Sample Pages

Scene One

Unreserved section of the grandstand at the racetrack. VINCENT and JOE are seated, both studying the Racing Form. JOE has a beer. Long silence.

JOE: Who do you like in the Second?

VINCENT turns the page in the Form, checks his notes.

VINCENT: The Two Horse. Enduring Love.

JOE: ... finished fourteen lengths out his last race.

VINCENT: Look at the early speed. Plus three levels above the class. And that workout: fifty-nine seconds flat.

Long pause.

JOE: ... heard you hit a nice little winner last weekend in the Ninth.

VINCENT: I’m usually lucky in the Ninth.

JOE: Someone told me you put down five grand.

VINCENT: Who told you? Simmonds? You believe what he says?

Pause.

JOE: Horse paid eleven-eighty. So you must’ve taken home what ... ? Twenty-one thousand?

VINCENT: More like sixteen after the IRS ...

JOE: Sixteen thousand. And you weren’t going to tell me about it?

(Pause.)

Answer me.

VINCENT: It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I had a hunch.

JOE: A hunch.

VINCENT: I didn’t think you’d be interested.

JOE: Do me a favor, okay? The next time you get a hunch, tell me about it. Understand?

(Pause.)

Do you understand?

VINCENT: I understand.

Pause.

JOE: Enduring Love, huh?

They continue to study the Form.

Scene Two

Another day. The grandstand. VINCENT is on his feet, watching a race in progress. ERIN is seated nearby, also watching the race.VINCENT mumbles under his breath,“Come on … get up there …” He slaps the rolled up racing form against his hand. The race ends. CROWD NOISE dies down.VINCENT sits. He removes a ticket from his shirt pocket, looks at it, then returns it to his pocket. ERIN looks at the ticket in her hand, checks the tote board at the center of the track, then tears up the ticket and drops it to the ground.VINCENT opens the Form and begins to study the next race. ERIN observes him.

ERIN: How’d you do?

VINCENT: I’m sorry?

ERIN: That race. Did you win?

VINCENT: Um ... yeah. I did.

ERIN: How much?

VINCENT: How much did I win?

ERIN: Uh-huh.

VINCENT looks over, as if he’s not sure she’s speaking to him.

VINCENT: Let me see ... the Seven paid ...

(looks out at the tote board)

... nine-sixty.

ERIN: You won nine dollars and sixty cents?

VINCENT: No, that ... that’s what the horse paid to Win. The payout depends on the size of the wager.

ERIN: How much did you ‘wager’?

VINCENT: Fifty.

ERIN: Can I see the ticket?

VINCENT looks at her for a moment, then takes the ticket out of his shirt pocket and hands it to her. She looks at the ticket, then looks up at the tote board.

VINCENT: May I ... ?

ERIN: Oh. Right.

ERIN hands the ticket back. She indicates his notebook.

What’s all that?

VINCENT shuts the notebook.

VINCENT: This? Oh ... nothing. Just some stuff I’ve been fooling around with.

ERIN: Do you mind?

VINCENT hands her the notebook. She glances through the pages, then hands it back to him.

ERIN: So what’s the secret?

VINCENT: The secret?

ERIN: Of horse racing.

VINCENT: The secret ... the secret is not to bet.

ERIN: No. Really.

VINCENT: You want to know the secret? The secret is ... there is no secret. No foolproof system. No

magic bullet. There’s just you and the next race.

ERIN: But then ... how do you know which horse is going to win?

VINCENT: You don’t.

ERIN: But you still have to choose.

VINCENT: Yeah. That’s life.

ERIN considers this, but isn’t satisfied.

ERIN: So how do you decide ... ?

VINCENT: There are a lot of / factors.

ERIN: It’s a stupid question, / I know.

VINCENT: It isn’t stupid / ... it’s just ...

ERIN: I’m sorry ...

VINCENT: It’s complicated.

ERIN: ... sorry I bothered you.

ERIN packs up to leave.

VINCENT: You haven’t bothered me. Hey ... I might skip the next race, actually. Would you ... would you like it if I gave you some pointers?

ERIN: You’d do that?

VINCENT: Sure.

ERIN: That ... that would be amazing. I’m Erin, by the way.

VINCENT: Vincent.

ERIN

Thanks so much, Vincent.

VINCENT

My pleasure. How much do you know about handicapping?

ERIN makes a face, indicating she knows next to nothing.

