Greyhound Racing story

This story was told to me years ago by some dude named Nick the Greek. A complete gambling degenerate. In the early to mid 80's Vegas casinos started taking action on Greyhound racing. Early on the casinos would pay track odds.

So, a dog name JR's Ripper was running at Tucson Greyhound Park. Ripper was an All American. For the most part unbeatable especially when he drew an inside hole. Tremendous race dog. Ripper draws the one hole. As the story goes a mob guy (or just some dude) bets every dog in the race except Ripper at Tucson Park with 30 seconds to post driving the odds on Ripper to 12-1 at the on track board.

Simultaneously a crew (or a bunch of dudes) in Vegas load up on Ripper at a dozen or so sports books in Vegas just seconds before post. Ripper of course won. Paying 26.00 dollars on 2.00 ticket. I was told the crew (or dudes) netted 250,000 and caused the sports books to change rules as it relates to greyhound racing. Not sure the story is 100% accurate but fairly sure it happened to one degree or another.

I believe it. I remember an old story over 20 years ago, the fix was in at a horse race at Pimlico. Pimlico never got burned on the fix, Vegas got burned. Since that incident, Vegas had a cap on betting horses at Pimlico. I remember Andy Beyer going out to vegas and being upset that he couldn't bet real money on the horses due vegas capping bets due to not trusting Pimlico and other tracks.

yep...

Quote: terapined

Pimlico never got burned on the fix

Buzzard was putting the fix on horses at Pimlico as a young lad. Hell he's pulling strings at Pimlico from Grand Junction.

Damn, I don't expect anyone to believe me but I was at Pimlico the Tuesday that happened. Several races the horse who should have been odds on went off at 8 to 1 or better. I cashed on 2 of those races. It happened on 4 races that day and the wise guys collected
on 3 winners in those 4 races. Pimlico has long ago lost it's luster but was still big league in the mind of most bookies.

Pimlico keeps from 15 to 25 cents on every dollar bet. Why should they care ? LOL This was all before inter-track betting got big and the books got a piece of Pimlico's action just for putting the funds in Pimlico's Mutuel Pool.

Surprised the books took heavy action on a dog track. $20 bet will usually make your dog the favorite.

Ajax Downs Horse track 9-17-2013 Total Win Pool 1st Race $814.

Belmont Park Horse Track 9-18-2013 Total Win Pool 1st Race $131,373

Daytona Beach Dog Track 9-18-2013 Full 8 races win place show quinella trifecta superfecta on every race $29,278.13 TOTAL ALL DAY LONG LOL.

That's why you see prices like this each and every day.


Grade: TD DAYTONA BEACH
Results for Thursday Afternoon, 09/19/13
1st
Grade: TM
Distance: 550
Condition: Fast
6
P Kay Grump
12.80 WIN
6.40 PLACE
8.60 SHOW
Distance: 550
Condition: Fast
4
Flying Army Girl
4.40 WIN
11.00 PLACE
7.40 SHOW

7
Count It Over
36.40 WIN
6.60 PLACE
3.00 SHOW

As a lad I did park cars on front lawns for $5 each on Preakness Day.

Of course I had no idea who was not home in those houses at the time.

Quote: treetopbuddy

This story was told to me years ago by some dude named Nick the Greek. A complete gambling degenerate.

The guy who said he made $250,000 playing horses one week while on a drinking binge? I read a book by him years ago before I ever went to Vegas. (if that's him)

(sometimes confused with Jimmy the Greek, and possibly any other similar nicks)

In 1949 Nick The Greek lost $2.4 million in a head to head poker game with Johnny moss over the course of 5 months.

Finally he quit and said "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go."

Jimmy the Greek was in early days of tv and NFL. Newspaper did not publish the line then and Jimmy could only predict the final score of games while on camera.

He died broke and a broken man. Some news reporter honey interviewed him in a bar about the superiority of black athletes while Jimmy was 3 sheets to the wind. Bye Bye career.

Jimmy lost a daughter who was 2 and 1/2 years old. This is a quote him.

