Horseplayers: Life at the Track

Ted McClelland puts cash in the kitty and takes a year to explore the real world of handicapping the races....from the cheap seats at Hawthorne Race Course to the splendor of Arlington Park and at tracks throughout the country. In Horseplayers, McClelland shares the thrill of cashing the tickets with the nice payouts and the struggles of searching for that one needed winner in the last race, along with the dreams and frustrations of regular fans who find life at the track. There is the husband and wife who have different handicapping strategies, the railbird with a theory that makes calculus seem easy, the fan who looks for cashable tickets left on counters and the veteran who rumor has it is now not welcome in one facility. It is a journey away from the million-dollar races, world-class stables and majestic runners adding new pages to the history books. These regulars - who are found with comparable stories at any track - are more at home seeking out that big play with the hard-knocking claimers on a Thursday afternoon than elbowing through the crowd on Triple Crown simulcast days or on bobblehead giveaway weekends in the summer. And Family Days? Forget it. Though there aren't as many fans going through the gates as in "The Golden Era" of racing, they are as dedicated and have as many conspiracy theories about why that runner should not have stopped in the deep stretch, unless the jocks were doing something - somehow - to fix the outcome. And that is what makes Horseplayers such a great read; because life is about trying to get that edge, playing the odds and cashing the winning ticket at the end of the day. And if the "sure thing" doesn't hit the board, there is always tomorrow.

I've read a lot of horse racing books this past year but none of them touched me as much as Horseplayers by Ted McClelland. The book itself was not only interesting but it offered a humorous insight to many of the aspects of the game. To the fan that follows everything about the sport, McClelland also offered play by play analysis straight from the track announcer's mouth(s). It was incredibly easy to read and made for one of the fastest reads of a book I've ever attempted to tackle. Ted's writing coupled with almost unbelievable tales and stories at the tracks in the Windy City will make for a book that you will NEVER forget. Truly amazing!

McClelland's book really makes you feel like you are at the track. It reads like a fiction story, intertwining details on colorful track personalities with the author's never-ending quest to find a successful betting strategy in a year spent primarily at Chicago racing tracks. This is not a book solely for people who like horse racing or go to the track. I'm not a big horse racing fan, but found McClelland's vivid portrayal of life at the track a compelling read, and left me wanting more. In fact, shortly after finishing Horseplayers I read Seabiscuit, and I enjoyed Horseplayers much more.

Anyone looking for information on how to handicap will be disappointed. But that's not the author's intent anyway. It's a phenomenal portrait of life at the track with the weekday regulars--the guys in ratty clothing with ever-present ciagarettes or cigars who you know are there every day. The characters are rich and captured beautifully in a book that is at times funny, at times sad, always poignant and best of all, dead on the mmoney.

Looking for a fun, fast-paced read this summer? If so, odds are you'll love this book. The author, Ted McClelland, spends a year as part of a fascinating subculture -- people desperately searching for the edge it takes to make a living betting on horses, whether it's searching the grandstand floor for winning tickets that were discarded by mistake, developing a new handicapping system, or just doing what your gut tells you. McClelland introduces readers to the regulars at Chicago's horse tracks, from grifters to whales (big-time betters). The book is much more than a series of character profiles, though, because the characters are McClelland's friends, mentors, confidants, and foils as he searches for his own edge. I can attest that you don't have to be a horse racing aficionado to enjoy Horseplayers, you just have to appreciate excellent writing. McClelland has a reporter's eye for detail, a novelist's skill with metaphor and character development, and a humorist's wit and sense of timing. He also throws in historical tidbits and wonderful literary references for good measure. It is a truly great read.