The Lost Five Commandments

I was perusing some racing articles on this cool morning and came across a great article in US Racing.com. It was the ten commandments of racing, and after reading them I found truth in every single one. - Great read to start the day. - But it took me back to an old movie that used to make me laugh til' I had tears in my eyes.

After watching the clip you have to wonder what were on the other five. I know I sure did. - For many of my gambling friends, I think this may apply. - Thank you, Mel Brooks.....

With tongue-in-cheek here are the other five that may have been lost on the way down. - You may want to give it a thought if you have been a race-tracker.

11. - Thou shall not be jealous of thy neighbor's winner. - Plain and simple NO bitching or complaining.

12. - Thou shall not try and get in on pick fours, three's or other wagers once the first leg has won. - I have two good friends who asked if they could buy into my pick four after I had a $22 winner in the first leg. - Where were they when I went down and made my bet? - Oh yeah. They were telling me it was too much of a risk.

13. - Thou shall not gossip or talk crap when a player gets nailed at the wire. - No "I told you so's, or maybe they should have backed him up." - God hates a coward, and betting on the ponies is the place where we back up our opinions with money.

14. - Thou shall leave your small change with clerks and tellers. - They have a family and would like to go see that big movie on Saturday night. Go ahead and leave them the 40 cents. - If the 200 people they waited on did just that they could take the kids out for a bite and would be the first ones in the door to get to work.

15. - No rooting under your breath. - You know who you are. You're the SOB that burbles under their breath " I hope they get caught or I hope they fade down the lane." - Now before you say there is no such person. I have a friend at work who only walks in the middle of a big race when I have a nice bet rolling. He always asks about the 1/4 pole; "who do you have?" - Right about then, my horse starts to fade and he immediately walks out of the room. - He comes back in a few minutes and asks "did you hold on ?" This kind of spineless wonder can make Secretariat lose in the Belmont at the 1/16th pole.

Plain and simple. Be kinder than necessary and maybe when you finally man-up and make a wager someone won't come walking in and ask "who do you have?" - I doubt if there was a #16 commandment, but if there was it would have read that we are all here for the same reason. Just be a good egg and don't try and make a tough game even tougher with antics and black magic mojo.