Breeders' Cup Introduces Three New Ways To Lose Money

Three races were added to thoroughbred racing's world championships for next year. In 2008, the Breeders' Cup will be a two-day event with 14 races worth more than $25 million in prize money.

When I was twelve years old, my grandpa took me out for dinner at an off-track betting establishment just before a baseball game. While eating our club sandwiches we watched a spectacularly old man, like the epitome of dead man walking, make his way to a video terminal to waste his Canadian Pension Plan money.

My grandpa remarked, "Dustin, check that out. One foot in the grave, the other making a bet on a longshot."

Flash forward fifteen years later and I found myself this past summer pouring over a Daily Racing Forum in a dank attic on Bloor Street that smelled a lot like my grandpa's trench coat, trying to pick which horses I'd wheel in my boxed exactor.

My friends and I had caught the horse racing bug. We claimed that horse racing was the new poker and invited other friends to come out and lose money. And lose money we did. In fact, that was the simple cure for this afflicting infection. Lose enough money and it's amazing how quickly the ponies become less appealing.

So, now I save my big losses for the special races. And believe you me, I stand to lose a lot of money next October 24-25 when the Breeders' Cup takes place at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.