The Miami Beach Dog Track Story
1965
A true story that no one believes
Written 2010 Re-written 04/12/2016 unedited
Howard Yasgar
Over the years, I have told this true story to many people, and still no one believes me.
Even I, have found the story hard to believe, but I assure you it’s a true story.
In November of 1963, I had just gotten married in Connecticut, and my wife and I came
to Miami so I could run an auto wrecking business for my good friend Lou Gladstein.
Lou and his wife had made a strong case for me to move to Florida. They gave me a 1959 Plymouth to use to make the trip and they said it would be just like a honeymoon for us.
So in December of 1963, my wife and I drove all the way down to Miami from New Haven Connecticut.
It wasn’t long before I found that my friend Lou’s former manager had embezzled so much money from the business that it would be impossible to make a go of it.
So I suggested that the best move for Lou, was to close the place down
Lou did just that, and my wife and I decided to stay in Florida rather than return to Connecticut.
By 1965, We could see South Miami Beach had started changing dramatically, there was a lot of new construction going on.
We thought it certainly was a very interesting for us to watch all the changes.
In 1965 tourism was in high gear, and companies like “Tower Air” were bringing in European tourists for four days and three nights for only $450.00 dollars per person, and that included the airfare from Europe.
One day, as we were showing off Miami Beach to some newly visiting friends, and we noticed that all the former vacant land at the tip of South Beach was now being developed.
We assumed that there was going to be another big hotel built there. But to our surprise there was a sign that said there was going to be a South Beach dog track, complete with a large parking Garage.
We already knew that there were several other dog tracks already in South Florida, but we had never been to any of them.
So by late 1965, we read that the new South Beach Dog Track had been completed and we were excited to go there and see it.
When we got to South Beach we noticed that everything had changed
We parked in the new dog track garage, and just followed the people into the well lit entrance of the huge track.
Right in the middle of the entrance walkway there was a podium set up with a fellow selling racing programs for fifty cents each, so I bought one.
Inside the giant stadium, my wife and I went upstairs and sat down in the last row of seats where we had an excellent view of the entire race track below us.
About fifty feet behind us was a row of ticket windows where you could place a bet.
Once we were seated I opened the racing program to study it.
It certainly was a mystery to me, as I had no idea of what I was looking at, and neither did my wife.
The race program looked complicated, so we both did our best to study it.
We could clearly see that there was going to be ten races that evening.
We also saw that there were numbers that were corresponding to each dog that was going to be in each race.
Then we saw there was a lot of information regarding each dog that was running that evening.
Well, I have to admit we didn’t understand any of it, so I looked behind us, to where the ticket
windows were to see if there was some one I could ask how to bet.
It was a Thursday evening, and there were not too many people there, and the first few ticket windows were empty.
So I got up and walked over to the ticket windows.
At the second window, there was a fellow standing there doing nothing, so I asked him to tell me how to read this racing program.
The ticket seller, a young man about thirty years old appeared to be a friendly enough guy, and he took my program and tried explaining everything to me.
Finally he said that I should just look at the bottom of each page. That was where the professional handicappers already picked who they thought were going to win each race.
He said all you have to do was bet on the dogs that the handicapper’s already picked for you.
OK, that appeared to be easy enough to do.
It appeared that these handicappers told you which dogs they thought would win, place or show. I thought that was pretty simple, so I went back to my seat and told my wife all about all my new found knowledge regarding the dog track betting procedure.
So, now that we were well instructed regarding dog racing, it was time for the first race, and I saw that the three handicappers had all picked dog number three.
So I went back up to the ticket seller in he second window and I played one dollar on dog number three to show.
In those days the tickets were not computerized.
Well, the ticket seller was right, and the system worked perfectly, our dog number three came in, and I went back up and collected our winnings.
Our winnings was one dollar and thirty cents. I had made a thirty cent profit.
On race number two, I did the same thing, we looked at who the handicapper’s picked and I bet one dollar on the dog the handicappers recommend and this time we won one dollar fifty cents, making a fifty cent profit.
It wasn’t much profit but we were amazed at how easy winning at dog racing was, we had
already won eighty cents.
But then I got to thinking, if we bought two hot dogs, and two beers, the cost of the food was going to be way more than we had won.
I looked around, there still were not a lot of people at the track, so I got up and walked back up to the same ticket seller.
But this time I had to wait to talk to him, he was engaged in what was obviously an important whispering conversation with someone that had just walked in from a side door.
After a few seconds he saw me standing there looking at him and he came over to me.
I told him that betting on a dog to show was fun, but we didn’t win much money.
He agreed, and said that to make more money we had to play more money.
He then pointed to dog number seven on the program and he said for me to play him to win the next race, which happened to be race number three.
I saw that two of the handicappers had also picked dog number seven.
I did exactly what he said, and then I went to sit with my wife and watch the race.
While sitting there I told my wife everything the ticket seller had said, about how we could win more money.
My wife looked at me very skeptically, and she said “Why would a ticket seller tell me who was going to win,” I had no idea.
Well you know how wives are, they always think like that.
We watched the race, and dog number seven won, and our winnings was five dollars.
