(This is the time of year when the horse racing season for the Ivory Pine Syndicate is winding down, but the soccer season for the Rosevelt Soccer Club is gearing up. Here's a 90-day glimpse of the day in the life of a horse racing managing partner and soccer club administrator.)
Sunday, October 6
Awoke, 7:14a
Handicapped soccer games, 7:30a-7:45a
I've been watching more soccer in the last year than I'd been watching for the last decade combined. One reason is because there is just so much soccer to watch from around the world via cable and streaming here in the U.S., especially on the weekends. And the other reason is because sports gambling was legalized in Maine in November 2023.
Most of my wagers are similar to the wager I put together this morning: Low stakes (a $0.10 wager), multi-game parlays (9 games), high odds (+3,689), and a cosmopolitan flavor (5 different leagues in 5 different countries). The combination of accessible broadcasts and low-stakes rooting wagers on games played all over the world have definitely made a difference in how much soccer I've been following and watching lately.
Sent Ivory Pine Syndicate partner update 7:45a-8a
Since our 20-partner ownership group's inaugural pacer Sixby Hanover first arrived in Maine in April 2022, I've been pretty good about giving our partners at least a 48-hour warning about an upcoming race via e-mail. These updates usually feature a recap of a previous race, a preview of the upcoming race with info such as the pacers' Past Performances (PPs), post position stats, etc., and any feedback from our trainer Mike Graffam that all of our co-owners should know.
For some reason, the digital program page we can usually download as owners via the U.S. Trotting Association web site still hadn't been uploaded before the day of the race, so this update for Sixby Hanover's race later that afternoon at the Fryeburg Fair was sent later than usual and didn't feature all the information usually contained in a typical partner update e-mail.
Prepared and ate breakfast, 8a-8:30a
Weekend mornings are usually the only time for a breakfast that takes more than 10 minutes to prepare and eat, so this morning was steak, eggs, and coffee.
Updated Ivory + Rose Diarist, 8:30a-9a
After handicapping multiple races from multiple tracks, I settled on a Daily Double featuring Sixby Hanover. Unlike sports wagering, betting on a race that involves a horse you own is not frowned upon. And we don't usually benefit from insider info: Over the years, my RoI on wagers involving our own horses, or other horses recommended by this trainer or that groom is almost definitely pretty low.
Completed morning chores, 9a-10a
Sunday mornings are for the chores: Clean and organize my office, clean and organize the kitchen, wash laundry. Rinse and repeat.
Watched Longchamp races, 9a-10:15a
One of the best parts of watching horse racing is it's a pretty passive sport to follow live. Most races take 1-2 minutes, and then there's anywhere between 15 minutes (Standardbred tracks) and 30 minutes (Thoroughbred) tracks between each race that's usually filled with race analysis by on-track pundits.
So there's probably no better sport to "watch" while doing chores: Connect AirPods to a phone, listen to the banter between each race, and watch the race when it goes off. This morning's track was the Longchamps Racecourse in Paris, and the feature race was the renowned Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. My $1 rooting wager for a quinella (i.e., two horses finishing in the top two, in either order) featuring #13 Sosie and #14 Los Angeles didn't pan out, when they finished 4th and 3rd respectively.
Attended GYSA U14 Boys game, 10:30a-12p
I've been coaching youth soccer for town-based clubs in Soccer Maine's Fall Classic league for the last dozen years, and today will likely be the last regular season date in this league I'll have on my calendar as a coach for a while. Our younger daughter ages out of this program after this season, and we're looking forward to having a less cluttered calendar next fall when our both of our daughters are playing soccer for their high school programs.
Even though the team I coach doesn't play until later in the afternoon, I make the 5-minute drive from our house to the University of Southern Maine's Hannaford Field to watch our younger daughter's classmates play in their regular season finale. These town-based clubs that offer programming for U9-U14 players are generally seen as feeder programs for their communities' high school programs, so the boys' and girls' teams attending each others' games when possible will likely be a trend that continues throughout their high school careers.
Prepared and ate lunch, 12:30p-1p
Hustled home to make lunch, which I'd eat while watching Sixby Hanover's race at the Fryeburg Fair.
Watched Sixby's race, 12:45p-1p
Sixby Hanover paced pretty well at the Fryeburg Fair, but had a tough post position and finished fourth. Horse racing can be a lot like soccer in that you can be happy with a performance if not necessarily the result.
The purse for the race was $5,500, and the fourth place finisher earns 12% of that purse. And out of the $440 in earnings, 5% is distributed to our trainer Mike Graffam, and another 5% is distributed to our driver Nick Graffam. So our net earnings from the race is $396, which is about double what our typical race day expenses are.
Watched Vikingur Reykjavik game, 1p-1:45p
Sixby's race wrapped up just as the Icelandic club Vikingur Reykjavik's league game kicked off. Vikingur have been hospitable hosts for three of my visits to Iceland over the last five years, and the site One Football has enabled me to legally stream Icelandic men's soccer for free this season.
Coached GYSA U14 Girls game, 1:45p-4p
After watching the first half of the Vikingur game, it was time to get ready for my own game. So it was another 5-minute drive to the University of Southern Maine's campus, where our U14 Girls team would be playing Windham in both teams' season finale.
It was everyone's final regular season game in the Fall Classic league, and the game was as competitive and well-played as it usually has been over the years. Gorham and Windham are two of Rosevelt SC's core communities, so four of the teams' six coaches are Rosevelt coaches, and more than a dozen players from the two teams play for Rosevelt from January-June.
The experience dovetails with our club's model: In the fall, our coaches and players exchange pre-game pleasantries, compete against each other during the game, and exchange post-game pleasantries after the game. And then in the winter and spring, we're in the same regional club and on the same regional teams.
Watched Keeneland races, 4:15p-6p
The Keeneland Race Course is one of the finest tracks in the world, and their meets in April and October are two of my favorite meets to watch and wager. The track's setting in Lexington, Kentucky is bucolic and elegant, and the production value of its free livestream on YouTube is high-quality.
My go-to wager for this meet is $4.50 Pick Three bets that feature a single in one of the three legs, and three selections in the other two legs.
Listened to Kickin' It Podcast, 5p-5:30p
One of my favorite stress relievers involves a clean kitchen, good ingredients, and an interesting podcast. Check, check, and check--thanks to an interview with former U.S. Men's National Team coach Juergen Klinsmann about his experiences coaching here in the U.S.
Prepared and ate supper, 5p-6p
A medium rare steak, sauteed shallots and button mushrooms, coleslaw, and Evan Williams Bottled in Bond bourbon has been my go-to supper lately when I've had to time to cook.
Sent IPS partner update, 6:15p-6:30p
Our partnership's 3-year-old pacer Crimson Pine is scheduled to race at Plainridge Park in Plainville, Massachusetts tomorrow afternoon, so this is the customary pre-race update I usually send out to our 20 partners. Crimson Pine--or Benny, as he's known around the barn--broke his maiden last week, and this week's race will consist of tougher competition and a worse post position. In our hard-earned experience, that's usually a tough combo to overcome.
Watched Culinary Class War, 6:30p-7:56p
Cooking competitions are my go-to TV genre, and this show has been my go-to show lately. It's a South Korean production, and it features lesser-known chefs competing against more-heralded chefs.
Asleep, 7:56p
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