For Ali Aksoy, 70, his time in the contest world has been one close call after another, going back to the first contest he ever played in, all the way back in 1987. It was a harness contest at Greenwood, and Aksoy ran second.That pattern of close-but-no-cigar would continue decades later, when he took up tournament play in earnest. Consider this: In the past two years, Aksoy has twice finished in the money in Keeneland contests, and twice been leading heading into the last race at contests at Woodbine, his home track, including in the 2016 Woodbine Mile Day contest.Last weekend at the 2017 Woodbine Mile Day contest, Aksoy struck the front once again. His first big bet was an all-in push in the Canadian Stakes on Quidura, who was 2-5. He bet doubles into her and also made a win bet, upping his total to $2,700.He maintained his lead through the Mile itself, a race where the rules forced him to bet at least half his bankroll. He mainly bet win and show on World Approval, saving on the three European invaders. World Approval got the job done, and then he had a decision to make.“So many times before when I was in this position, someone hit a Hail Mary to beat me,” he said. Last year, in the same spot, he’d been overaggressive, betting himself out of position while in the lead heading to the last when sitting chilly would have gotten the job done. With all that in mind, Aksoy devised a strategy. “One choice was to do nothing,” he said. “I’d already made all my minimum bets so I could have waited it out. I figured the most dangerous person was the second guy, [Chris] Littlemore, but there were two [Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge] seats so I figured he wouldn’t throw a Hail Mary. He’d be happier being second than taking a shot losing it.”Aksoy decided to make a safe bet. He bet $300 to win on his top pick in the last race, Prized Bourbon, in an effort to move the goalposts on any player looking to hit his exact total of $5,702.50. Prized Bourbon won a photo for the win and paid $4.60 to place. Aksoy ended up on top of the pile with $6.092.50. Had he sat on his money, he would have lost. Littlemore managed to pass Aksoy’s previous total in the nightcap.In addition to keeping his bankroll, Aksoy collected prizes worth over $25,000.“I’d received a lot of accolades the previous two years but I was never first,” he said. “To get the win was a recognition of my player status, that was the most pleasing part.”Aksoy has remained a cash player as well. “There’s no week I don’t bet – I play every weekend, and even weekdays I check if there’s anything I like,” he said. “I play win bets mostly, but if I’m quite sure of a horse, I’ll make bigger place bets, and I mix in doubles or exactas sometimes.”Aksoy developed his love of racing through the harness game. One of his classmates was a revolutionary Marxist who introduced him to The Meadows, a raceway near where they were attending school at the University of Pittsburgh. An early hit made Aksoy’s friends think he knew what he was doing. “They thought, ‘This guy knows his stuff,’ ” he said. “After that I learned more to try to keep them happy.”When he moved to Toronto, the first thing he did was grab a newspaper to see what racing there was. That’s how he ended up at Greenwood for the first time. “I took the streetcar and went to the races that night,” he said. “I started with 50 dollars and left with 70 and I thought, ‘This is a nice country.’ ”That country would be his home on and off for the next three decades. Aksoy still divides time between Toronto and his native Istanbul. He’s retired now but in that time, he’s had several jobs: civil engineer, translator, and importer/exporter among them.His ideas about racing are still rooted in what he learned from harness, filtered through the lens of Thoroughbred racing. “In harness, form holds,” he opined. “Three horses running against each other might run one-two-three in the same order three weeks in a row. That doesn’t happen with Thoroughbreds.”With Thoroughbreds, the equation becomes more complex. “Form is still important but you have to establish the form from other factors,” he said.Aksoy’s primary tool is his eyes. “Watching the race itself through replays gives you the best information of all,” he said. “When horses run, they talk to you. They tell you something if you know how to listen.”He looks for form clues before, during, and after races. He also uses class angles – where has a horse been running? How strong was the race he’s coming out of? The final piece of the puzzle is information. “I listen to people,” he said. “I’ll listen to clockers and other knowledge horseplayers. I also talk to trainers but that doesn’t really help.”Because of a bonus connected to his Woodbine win, Aksoy has a shot at $500,000 should he go on to win the Breeders’ Cup contest. “I used to see these bonuses and think, ‘Yeah right, that’s not going to happen,’ ” he admitted, “but now this is as close to half a million as I’ve ever been, so I’m thinking, ‘Why not me?’ ”