The horses didn't deliver Errol Kiong with the sort of winnings he was hoping for. Photo / Dean Purcell
More experienced hands consider things such as form and track condition when betting - I didn't even know which race I was betting on.
This was my very first flutter on the horses - and a very public one at that.
For just $1, a punter buys possibility.
It is, after all, what lottery tickets sell - the possibility of having it all: the mansion, the toys and the sweet, sweet prospect of saying goodbye to the boss.
But a $1 bet at the races might have allowed me to afford only a glass of cask wine at a food court, if the odds were high enough. I was greedy, though - I wanted the No 7 crispy duck on rice with the wine, so plonked down $5 each way on Charlie Brown to win and place.
But reality is cruel. Charlie Brown limped home fifth.
I then parted with $3 for a racebook. That did not help, with terms such as "trld to tn, burst clear 300, too good" proving as useful to me as a bicycle to a fish.
But the racebook did contain the wisdom of the ancients, or in this instance, Herald racing writer Mike Dillon. He had picked correctly that Morgalicious would take home Race 3, and NeedUAsk Race 4. For Race 5, he tipped Eye Me Up to win. It also happened to have the shortest odds. The racebook also said "Winner 3 of 4 runs this prep".
The stars seemed aligned for my win. It did, and returned $13 for my $5 bet. If I was following form, I should have gone again with Dillon's pick for Race 6, Insouciant.
But I believed in gut instinct - which proved right. Just not right enough. I placed $5 on Boundless, listed on the racebook as "don't dismiss". It was paying $13.50. I put down $5, and prepared myself for the prospect of being able to bring a date to the food court. Like Charlie Brown, it came fifth. But then Insouciant didn't win either.
