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"Slow, huh?"
"He ain't Count Fleet"
"But you say he's sound?"
"Sure. Doesn't run fast enough to hurt himself."

Dave Feldman, Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

"Who makes the most money? Horse bettors first, followed by sports bettors. Then poker, golf hustlers, and blackjack and backgammon players" R.W. Munchkin, in Gambling Wizards.

"Playing the races appears to be the one business in which men believe they can succeed without special study, special talent, or special exertion." Racing Maxims of "Pittsburgh Phil"

"Gambling is a disease of barbarians superficially civilized."

Dean Inge, Wit and Wisdom of Dean Inge

If he plays being young and unskillful,
for shekels of silver and gold,
Take his money, my son, praising Allah,
The kid was ordained to be sold.

Rudyard Kipling, "Certain Maxims of Hafiz,"
Departmental Ditties and Other Verses

A profit at the race track isn't a profit until you spend it somewhere else.

Charles Carroll, Handicapping Speed

"When Protagonist rallied to beat Stonewalk by two lengths, I could not explain the outcome of the race in any way that was consistent with my own philosophy."

Andrew Beyer - on reconciling speed and class, in Picking Winners, A Horse Player's Guide

"A longshot wins a race. A disappointed bettor consults his Form and discovers that the longshot had been timed at 36 seconds in a breezing three-furlong workout a couple of days ago. No other horse in the race had worked so rapidly so recently. Powie! A new system is born!

Tom Ainslie, Ainslie's Complete Guide To Thoroughbred Racing

(In 1980, before well-known authors gave it a name, Steven L. Brecher spelled out the basis for "value" betting:)

"The best horse is not necessarily the best bet. In order to evaluate a bet, we must know or be able to estimate two things: the probability of winning the bet, and the payoff if we win. Either factor alone is meaningless; it is the relationship between these two factors which determines the expected return of the bet."

Steven L. Brecher, Beating The Races With A Computer, 1980.

 

"Any horse can win on any given day."

Angel Cordero, Jr.

"Anybody can win unless there happens to be a second entry."

George Ade

"If certainty about the past is so limited, must not certainty about the future be terribly slight? How can anybody wrench a profit from such confusion?"

Tom Ainslie, Ainslie's Complete Guide To Thoroughbred Racing

"Racetrack! Well...what am I doin' here?"

Groucho Marx, in the movie, A Day At The Races

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