The $20 Junior Challenge

Every year, Times Union sportswriter Tim Wilkin would take an “imaginary” $1,000 bankroll to the Saratoga Race Course, and through the run of the summer meet, he would bet his “imaginary” funds and chronicle those results in his daily newspaper column. Good for him. I hope he paid taxes on all those “imaginary” winnings. 😀

That being said, for 2024 I’m going to participate in a similar challenge. Although I won’t be doing it with imaginary money. And my betting strategy will be simple. 

One of the horses I enjoy watching at the Saratoga Harness track is a powerful standardbred named Junior, with the official name of “Pay Me To Knight.” He’s from the Checkmate stable in Schenectady County, and he can compete with the big boys each week as one of the horses in the Harness track’s “Open” field. I’ve followed Junior for several years, and I’ve blogged about him in the past.

$20 on his infrared nose

Plus, last night at the Saratoga Harness awards, he was named the 2023 Trotter of the Year. Well-deserved, IMHO.

So starting next week, when the harness track season opens, each time Junior – er – Pay Me To Knight races at the harness track, I’ll make one simple bet. I’ll wager $20 that he wins his race. Not $20 as an overall win-place-show bet. Not $20 as part of a Pick 3 or a Pick 6 or a superfecta or some other exotic wager. Nope – if Junior beats all the other horses in the race, then he wins – and I win. 

I have a Saratogabets.com online betting option, and I’ll load a small amount on that account as a seed. At the end of the Saratoga meet … whatever winnings are left will make for a nice Christmas gift for someone. 

And as I said, the rules are simple. I’m only betting on Junior. I’m only betting on him to win. I’m only betting $20 each time. I’m not going to “chase money” and bet $50 one week just because there’s enough pony money in the bank. 

And like Tim Wilkin did during the thoroughbred season, I’ll track Junior’s progress each week in the blog. I think it will be fun. Again … I’m only betting a simple amount each week. No parlays, no exotics, no goofy bets. If Junior’s racing, I’m betting. 

Let’s see how this all works out.