By Joe Quillen
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and I am back. I have a lot to be thankful for this year, even if my life did get turned upside down in the last week or so, which was why I did not have the picks I wanted this past weekend.
I got the dreaded text message from my sister last Thursday evening while I was working, and preparing for my stream on NoFilter.net, The Philly Guy Speaks. She told me that I had to get to the hospital. Instead of streaming, I did the right thing in going to see my father one last time before he passed away early on Friday morning.
I’m thankful for everyone that took the time to share their condolences with me. I’m still a little numb, but I am still trying to get over everything right now.
I’ll expand on my thoughts on everything with my dad on my next stream, which will return on Tuesday, November 28. But for the sake of this article, I’ll talk a little bit about his influence on me gambling.
First, he always told me something along the lines of what I tell you on my stream or in text with this article. Always bet within your means. Also, don’t get too high when you win, AND DON’T THROW IT ALL BACK! Hopefully I have said that to you in some way shape or form like my father said when I give you my Philly Phade picks, or my picks here for Bleacher Brothers.
Next, we watched the races together. A lot! I can go back to the early days of Phonebet, which is the advanced deposit wagering program that offered with a cable channel long before the days of TVG/FanDuel TV by Parx, back when it was Philadelphia Park, or possibly even Keystone Race Track. Yes, phone betting has been in Pennsylvania that long. But whatever the previous name of my home track was, my dad didn’t have the telephone account at that time, but he had his guy or guys that he wagered with occasionally.
Finally, my dad would always tell me about his big hits while he was working when he would come home. He’d tell me a similar story every time. I randomly played the 5 horse at Philly Park, and I checked back later, and he had $150 in my account (or some low three-figured dollar amount). I’d congratulate him, but I’d also call him a lucky mother f—er too!
So as a form of grieving over the last couple of days, I’ve been playing the horses on Monday and Tuesday playing a track that I never played before, Zia Park in New Mexico. TwinSpires had a 10x rewards points promotion, so I thought why not. I can keep my mind off of things and do something my dad and I loved, though I doubt he’d play Zia.
There were all kinds of signs from beyond, as I will call it. I bet on five winners on the ten-race card on Monday (There’s that five again). Tuesday wasn’t as fruitful, but it wasn’t a complete wash as I hit two low paying trifectas which has kept me ahead for the last two days combined as I write this on Wednesday morning.
There were other signs from beyond, but I want to save that for my stream on Tuesday night at 9:30 pm ET on NoFilter.net. Note the later start for those that are familiar with my show. I want to give myself an extra 15 minutes after the end of my work shift to collect myself before I start that stream in case I do get emotional.
So let’s get to the main part of my article here. I have to get back on the bike so to speak here sometime. I’m going back to work off my bereavement days at my real job on Friday, so I’ll start here with Thursday’s 6th race, The Red Carpet Stakes, a Grade III turf race going a mile and three-eighths at Del Mar, where “The Turf Meets The Surf.”
I could handicap this like the professional I pretend to be. But I am going to make a pick here just like my dad would if he wanted to play this race. In memory of my dad, I’ll go with a $20 win wager on the 5 here, who is With Love, a horse bred in Great Britain who is a 15-1 morning line. Seems fitting right? Random 5 horse without actually handicapping the race?
No matter what happens on Thursday afternoon. Thank you, Dad. I know you and Mom are watching over me. Rest easy, I’ll take care of the horse racing bets from here.
