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PUBLICATIONS:
TROPICAL DOWNS
A Novel of Peril &
Misadventure in search for the elusive automatic bet.
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Mark Cramer's
TROPICAL DOWNS
a novel
of peril and misadventure in search for the elusive
automatic bet. For TROPICAL DOWNS
Excerpt Click Here
New
Series from Mark
Cramer:
OUR
PERSONAL “TOUR DE FRANCE”:
BICYCLING TO FIVE FRENCH RACE TRACKS IN SIX
DAYS
The
question was: which would kill us first, cycling up long
hills in the Vexin and Normandy regions of France or betting
on every race along the way?
Alan Kennedy works in the world of the arts, specializing in
ancient Japanese textiles and other periods, styles and
regions, writing articles and doing exhibitions on these
themes. Like me, he’s an American living in Paris and plays
the French races. Both of us read Charles Bukowski and
listen to Charles Mingus, but the similarity ends when you
see that Alan has long legs for cycling and the stamina of
John Henry thanks to swimming laps and eating ripe fruit in
season. You already know me but just in case, I was born in
1945 in upstate New York not far from Saratoga. While Alan
is younger and stronger by six years, he still qualifies for
AARP membership, so our journey, projected to be over 300
kilometers, should be of interest for the Grey Panthers.
In the realm of racing, Alan specializes in French Quinté
races, a higher level handicap with an inflated purse.
It draws in serious handicappers but also captures the
lottery market, with its big payoffs, given that the odds
against picking the first five in exact order in fields of
14 or more, and then hitting the "special number" to win the
bonus pool as well. From the
U.S.
point of view, the Quinté is more like a Pick 6 that all of
France follows. Alan profits from the extra information
provided in these races to go against the current and make
straight wagers.
I specialize in stakes races and the Multi, a 4-horse
quinella (superfecta box), in which you can play straight
with 4 horses or for the same 3 Euro bet, purchase tickets
of 5, 6 and even 7 horses, which means buying in for a
proportional piece. I prefer the more predictable harness
races for the Multi. On a given day, the French racing
system features one track for the first “reunion” for the
best races of the day, and then offers a second and even
third “reunion”, usually races at lesser levels.
The tracks we were planning to visit, if we managed to get
there, would be carding mainly second “reunion” programs on
those particular days, thus mostly excluding our main
specialties.
Our choice of period was based on the aesthetics of the
tracks and the geographical feasibility. The French racing
association did not plan its schedule geographically to
adjust to the needs of senior bicyclers. Our first racing
day was actually a “first reunion”, but at a track,
Compiègne, which is considered a level below Longchamp,
Chantilly and
Deauville,
for example.
Even “second reunion” French racing is a quality product,
but among the races we would be facing were several bottom
level claiming events for “non-winners of” paltry amounts
and even a few three-mile first-time-starter races for
steeplechase horses. In one flat event, an 0-for-28 maiden
was touted as the race favorite. At Deauville, the Del Mar
of France, the prime track in August, we would witness
several dirt races, with dirt events in France reserved for
lower level horses.
Handicapping such races figured to be a daunting task but
even a rigorously disciplined race passer like me could not
expect to pass a race after cycling 80 miles to get there.
In the realm of aesthetic beauty, charm, history and
diversity, no other country’s racing can compare with what
we hoped to see in France, where even a bottom-of-the-barrel
claiming horse is groomed to look like a Triple Crown
winner.
In bicycling, I happily specialize on flat roads, and I
thrive on downhill stretches. But this time I was going to
confront a number of long and mighty climbs. Alan was
brimming with optimism while I entered the adventure knowing
that I might be obligated to quit at some point before we
had covered the required distance for getting to all five
tracks.
The logistical obstacles were formidable. Getting lost on
small forest roads could prevent us from arriving on time
for a race card. On the other hand, rolling too quickly
through old medieval villages, past stunning castles, and
through fern lined green cathedral woods might be a crime
against aesthetics.
Once out of the forests, we’d have to deal with the
merciless sun. The average afternoon temperature between
June 29, our starting day and July 4 with the final card at
Deauville should have been in the low 70s F but the five-day
forecast called for 10 degrees F above normal.
The message of our Tour de France would be by example rather
than through sloganeering: the bicycle is one way to reduce
carbon emissions while at the same time improving fitness
and enhancing the quality of life. Doing an oil-free summer
trip is good for the health, the pocketbook and one’s
quality of life, with environmental benefits coming in
return. Sorry Al Gore, I don’t consider this a “sacrifice”.
We can stop global warming and have fun doing so. (During a
climb, however, if you listen to my breathing, you might
suspect that I am producing more carbon emissions than an
SUV.)
Finally, we have a mission against the prevailing high-speed
ideology. In the real Tour de France, incredible beauty
passes by too quickly. How many castles has Lance Armstrong
rolled by without stopping to gawk? Eight “Tour de France”
without stopping to visit a single race track!
Alan sums it up in his own way: “For me it was a time to be
removed from the ordinary world - having the physical (and
mental) challenge of long distance bicycling in the heat,
the mental challenge of handicapping the races, the
overwhelming aesthetic experience of the French countryside,
and the centuries of history that we were floating
through on our bikes.”
Stay
tuned as the reports come in, both on handicapping against
the tides of logic and bicycling against the odds of age.
Continued
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