Jimmy: Everybody took it hard, everybody. Stephanie was about 13, and one night we couldn't find her. She had gone down to the mausoleum where Tina's crypt was and stayed with her all night. Tina's death was the hardest fight I believe I ever had in my life. I wouldn't go to church; I don't think I said a prayer for three years. It'll never be easy for me, even now—nine years later—when I see a little girl.



My daughter Melanie lost custody of her first daughter due to drugs. I know exactly how Jimmy felt.

Hug your kids and grandkids every chance you get !

My buddy Jessie had a girlfriend who was ugly ? How ugly? I once told him if he took her to the dog track wearing a red dress, they would put her in the #1 box.

Good one Buzzard. Since my first greyhound gambling story was such a hit, I thought I'd follow it with another.....

A dude snuck into Phoenix Greyhound Park late one night with a paint brush and a jar of meat paste. He made his way to the starting box and promptly painted the 5,6,7,8 lids with the meat paste.

He started boxing the 1,2,3,4 in the trifectas, in all races. He realized a significant upswing in his ROI until security randomly found footage of the dude painting boxes a week or so later. I have it on good authority it's a true story.

Here's an article from the archives of the Washington Post
this is a partial, the full article costs money at the Wash post archive site

Very Big Money on a Small Race
The Washington Post
Author: Beyer, Andrew
Date: May 5, 1992


A pair of first-time starters, Magie Noir and Eztoc, ran first and second in the race, demolishing the rest of the field. At the track they didn't receive any notable betting action, and went off at odds of 8-1 and 9-1 respectively. But though the fillies' published workouts were nondescript, gamblers in Las Vegas bet heavily on exactas and quinellas involving the two. This betting, said Lenny del Gennio, race-book manager at Bally's Hotel, "was very sophisticated and organized."

[Joe De Francis] said that within the last two weeks he had had extensive negotiations with Las Vegas bookmakers about "commingling" wagers on races in Maryland - letting money bet in Nevada flow directly into the local track's betting pools. The bookmakers would then be middlemen taking a cut instead of bookmakers taking a financial risk. "They're pushing hard to get all the Eastern tracks to agree to commingling," he said, "and I think this is a way of putting pressure on us. And when they say they took that kind of action {i.e., enough to produce a $500,000 loss}, I don't believe it."

Las Vegas sources have said for many months that bookmakers have been repeatedly stung on races in Maryland. An investigation was launched last month into three attempted coups involving first-time starters shipped from New England to Laurel, one of whom, The Manager, won at 15 to 1 and inflicted heavy damage on bookmakers. [Kirk Brooks] declared, "The Maryland tracks are becoming another Golden Gate" - the northern California track where charges of larceny and race-fixing abounded. "We don't want to have anything to do with them."

Andy Beyers work is always good. There are a thousand ways from Sunday to cheat the races. Sophisticated horse players pickup unusual payouts in the exacta/quinella/pick 3,4's that don't reflect the win pools. Sharp handicappers are always looking for the "live horse" or in other words a horse the connections have been cheating on.....cheating is deeply embedded in the horse racing culture. If your not cheating, you're not trying.

An expert is usually a guy from out of town. Being a local boy, I am not a big Andrew Byer's fan. Especially his so called theory about Prime bets on a few races and the need to also have to bet smaller amounts on the other races. And in his book My $50,000 year at the races he supposedly took off 3 months that year, just because. BET ME

Don't disagree about track bias. Some days you could not beat inside position at Pimlico. As for cheating, has to be more prevalent now that so many owners train horses on the farm, so even the clockers don't have a clue.

Quote: Buzzard

As for cheating, has to be more prevalent now that so many owners train horses on the farm, so even the clockers don't have a clue.

Your right.....a lot trainers/owners use private tracks to train their charges, especially here in the Bluegrass. At Keeneland you'll find a lot of horses that have been training hard, in sets of three or four in the morning against good stock. They are private works and are never seen in the race form. At Keeneland it's not unusual to see a fifty dollar horse win by a half a dozen or more......horse people in the Bluegrass will do anything and have done everything to win a horse race.