The Wonders Of The Internet
My original plan for the nearly three weeks that we'd be in Southeast Asia was to not do any handicapping or play the races. And in part that was because I had my doubts about my ability to access racing information. But as the day of departure approached (a Thursday) I had a lot of time on my hands so I decided I would handicap the first weekend's worth of racing and ask my son Brad if he could make the bets for me if I couldn't access the web sites. And as it turned out that WAS the case. But what was interesting to me was that all my racing web sites - not only the two betting platforms, TwinSpires & Xpressbet, but Bloodhorse and Brisnet - were blocked, but I had complete access to the online Daily Racing Form page!
The first weekend was opening weekend at Churchill's September Meet. I was able to make my bets for Thursday as Kim and I journeyed 32 hours from Fort Laurderdale, to Chicago....to Tokyo....and on to Hanoi while on our layover in Chicago. Once we landed the time difference found us 11 hours ahead of the time here at home. So when I'd go to bed around 9:30pm or 10pm local time, it was the morning of that day here. Brad would make the bets and the next day around lunch at11am or noon it would be 11pm or midnight at home and the races would be over and the charts available on the DRF site. Couldn't watch any replays so all I saw were the charts and comments. After the long travel day - which was easier than expected because we booked Business Class seats, we toured around Hanoi on Friday and then Saturday we were in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The final day of the racing weekend we were exploring the temples of Angkor. I was excited that Brad had become engaged with an AI program that was learning to handicap so he could play the races and understand the selections. This will make our trip together to the Breeders' Cup so much more fun for me. Over the five days of play where I had Brad make wagers on fifteen races, I cashed on six of them for an excellent 40% win rate.
The second weekend found us on board the Viking Saigon. We were in Phnom Penh - where we had a wonderful night time tuk-tuk adventure through the city ending up on the 37th floor of a skyscraper at an open-air bar to enjoy drinks while looking out over the city and then visited the Royal Palace and the most important Buddhist temple in the country. The races I had handicapped were from Gulfstream and from Parx where it was Pennsylvania Derby Day. Only hit four races for a much lower win percentage but two of the wins were in stakes races, including the weekend's feature, the Grade 1 Pa Derby.
The final weekend of the trip was the first of two Breeders' Cup prep weekends. We had disembarked from the Viking Saigon and spent two days in Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon, then had flown to Thailand for the final leg of our adventure. I had twenty-two races while playing Belmont at Aqueduct, Churchill Downs, Delaware Park, and Santa Anita. Hit on seven of them for a routine win percentage.
For the three weekends of racing while exploring SE Asia, I compiled a 16-for-49 win record, which was just under my normal 35% and had seen TEN others run second, most at short prices so the bottom line saw me give some money to the tracks. Still it was enjoyable to have this connection with Brad, it kept me occupied and engaged with racing.....all the while enjoying an amazing trip - you can check out our trip HERE
Of those many social media hits I was most, MOST appreciative of the nearly 60 people who took time to actually comment on our trip. And of those, nine of my favorite comments came from nine of my girl.....friends, who are all quite good looking. It's a nice ego boost that I have so many good looking women who call me their friend!
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