I have wandered among bettors on aprons and in grandstands and clubhouses from coast to coast in the United States and in Great Britain, leaving me with memories rich of characters that wager on horses in the pari-mutuel and bookie formats. Some of these persons are as different from one another as chalk is to cheese and yet there is a common thread they share that makes each of them familiar to one another.

The common bond is each one’s attempt at analyzing what went wrong in a race he or she lost. No matter how impossible it is, ever, to prove an explanation, each one seems to structure an explanation they feel is rational in order to achieve the desired result, which can only be defined as an excuse.

I have met few bettors that arrive at a conclusion for losing by blaming their own devices and over the decades I have heard countless excuses from casual to professional punters for why they have lost a race. Years ago I started a notebook and wrote down the excuses with no regard to the level of player. What I have amassed is a amazing array of plain and intelligible comments that, since there is no proof to support any of them, do nothing more than satisfy the bettors’ needs to exonerate themselves from losing.

I will now open the notebook to the public, now and again posting a blog that draws from the quotations. This is the first of a random series I will title “Resolutions From The Minds Of Bettors.” No specific names will be used when referring to horses or horsemen.

1—What was that driver thinking? If he pulls at the half he wins it.

2—That horse is definitely sick. Why do they let this horse race sick?

3—Why doesn’t he let loose on the inside? It opened so wide I could’ve fit a Mack truck through the hole.

4—The photo is wrong!

5—If the jockey goes to the front at the start the horse wins but instead he lets five horses get in front of him early and blows the race from the start.

6—He’s a closer, so [the driver] goes right to the top? That’s murder for this horse.

7—This track is not sloppy!

8—The trainer better go back to the jock that won with this horse because this [guy] don’t know how to ride, period!

9—There’s a tough wind on the backstretch. Without it he wins by daylight.

10—How much stuff is that winner on tonight?

To be continued …