Gary Young, for 16 years a successful professional clocker and horse player, advises to control your betting and to go for the home run.
"When Brocco won the (1993) Breeders' Cup (Juvenile), that was the biggest moment of my life, and when he got left in the gate in the Kentucky Derby, that was my biggest disappointment," Young said.
"Betting wise, one of my biggest scores came in the fall of 1983 at Hollywood Park. People didn't know me well then. There was a maiden race in which 18 horses had worked well for the race. I picked out a horse named Mighty Adversary, trained by Tommy Doyle. The horse won that day and paid $83. He won the Santa Anita Derby the next year (at odds of 32-1).
"When Brocco won the Breeders' Cup, I also had $1,000 to win at 20-1 in the Future Book, so that was a pretty nice score. Me and my partner (Rene Romero) have had some nice horses through the years. The first time Naevus won, he paid $38 at Del Mar, and I never really did well there. But when he won, I thought I died and hit the lottery.
"Rene watches the films and I do the clocking. He's very capable and we put our heads together and see what happens. There are a lot of people who try to survive in the waters in which I swim. Most of them fail. There's a few who survive, but not too many of them thrive. I take pride in the fact that I've done well at this.
"I wouldn't advise anyone to try and do it. If someone came to me today and asked, 'Should I be a gambler?' I'd say, 'No.' Most people lack the will power or intelligence or the work ethic to do it.
"The sick (degenerate) gamblers who come out here and have to dance every dance -- I don't care how much you know -- they're gonna go nuts and they're gonna go broke. One or the other's going to happen real fast. That's the main thing I'd tell people -- control their betting.
"I play a Pick Six every day, but other than the Pick Six I play with my partner, there are some days I won't take my gun out of my holster. I won't make another bet the rest of the day. Then there are other days, especially on the weekends when they get some decent fields together, where I'll be jumping in the water quite often."
Young's interest in horses came naturally.
"My parents introduced me to the game," he said, "and of course, my brother (Steve, who trains 1994 Wood and Gotham winner Irgun), trains horses.
"I'm 34. I look like I'm about 45, but that's because of the hours. Mr. Winick (the late trainer Arnold Winick, whose son, Randy, trained Brocco and presently has a small string in Southern California for Albert and Dana Broccoli of James Bond fame) had a big stable of horses and my parents started taking me to the races in Chicago. I got to know him.
"We moved to Florida when I started working for him as a hot walker. The Winicks always had someone who kind of would clock horses for them, and they asked me if I would like to try. Since I really wasn't too nuts about walking hots, I did it. That was in 1979, and I've been doing it ever since.
"The three years in the (late) 80s were my best at gambling. I don't think there's too many people who can say they made six figures gambling three years in a row."
Young abrubtly interrupted his discourse to focus on the post parade. "If you're gonna bet a horse, you want to see it jog off. This horse (a 39-1 shot named Pancho's Cup) is dead lame. I'm not saying that lame horses don't win. But that horse is sore. That is not what you want to see when a horse warms up. Most cheap horses are not gonna come out and warm up like they're Seattle Slew, but that is no bueno right there. A lot of jockeys would scratch that horse. (Panchos' Cup trailed throughout in the 7-furlong race, finishing dead last, beaten more than 17 lengths).
"That horse doesn't look too good, either. It's hard to say who looks older, the horse (a 6-year-old named Ivoreto) or the jockey (55-year-old Jerry Lambert. Ivoreto, a 29-1 shot, ran seventh, beaten seven lengths). This is a tough race. The favorite (at that time) is 5-1. When you clock horses, certain races have no benefit, and this is one of them."
There is more to Young's success than his diligent parameters on a horse's physical appearance. He exercises strict guidelines when he puts his money up. One of the most important is value.
"I don't bet horses to win at less than 2-1," Young said. "I might single them in a triple and play some longshots around them in a triple, or play it on top of a couple of longshots in an exacta, but one of the quickest ways to fail as a gambler is to bet horses less than 2-1 to win. I think that's one of the worst percentage plays you can make, so 2-1 is my cutoff point . . . 5-2 on first-time starters. I've been betting first-time starters all my life and I know there's only one way for them to win and there's usually a million ways for them to lose."
Suppose the odds are higher than expected. Back off?
"That's when I double up," Young said resolutely. "Before I started clocking horses, I was guilty of that myself. If I liked a horse and it didn't get action on the board, I'd start having negative thoughts. But when I see something with my own two eyes, and the horse drifts up in price, that's generally the time you try and hit the home run. The world is not full of people who go for three-yard passes on third and two. Sometimes you've got to throw the bomb, and I don't mind throwing the bomb. I don't mind singling a horse in the Pick Six if he's 10-1 and I like him.
Young cited another common betting pitfall.
"Another thing that will lead to failure is this: betting more money on a shorter-priced horse you don't like as much as a longshot. Guys will bet $100 on a 5-2 shot, but if they really like a 12-1 shot, they only bet $20. That's one of the worst things you can do. That's terrible."
Young also is active in selecting and recommending horses to buy at 2-year-old in-training sales. Stakes winners Brocco, Suivi, LaSpia, Proud Appeal and Music Merci are the more prominent horses he has had a hand in picking out.
"I wouldn't turn down an offer to go to a yearling sale," Young explained about his penchant for 2-year-olds in training, "but I like to see a horse with a saddle train in front of me. If I go to a sale and pick out a horse and buy it for someone, I charge them a five percent commission. That's standard. Some I've picked out haven't turned out that good, but my list of successes speaks for itself. Music Merci went for $50,000 and earned $1 million. Brocco went for $250,000 and earned $1 million."
Whether he's betting or buying, when it comes to horses, Gary Young is ahead on both counts.
THE HOMESTRETCH: Think horse racing has an identity problem? In the voting for the1995 Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year, not one of the 30 athletes receiving votes represented racing. Not Jerry Bailey, Gary Stevens or Corey Nakatani. Not even D. Wayne Lukas. But two guys named Danny Wuerffel and Halle Gebrselassie got votes, and if you know what their sports are, please contact Alex Trebek . . . Former jockey and agent Wayne Harris, who handled mounts for veteran Jorge Tejeira, reports the Panamanian likely will abort his latest comeback attempt. "He had an operation on his left arm, which he shattered in 1970, but so far, it's been too painful for him," said Harris. Tejeira, 47, was one of Southern California's leading riders in the early 1970s . . . D. Wayne Lukas, a gracious loser to Bill Mott in his bid for a record fifth Eclipse Award, compiled $12.8 million in earnings and won three divisional titles (Thunder Gulch, 3-year-old male), Serena's Song (3-year-old filly) and Golden Attraction (2-year-old filly). "Like I've told a lot of people," the 60-year-old Lukas said with a smile, "If I didn't win it this year, what do I have to do to win?" Answer:: do just as he did in 1995, only he'll have to circumnavigate Cigar . . . Sympathies to Eddie Delahoussaye, whose mother, Loula Mae, died of respiratory failure Jan. 11 in their hometown of New Iberia, Louisiana. Mrs. Delahoussaye, 69, has been ill for some time. Eddie D., one of racing's class acts, took off all mounts last Saturday, Sunday and Monday to attend the funeral on Monday, but he stayed around for Friday's last race to win on 8-1 first-time starter Case History for baby-faced trainer Mike Machowsky . . . Santa Anita and Bay Meadows will advance post times on Super Bowl Sunday in an effort to finish their races before the 3:20 p.m. kickoff. First post at Santa Anita will be 11 a.m., 15 minutes after the start at Bay Meadows. Santa Anita has its ninth and final race set for 3 p.m. . . .
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