19.95. See menu here. Note there’s still one copy of the new DRF book – Cashing Big on Racing’s Biggest Days – available just in time for Breeders’ Cup racing. To buy it, see me in the Race Book Saturday.

Saturday special

NEW! PYRAMID OF TASTE AND VALUE EACH WEEKEND (starts 5 p.m.):
• Friday – Ukrainian Platter (perogies with sour cream, cabbage roll, kielbasa) $10
• Saturday – Sirloin steak smothered in button mushrooms, choice of potatoes $22
• Sunday – Spaghetti and meatballs with garlic toast $10

Van Gogh self-portrait

YOU NAMED ME WHAT? Van Goghs Earlobe is a 5-year-old Ontario-bred gelding racing in Ontario. How does one come up with a rather unsavoury name like this that evokes the spectre of artist Vincent van Gogh having his ear cut off either by his own hand or from a sword-wielding friend in December, 1888. Earlobe’s equine dad, Strut the Stage, and mom, Advents Dancer, provides no clue. The human Van Gogh shot and killed himself at age 37.

You crushed Churchill in September

That was your top “better bettor” track among 26 tracks you did best at

According to ASD betting stats, you crushed Churchill Downs in September among 26 tracks you were better bettors at. Also among your major money-making tracks were Delaware, Meadowlands harness, Emerald, Laurel, Indiana and Los Alamitos. For Canadian tracks, you did best at Northlands.

In the previous month, Remington topped your better bettor tracks. Even Woodbine/Mohawk was a slight winner in August but you regressed in September.

By playing the tracks you do best at, of course, you’re being a good citizen because those tracks send money to the Downs that benefits the Manitoba economy. So playing to your strengths is the way to go. When you win, the economy wins.

Going forward, let’s see if we can make Santa Anita a better bettor track especially during the Breeders’ Cup when there are huge pools to be distributed. Watch for an upcoming feature: How to be a better bettor on Breeders’ Cup races. Breeder’s Cup racing is four weeks from tomorrow.

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Player's Choice horseplayer tourney

Brad Kinnear nails two $30-plus win/place horses

Top two: Winner Brad Kinnear (right) and Murray Chaban

No longer a bridesmaid, Brad Kinnear, who is in the furniture distribution business, collared the Oct. 1 Player’s Choice horseplayer tournament by nailing two $30-plus win/place horses: Katy’s Duchess for $32.90 in Churchill’s second race (a maiden claimer for the girls) and Seffeara for $37.90 in the fourth race at Woodbine, one of the trickiest races on the card.

Playing $2 win/place on 10 horses, he accumulated a bankroll of $91.70 which won him top prize of $500. Retired postal worker Murray Chaban was second with $85.30 and received $250. Two-time Handicapper of the Year Ron Phelps finished third with $56.00 and received $100. .

The next tournament is Saturday, Oct. 29, a week before the Breeders’ Cup.

Deadline looms for racing club sign-up

$500 due by Nov. 4

Racing club won with Spanish Fowl this past season

Now’s the time to send the HBPA a cheque for $500 if you plan to join the Assiniboia Racing Club next year to experience the thrills of horse ownership similar to the Spanish Fowl group this past season.

The $500 covers everything: the purchase of a horse and all training, vet and feeding bills. And, if last season’s ups and downs were any indication, you’re in for the ride of your life. WHAT ABOUT GIVING SOMEONE A SHARE AS A GIFT?

Why so early? Because the Club will be considering purchasing a horse at Woodbine when its meet ends in early December. That’s according to John Field, a former Crown attorney who is managing the club on behalf of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.

Interested? Read the Club’s Memorandum of Understanding here. And start dreaming.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

Travers Cummings holds the trophy with other team members

YOUR TICKET SELLER IS NAMED MVP: You know Travers Cummings, 33, as the fast and friendly ticket-selling supervisor in the Clubhouse. Now know him as an MVP. A what? Yup, he quarterbacked his division of the touch Pit Football League to a recent championship at Investors Group Field and the losing team chose him as the most valuable player because he engineered six touchdowns in his team’s 38-20 victory. There are eight teams in his division and they played 18 games. “It’s nice to win finally,” Travers said.

