It was a day I marked on my calendar more than a month ago — March 26, the day of the Louisiana Derby at the New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course.
 
I had never been to the Fair Grounds before (horse racing newb), but I had always wanted to get out there to see what it was all about.
 
There was something about watching large horses run for my entertainment (and perhaps a profit) while looking at big hats, eating cheese, yelling, gambling and drinking with the plebeians that enticed me.
 
I wonder why.
 
The only problem was I didn’t know the first thing about horse racing, so I had no idea how to place my large Daily Reveille salary down on these horses. I had to come up with a strategy.
 
I thought about my options: pick the horses the Times Picayune told me to, go with the favorites or test all the long shots.
 
Well, there’s not much fun in any of those because the long shot (as I came to find out) rarely wins, and you win very little when you only bet on the favorites.
 
So I had to come up with something a little different, and the idea came to me after the second race of the day.
 
The horse’s name was Fast Tip, and I picked her for a few reasons.
First, she has an awesome name. Second, she was in the fifth post and started off with middle-of-the-pack odds at 6-1. None of the people I went with had picked her, so I figured I would give her a shot. Besides, five has been my favorite number since I was young, so I felt pretty good about putting down $2 on the five.
 
She won, and because she ended at nearly 10-1 odds, I won a little less than $20 on her. It was a great race that involved a late push, an upset and me screaming far too loud over a horse.
 
The strategy was in place. I would bet on the five horse in every race to win. Sure, there would be other random bets placed, a show here, an exacta there. But one thing would be constant — the five horse.
 
It worked. The fifth horse ended up winning four of the 11 races I bet on. In all, that banked me $38.40 on 11 $2 bets. You do the math on my meager profit.
 
It’s too bad close doesn’t count in horse racing, because I would have won a few more. The five horse was out in front for eight races I was there for.
 
Maybe it was beginner’s luck, or maybe it was just an excellent strategy. Doesn’t matter.
 
In the biggest race of the day, the Louisiana Derby (which had a $1 million purse), the fifth horse, Liondrive, went off at 120-1 odds.
 
For the first seven furlongs (each furlong is an eighth of a mile), he was in the lead. It looked like I was going to make bank. Sadly, he faded in those last furlongs and fell out of the lead, but it was still an exciting race that came down to the wire.
 
I left after the 12th race because my family was ready to go.
 
Of course, in the 13th race, the five horse won again, this time at 20-1 odds. I would have won $40 on another $2 bet.
Such is gambling.
But I learned something about horse racing — always bet on the five.
 
Andy Schwehm is a 21-year-old English and psychology senior from New Orleans. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_ASchwehm.
 
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