Relating the form of horses to the way they train is such a critical aspect of the game here that Californians wonder how horseplayers elsewhere can function without all the necessary information. But studious Californians understood what had happened. Is something wrong here?”Īnywhere else in the racing world, Harlem Boy’s resounding defeat as a 6-5 favorite would have mystified bettors or led some to harbor suspicions of larceny. Last week a colt named Harlem Boy looked like a logical favorite in a sprint here he was the lone front-runner in a weak field, and held a class edge too.īut four days earlier he had worked five furlongs in 1 minute 1 4/5 seconds, and the Handicappers’ Report commented, “Struggled late and really didn’t look very good despite being urged in the final furlong.” De Julio wrote: “Finished too bad to be believed. Published workout information sheds light on races here in many other ways. The public knew as much as the insiders, and Sardula was properly an odds-on favorite when she romped to victory. There were no conspiratorial whispers that would have accompanied the debut of such a horse in Maryland. When a precocious 2 year old named Sardula made her racing debut Saturday, every published commentary on workouts gave her rave reviews and declared her the best young prospect in trainer Brian Mayberry’s talent-packed barn. However, these private clockers encounter tough competition because so much insightful commentary on workouts is available cheap from such publications as the Daily Racing Digest and the Handicapper’s Report.įor an Easterner, accustomed to a shroud of secrecy surrounding fast first-time starters, the availability of this information is stunning. Most of these private clockers, however, depend on selling their information to clients, and Clocker Bob admitted there’s a lot of hype in his end of the business: “Your success is your ability to sell you’ve got to be able to keep (the clients) coming back.” One, who identified himself as Clocker Bob, said that seeing the horses day to day is an invaluable edge in handicapping: “You get to know these horses so well they’re sort of like your adopted sons.” There are as many as 20 private clockers operating in California. With the large betting pools in the booming California racing game, there was no question that workout information could be extremely lucrative. “There’s plenty of backstabbing.”Ī clocker named Jay Clark was the first great success of this new era, cashing bets on 2 year olds and claiming horses who turned out to be stakes winners. While De Julio is working, rival clockers are doing the same, trying to glean insights that the other guys missed. After workouts are finished, he spends the balance of the morning deducing which horse was which, reviewing his observations and writing commentaries that will appear in a California publication, the Daily Racing Digest. When he doesn’t recognize a horse, De Julio notes the trainer’s saddlecloth and the animal’s markings. It was an appropriate career choice, because his new profession is one that requires detective work and keen observation-not just the ability to click a stopwatch. “ĭe Julio became a racetrack clocker after working as an investigator for commercial stores, sometimes conducting undercover sting operations. We’ve got one for Baffert, no marks, twelve and one fifth through the turn, really like the way this one quickens. We’ve got a Robert Marshall bay, it looks like Border Mate, thirty-five and four-fifths. “Elytis is coming down the lane for Frankel, not much energy. Wielding two stopwatches, binoculars and a tape recorder, he is rattling off a non-stop commentary on the activity below him.
In the early morning hours, as hundreds of horses exercise on the Del Mar track, Bruno De Julio watches from the top level of an almost-deserted grandstand.
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