Boy I was really excited now as we had played three races and won all three of them.
So, just like before when it was time for the fourth race, I again walked up to the teller window.
This time he smiled broadly, when I gave him my winning ticket to cash.
He paid me my five dollars.
I showed him my program for race number five and he told me again what dog to play.
I did exactly as he said, and this time I won twelve dollars.
It appeared that winning at dog racing was going to be an easy thing to do, all I had to do was ask the ticket seller who to play.
The ticket seller would tell me which dog was going to win. it was as simple as that.
So now when race number six came up, I again walked up to the window and asked the ticket seller what dog to play.
He looked around to see if anyone was looking or listening to us and he said that I was to take two dollars from my previous winnings, and place it in a wooden brochure rack that was attached to the wall about three feet to the left of his window.
I looked to my left and saw the rack he was talking about.
He then said, I was to take out one of the papers from the rack and fold it in half with my two dollars inside it, and then replace it back in the rack.
Well, I didn’t like this one bit.
I didn’t know if he was serious or joking, and I certainly didn’t like giving any of my money away, but hen I relented and did exactly as he said.
He was watching me, and again he told me what number dog to play in race number six.
I went back to my seat and told my wife all about what was going on.
She asked me if what we did was legal?
I admit I didn’t know what to make of it. So we just sat there and watched the sixth race.
Again, as usual we won, but this time we had won twenty four dollars.
Now I was getting really nervous, the ticket seller now said I had to put six dollars of my winnings money in the rack.
That’s when I started to get real scared, I wondered if someone was watching us.
I wondered if what I was doing, really was illegal.
My mind was running wild with all sorts of thoughts, perhaps it was some kind of a sting,
and my wife and I were going to be arrested, or were we on “Candid Camera”.
But anyway, I did what he said, and put the six dollars in the wooden rack.
But this time I had to ask the guy how the hell he knew who was going to win all the time.
He simply said it was the dog handlers that told him everything, and they were all getting a share of my winnings.
As I talked with him, I saw my wife was now watching me.
That’s when the ticket seller gave me the winning dog number for race number seven.
By the time the seventh race went off, I was really sweating.
I just knew that whatever was going on had to be illegal.
When the race was over we had won thirty six dollars, my wife and I couldn’t believe it. We could either become rich doing this, or we could possibly go to jail.
Both my wife and I were so nervous, that we got up, and walked over to a different ticket window, where I cashed in our thirty six dollar winning ticket, then we both walked out of the South Beach dog track as fast as we could, and we never went back.
For several years I often wondered how that ticket seller did what he did, and how did he really know who was going to win?
If he was betting for himself, he could become a millionaire.
Whenever I told the story to anyone, they said I was crazy, they said no one could possibly have the information as to which dogs will win each race.
I agreed, but it had really happened to me.
That’s when another strange thing happened.
Where we were living we had a neighbor up the street that was a bologna salesman. I watched every morning as he transferred gas from his company car into his wife’s car.
One day he asked me if I would go with him to Flagler Dog Track.
He told me that he and his wife, were like avid dog race gamblers.
He said his wife wasn’t feeling well and he wanted to know if I would go to the Flagler dog track with him. He said that if I went with him he would show me how to bet, so I agreed to go with him.
On our way to the Flagler dog track, I told him the story of my experience at the South Beach Dog Track.
Like everyone else, he said my experience there was impossible to have happened, so I just shut up and didn’t say any more.
My neighbor said that the only way to win at dog racing was by studying each dog’s history, their weight, their medications, etc.
He said he would show me how it was done.
We arrived at the Flagler Dog Track, and I was very surprised to find it was very crowded, there were so many people it was even hard for us to find good seats.
Finally when we found seats, I tried my best to place my bets by looking to see which dogs seemed the liveliest.
And I also looked at the program to see who the handicappers picked just like I had done at the South Beach dog track.
Well, I won only one race out of the first four.
My neighbor, thought I was doing everything wrong, but I think he was irritated because he also had only won one race.
When it was time for the fifth race, I was standing in a long line of people waiting to bet.
The line was moving very slow and I was becoming concerned that I would not reach the ticket seller before the next race had already started.
I had picked a three dog combination, No.3, No.5, and No.7
Just as my turn came up to place my bet, I saw a woman walking quickly behind the ticket seller and I heard her whisper the numbers two, four and five into the ticket seller’s ear.
I immediately changed my bet to two, four and five.
When I went back to my seat, I told my neighbor what had just happened.
He looked at me like I was a lunatic, he said that he had never heard of such a ridiculous thing in his whole life.
When the race was over the winners were number two, number four and number five, exactly as I had played them, and I had won thirty five dollars.
I saw that my neighbor had lost again.
After I collected my winnings, he wanted to go home to see how his wife was, and he never asked me to go to the track with him again.
Over the next several years, I have told this story to many people, but no one believes it.
The dog track at South Beach is no longer there, it was torn down several years ago and a condominium is there now,
Every single word of “The Miami Beach Dog Track Story” is true, and exactly as it happened in 1965, and my wife was a witness.
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