And he was a bit awe-struck by doing it on the same field where the Blue Bombers play. “It’s quite different down on the field compared to being in the stands,” he said. No kidding. Now he’ll be taking his talent indoors for arena football through the fall and winter.

CURBJUMPERS NOT SO HAPPY WITH RUNHAPPY: Curbjumpers -- show players who are less extravagant than bridgejumpers – were not happy with Runhappy at Churchill Downs on Saturday. They thought the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint was a cinch to finish in the money in the grade 3 Ack Ack Handicap so they piled on the dough to show. But the 4-year-old colt (odds of 1/5) who had not raced since last December tired after three-quarters of the mile race and finished fourth, producing these payoffs for the top three who beat him:

One person who likely was not unhappy was Maria Borell, the trainer who had been booted off Runhappy after he won the Breeders’ Cup. Under her tutelage, the colt had never lost a race, winning five in a row ending with the Breeders’ Cup. Will Runhappy return to his 2015 form in the Breeders’ Cup Mile in four weeks?

Rocco Bowen

DOUBLE PAYS $5,700: Before exotic plays became rampant, players looked to Daily Doubles for big payoffs. Well, it was like the good old days Saturday at Evangeline when two “magic-al” horses produced a $2 double payoff of $5,708. Magics Neon Leon won his maiden at 9/1 in the fifth and Bjs Magic Wings won the next race, a claimer, at 8/1. Did a magician cash the double on a hunch play?

ROCCO IS KING JOCKO OF THE NORTHWEST: Rocco is rocking. Former ASD jockey Rocco “the Jocko” Bowen crushed his rival jockeys at the recent Emerald Downs meet with 110 wins from 520 starts, 40 more than his closest competitor, Leslie Mawing. His 21 per cent wins was also the highest win percentage of any jockey. You can follow him now at Portland Meadows where he’s had four wins from 14 starts.

K5 STABLE SELLS ANOTHER FILLY AT KEENELAND SALE: K5 Stable manager Leona Stahl reports the sale of another K5-bred filly at the recent Keeneland yearling sale: K5’s unraced mare, Tart, a Kentucky-bred, was bred to Arizona-bred Looking at Lucky and their as-yet-unnamed daughter sold for $10,000. That’s in addition to $150,000 the stable received for another filly sold earlier in the sale.

ADDING A NEW TWIST TO "I WON BIG" WORKSHOPS: My suggestion at this Saturday’s “I won big” workshop (which you are invited to attend) will be to play a group show parlay that starts with $20 and includes six show horses picked by the six groups that are already handicapping races 2 to 7 at Woodbine for the pick-5 and pick-4. It should add an additional fun element. How much can we increase the $20 to?

Glen Burke receives $250 from VLT hostess Roseanne

In three weeks of play, the group has picked up money each week and is about “evenish” in its plays. Their objective is to at least triple their investment to merit a bacon treat. Join us on the plaza 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

BURKE WINS VLT TOURNEY: Congrats to retired probation officer and harness player extraordinaire Glen Burke for capturing the September VLT tournament and a total of $365 just by entering his name into the draw which you can do every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. He unleashed his luck playing Big City 5s.

Tips ’n’ Tricks

with Marshall Posner

Q. How do I "favourite" a horse, trainer or jockey?
A. In addition to selecting various tracks as favourites, HPIbet also allows you to mark your favourite jockeys, trainers and horses as favourites as well. To get started, all you have to do is click on the name of a horse, trainer or jockey and then click on the star in the top left corner of the pop-up window that opens. This will mark that horse or person as a favourite of yours (view image here). To view all of your favourites, click on the My Favourites section under the MY HPIBET pull-down menu along the top of the page.

The default menu in this section is for your favourite tracks but you can navigate to the other favourites by clicking the tabs along the top of the window (view image here). You can delete any of these favourite items simply by clicking on it in this section. All of your favourite jockeys and trainers will appear in a light blue highlighted banner and also include a yellow star next to their name on the Race Entries pages. Any favourite horses that you have will only show a yellow star next to their name on the Race Entries pages (view image here).

Got a question for Marshall? Email theinsider@ASDowns.com

HISTORY ON THE HOOF: The best of Bob

This "Best of Bob" blog recalls track announcer Ken Miller's most famous race call. If you're "not sure" who or what we're talking about, click here for this week's encore blog story.

Happy Thanksgiving!
(Go Jays!)