This Story submitted by STS1(SS) John R. Jones of the USS Ray.
RAY Stories and other facts:
Underway in 1982/83 for Port Everglades / Ft. Lauderdale for mine ops. As most of us remember, the weekly schedule included one day for "Division Training". STSCS(SS) Mike Willis, arguably the best Sonar Chief to sail the Atlantic (and definitely the best tech I’ve ever known), acting as Sonar Sup on watch one night, brings up the fact that he plans to play the ponies at Hialeah Racecourse (near Miami) when we hit port. Being young Sonarmen and racing neophytes, Willie proceeds to explain how odds work, and basics on picking horses and placing bets. After a few minutes of this, myself and Dave Godfrey (Fluff) asked if we could go along. A couple of other guys in the Sonar gang heard about it, and pretty soon we had about 5-6 people going along.
Willie, being a good Senior Chief, never let his charges down - he felt that if a Sonarman had the proper knowledge and support, he could do anything. So, in keeping with that philosophy, Willie showed up the next watch when we had training scheduled with a Daily Racing Form he had picked up before we got underway.
Our training consisted of:
1. How to properly read the Daily Racing Form
2. Reading horse histories (stables, wins/losses, current physical
condition, racing record on various tracks/in various environments)
3. Properly gauging current weather and track conditions
4. Proper use of odds
5. How and when to properly place bets for Win, Place, Show, Daily
Double and Trifecta.
6. How to properly collect winnings
7. How to handle beer properly after losing your ass (if applicable)
8. Track Etiquette (winning and losing)
We had a great time at the track. Willie won and lost some, but came out ahead.
I lost about $50. But good ‘ol Fluff - Fluff dropped about $300 - $400 (he must have
dozed off during steps 4 & 5). It was good that Willie threw in
step # 7.
HOW TO DO YOUR OWN HORSE RACES UNDERWAY (OR AT HOME...)
I forget how to do the odds - I never was good at it, which is why I don’t play the ponies much...
Underway in January 1983 for a 6 week deployment. Back in the good old days, we used to have "Casino Nights" underway to benefit the Rec Fund (before some whining non-qual somewhere lost his paycheck and whined to his Mommy, who whined to her Senator, who bitched at the Pentagon, who screwed it for all of us - seems some do-gooder thought that gambling is a "bad influence on sailors... Can you imagine?). Willie came up with a good idea for horse racing that he had used on previous boats. The layout consisted of:
1. A white bedsheet (what other color was onboard?)
2. 1 six-man table
3. A "horse" - horses could be made of any material as long as it resembled a
horse; e.g., Doc Visser’s horse (Ruptured Duck) was made of tongue depressors and
gauze held together with bandaids and first aid tape. We had horses made out of nuts and
bolts, resistors and capacitors, EB green tape and pencils - you get the idea.
4. A pair of dice, different colors or sizes
5. A good bookie for odds and bet collections
The sheet was divided into six lanes with a laundry marker. The lanes were approximately 3-4" wide, about 2" apart. Each lane was then marked off with 20 spaces in each lane (standard racecourse - you could go to 25 or 30 depending on the length of the race (like the Belmont
Each horse was entered into any given race (a $1.00 "entry fee" was applied), and races/horse names are posted on a chalkboard (the training board in the Doc’s office served nicely). Horses were are assigned a lane number next to their name on the race board. Next to the horse’s name were the current odds based on betting (bets were minimum $1, max $5). The betting window closed 5 minutes or so before race time so that final odds could be calculated and posted ( Willie was really fast at this..).
The owners of the six horses for a given race would then sit down with their horse at the six man table with the sheet "track" laid out. All horses start in the #1 space. The first owner would roll the dice. The number on the first die (remember the dice must be different colors or sizes) would indicate the lane and associated horse that would move; the number on the other die would indicate how many spaces that horse would move. The dice were then passed around the table to each owner.
The first horse to get to space #20 won the race. Money from the betting pool was distributed to the winners. After the races were over, any money left over was put into the Rec fund (ours was pretty large after that trip).
Posted 9/1/97