It’s a tradition unlike any other. And no, I am most certainly not talking about the Masters. This past Wednesday was the Degenerate Doubleheader, now in approximately its 10th year. I can’t quite remember how it started, but I remember with whom it started: my friend Brian Nadeau. Before Nadeau was a hotshot hosting shows on the Capital OTB channel, he was, like me, a summer employee of The Saratoga Special. Brian may also be familiar to contest players for his 2013 win in the infamous “Huddie” contest at Saratoga (kind of like a college football office pool but for racing types). Due to our love of racing, the Mets and football Giants (weird, I know), not to mention the Beatles and Bob Dylan, we became fast friends. Nadeau worked at the Special longer than I did, and once his days at the paper were over, the Degenerate Doubleheader, or DGDH as it’s commonly known, began. I know it didn’t start when Brian was at the Special because back then my friends Joe and Sean Clancy had him chained to a desk proofing copy until at least 11:30 every night. If he was lucky back then, he might have been able to get over to the harness track for the simulcast of the last race at Northfield Park (home of the flying turns). The initial idea was simple. We’d be live and in-person at the Saratoga flat track for the full card and then roll over to the harness track for the full card there. We’d bet all 27 or so races – jumps, flats, buggies – regardless of whether we had an opinion or not. Horses are often praised in terms of their stamina. Well, for us this was the horseplayer equivalent of two brave horses staying on up England’s Cheltenham Hill at the end of three miles and 2 1/2 furlongs. Over the years, this day of racing has evolved. Our cast of characters has expanded. Where once it was just me and Brian, now we regularly have a dozen folks who join us for part or all of the day. And the event has become a lot more civilized. Now we don’t necessarily bet every race. The last couple years Brian has skipped the jump race and shown up for the second (wimp). Most importantly, we now have a dinner interval. The last four years we’ve decamped to Pennell’s Restaurant in Saratoga after the last race at the flat track for a multi-course meal, getting over to the harness track for the last four or five. I recognize that to some veteran horseplayers this might not sound like a particularly impressive achievement. There are those, such as Ronnie the Pit Boss or former NHC champion Paul Matties, who do something close to this on a regular basis. For them, it’s not the Degenerate Doubleheader, it’s just Wednesday. You will probably not be surprised to hear that it’s rare that I have a winning day at the DGDH. This year was almost different. In truth, despite a rough summer betting in general, Wednesday at the flats was good to me. I cashed a few tickets and headed across the street after dinner full of confidence. Perhaps too much confidence. Two years ago, I discovered a friend of a friend who is a rock-solid harness tipster. If you follow harness you probably know his name but I’ll hold it back to protect the innocent. He had opinions on three races for us this year. In the first two spots his steam horses comprised the dreaded imperfecta: we ran first and third in exactas. The third spot was where things really got ugly. He liked two horses, one to key and one as a longshot. Only one other horse in the race took money. The “longshot” took a ton of money, hovering around even money, while the key was 2-1. Despite a paltry return on the investment I decided to eschew the exacta and dutch the two tips to win. You’re supposed to bet a little to win a lot, this was betting a lot to win a little. In racing of any kind, it’s rare that such a mistake will go unpunished by the racing gods (harness racing gods?). Do I even need to tell you that the third horse, the only other one who drew a dime in race, won easily? That was the end of my profit and there was no excuse. Well, maybe one excuse: we don’t call it the Degenerate Doubleheader for nothing.