Opinion

The Royal Banana Club

Posted January 03, 2022 12:00 am

Two inveterate horseplayers took me as a novice to Arlington Park. I learned of their "Rookie Win Rule" which claimed that your virgin visit to any horse track resulted in a profit. Sure enough I won that first trip. That trip was repeated annually and expanded until we built to 65 guests years later testing the RWR for new rookies. We always bet the trifecta in the ninth race. We were able to name the ninth race as our group grew in number.

We always bet a "Royal" horse. We always used pooled funds, and frequently came away net positive. Because people looked forward to the vacation day at the track, we needed to name our group as a part of our hype. Obviously, we had to use "Royal" because of our penchant to bet horses with that in their name or heritage.

Then we got silly, resulting in our name: The Royal Banana Club (no deep meaning, just silliness and fun). Over time, people changed jobs, things got busy and gradually the traditions waned, although individual visits to the track continued. Our fun at Arlington continued and we remembered fondly The Royal Banana Club. Hopefully we developed horse racing fans for their own enjoyable visits to Arlington. We will miss that park.

Norman Abazoris

Inverness

Article Comments

Article Categories
Letters to the Editor Opinion

Article Comments

Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.