ERIN: I know a little about horses. My family use to own ... it was a long time ago. When it comes to all this, though ... the betting ... the racetrack ... I’m ...7

VINCENT: Don’t worry, we’ll take it slow. So. Before you do anything, you need two things.

ERIN: Two things. Okay. What are they?

VINCENT: You need a Daily Racing Form and a Program.

ERIN: I got ’em.

VINCENT looks at her, not understanding.

On my phone. I looked up the website for the racetrack and it suggested I buy a copy of the Program and the Racing Form, so I did.

VINCENT: I prefer the old paper edition. You can write in it, make notes in the margins ...

ERIN: Should I buy a copy?

VINCENT: It’s okay, we can use mine.

ERIN: Great!

VINCENT gives her another look, still trying to figure her out.

So how do I win?

VINCENT: You study the Form. First, we gotta look at what type of race it is.

VINCENT opens the Racing Form.

It says here that the Third Race is a Maiden Claiming Race with a purse of twenty-three thousand and a claiming price of twenty.

ERIN: A maiden ...

VINCENT: A maiden is a horse that’s never won a race.

ERIN: And ‘Claiming’ ... that means the horses can be bought, right?

VINCENT: Yeah. The class represents the amount the horse can be purchased.

ERIN: And anyone could buy them.

VINCENT: Basically, sure. You’d need an owner’s license, but ... It costs a lot more than twenty thousand, though.

ERIN: Why’s that?

VINCENT: Because you gotta pay for a stable and a trainer and a crew to care for it and gallop it every day and run workouts and you have to pay a vet to check up on it ... I used to work the stables. I was a hotwalker.

ERIN: A hotwalker?

VINCENT: It was my job to walk the horses after a race, cool them down.

ERIN: Why did you stop?

VINCENT: You don’t make much as an apprentice. And I was never going to be a jockey. Maybe a trainer someday. And to be honest ... it’s kind of a shitty job.

The BUGLE CALL is heard, indicating roughly ten minutes to Post Time.

We should ...

ERIN: So which horse is the best?

VINCENT: It isn’t that simple.

ERIN: Why not?

VINCENT: Because the best horse in the race doesn’t always win.

ERIN: It doesn’t?

VINCENT: There are a lot of factors.

ERIN: I bet you already know.

VINCENT: I mean, I have an idea ...

ERIN: So which one is it?

VINCENT: Personally, I like the Five Horse.

ERIN looks at the Form.

ERIN: Why is he your favorite?

VINCENT: She. It says right here. She’s a mare.

ERIN: Why is she your favorite?

VINCENT: It’s ...

ERIN: ... complicated, I know. Just tell me.10

VINCENT: (takes a breath) Maiden claimers are the hardest to predict. The owners know they’ll never be great horses and they’re looking to dump them. The Five won her last race but was disqualified and placed second. There’s no guarantee she’ll repeat but I think she’s looking to win. Every other horse has a strike against them. The One Horse looks promising but she’smaking a big class drop ... usually a bad sign.

ERIN: Why’s that?

VINCENT: Think about it. If you had a horse worth forty thousand and you were trying to sell her at twenty, she’d have to have something wrong with her.

ERIN: Okay, I get it.

VINCENT: The Three’s a contender, but I don’t like her as much as the Five.

ERIN: How come?

VINCENT: It’s a hunch. Plus there’s a million other factors to consider.

ERIN: Such as?

VINCENT: Such as the trainer and the jockey and the track conditions, the post position, workouts, track bias, size of the field, the pace of the race, extra weight, equipment changes ... and don’t forget the odds, you gotta decide if the horse is worth the bet, which brings up a whole other set of options, whether to bet Win, Place, or Show, not to mention Exactas, Trifectas, Superfectas ... I never worry about that, though. I always bet to Win.

ERIN: Always?

VINCENT: I like it. One horse. One race. It’s simple. Clean. Pure.

ERIN: And you think the Five will win?

VINCENT: I mean, if I had to pick ... they’re all such losers ... What are her odds?

ERIN looks out at the tote board.

ERIN: Three-to-one.

VINCENT: The crowd likes her.

ERIN: I’m going to make a bet.

VINCENT: Why don’t we split it?

ERIN: I thought you were going to skip this race.

VINCENT: This is just for fun. How much do you want to bet?

ERIN: I’m not sure. I need a lot.

VINCENT: I mean, I can’t guarantee anything. How much is a lot?

ERIN: I need to win seventy-five thousand dollars.

VINCENT looks at ERIN to see if she’s serious.