The Bottom Line
Long time workout clocker Robert Kachur gives the racing fan a look at the corrupt world of morning workouts. Clockers, trainers, grooms, and racing officials all conspire to keep the public unaware.
Pros
- Good behind-the-scenes look at racing
- Exposes apparent corruption in the game
- Price is right, for now (free!)
Cons
- Can be overly opinionated, looking for trouble
- Author is not a professional writer
- Reading online may be difficult for some people
Description
- Horses are incorrectly identified and workout times are hidden or erroneously reported by trainers.
- Only those in the know, or paid for the priviledge, have the correct and complete data to make a bet
- Clockers like Kachur who rebelled against the conspiracy were denied gate sheets by the stewards.
- The conspiracy's objctive is to have their horses win at much higher odds than their form indicates.
- Kachur explains that owners in the conspiracy take turns winning at long odds, the "Turn System".
- After quitting his clocker job, Kachur worked in the stables as a night watchman.
- In that capacity he witnessed veterinarians under cover of darkness administering illegal drugs.
- Kachur dedicates an entire chapter on the increasing presence of slot machines at racetracks.
- He also presents the record of a court case involving a mobster who tampered with urine samples.
- Finally, he shows how Seattle Slew's first workout was never properly recorded.
Guide Review - Book Review: "Clocker Bob"
"Clocker Bob" Kachur's career as a racetrack insider exposed him to a system of corruption that the "racing mafia" of owners, trainers, touts, professional gamblers, clockers, and officials kept hidden and profited from for years. This book, a work in progress not yet published, is his attempt to expose the conspiracy to the general public who has been cheated for far too long at the betting windows. "Keep the public barefoot" is the conspiracy's mantra: hide true form by concealing workouts, mis-identifying horses in workouts so the wrong horses get bet on, paying off clockers and officials to keep the cycle going, and using illegal drugs to win. The book is truly a sad commentary, frustrating the fan who expects the game is fair.
