Fiesta at the Racetrack
By Georgie Bright Kunkel
Racing forms were never seen in my home of origin. In fact, gambling was almost a sin. But only we girls took that seriously. Well, all but my oldest sister who became a woman of the world after spending two years overseas as an Army nurse during WWII.
I thought my big sister was really cosmopolitan as she even dared to smoke and was one of the first women in our family to get a divorce. And she loved to gamble. You name it—bingo, punch cards or the horse races.
When she was in her eighties I drove her out to Longacres where she sat in the clubhouse with her racing form in her hands marking her favorites. Knowing nothing about gambling I decided to sit out the first three races and then I figured out a system of my own. If a jockey won a race and was slated to ride in a later race, I bet on this jockey in his second time around the track. It worked and I won some money.
