The week also saw the commencement of a new and well advertised series which appears to concentrate on the criminal aspect of horse racing titled Luck. The series also has a major Hollywood A lister in the main role Dustin Hoffman as Ace Chester Bernstein. Immediately after the pilot showing in the USA in December a second series was announced with ten episodes from 2013. In addition to the pilot another 8 programmes are included in series 1 of which the second was broadcast back to back here in the UK.
Hoffman is released from prison after serving three years of a sentence for some drug violation where he has taken the fall to protect his son who was resident in his New York apartment whens found in possession although the quantity of drugs belonged to his former business partner Mike, played by another former A lister the British actor Michael Gabon. And who had secreted them their without permission. Mike is therefore indebted to Ace who it quickly becomes apparent is out to break him.
Ace also makes it plain he trusts no one which given the goings on in the Sopranos is a wise philosophy for any one involved with crime families. He has someone who has looked out for him while away and who now is to become his front man as well as personal driver, This is Gus played a familiar face Dennis Farina. His first job is to act as the owner of a horse called Pint of Plain which is being trained by the Latin Turo Escalante a respected straight trainer who nevertheless has kept the potential of the horse under wraps until his outing to mark the release of Ace. This is one of the horses which a group of trackside gambling bums have in their syndicate betting to win the six race accumulator in which the winnings from one race become the bet on the second and so on.
Meanwhile we learn that the main plan of Ace is to gain control of the race track at Santa Anita Park which has the space and the potential to gain a licence for a Casino, which is his main goal as a means of breaking those who betrayed him but where honour prevented him from getting out of the prison rap. The Santa Anita track in California is regarded as the most prestigious in the USA because of its beautiful mountain background setting and quality of the racing during the Winter and Spring
Ace owns a legitimate investment company and he holds a board meeting in which he commences his plan by ordering a purchase of shares in the track and takes an interest in a young pushy securities trader who he decides to spearhead his revenge. He meets up with his suspicious former business associate who Hoffman does his best to reassure he carries no grudge but seeks his help in gaining control of the racetrack with a view to the Casino development.
He also takes an interest in a young woman who is seeking financial support for former racehorses rather than have them immediately put down when they break a limb as we witness with one horse on the race day. Ace is genuinely interested in giving support but also interested in the young woman in what appears to be primarily a male fronted series.
The series also follows the fortunes of the trackside “bums” a disparate collection of characters. The brains of the group is Jerry who has devised the system of accumulative betting. The plan usually involves betting on three horses in each race with any winnings placed in the races successively and then betting on every hose in the last to guarantee the big pay out. They appear to make sufficient money to finance their other interests or have other means to fund their 24/7 involvement with the track, the local trainers and the inside knowledge wherever it comes available.
Jerry has picked up the info that Escalante has been hiding the potential of a horse called Mon Gateau and persuades the group to place all their accumulated money from the first four races on the fifth in which Mon Gateau is running. Escalante is angry when he hears about the winning bet because this indicates that the jockey has been talking.
After the win of $2.6million the group book into a suite of rooms with interconnecting doors so they can keep an eye on each other until claiming and distributing the prize money because of concerns. The track is wanting to publicise the win, its biggest of the kind to attract future business whereas the syndicate do not want media interest of to be identified less inquiries about their information are made and exiting enjoyable life style is changed. One of the group wheel chair bound has is life revolving at the track and his regular spot available for wheel chair users. However two of the group are behaving in such a way to threaten his approach.
Jerry has started to play cards for bigger pots and loses although in the second episode he comes good with a major win against the man he has previously lost to. Another of the syndicate the older Marcus is flattered to find he has become the sexual interest of two women insurance agents. then finds himself the potential victim of the women who have taken out insurance on his life and set about killing him after a sex session. He is rescued. He has a kindly heart and has a plan to buy Mon Gateau in what we call a Selling Plate (in the USA a claimers stake), where the winning horse is sold. In the USA version there are sealed bids with the best bid taking the horse unless the bids are equal in which instance there is a lottery. Marcus uses a contact to front his bid until the gains a trainers licence. He hopes the purchase of he horse will help to keep Jerry from losing all his winnings in Poker as well as upgrade the role of his friends from gamblers into owners as he proposes to give a piece of horse to each of them. Unfortunately another trainer has also spotted the potential of the horse places the same bid and wins in the lottery suggesting some kind of fix.
A third horse being followed is trained by another Hollywood A Lister Nick Nolte as an aging training from Kentucky who is quietly bringing on a horse sired by the famous Delphi which could have won the famous Derby. Nolte had trained the horse only to have his hopes and ambition dashed when the owner died and the family arranged the accidental death of the potential champion in order to claim the substantial insurance money. Gettin up is showing all the potential of a champion and his female training rider is pleased when she is allowed to let him go during the last quarter of the morning gallop.
Nolte agrees to an established jockey being given the ride under pressure of a Jockey’s agent who is wanting to get his client a good win because the man is on the slide from drugs and drink. Fortunately the jockey is sidelined for medical reasons but this leaves Nolte with the dilemma of using an apprentice who like the horse has not raced before or getting someone who does not know the horse. He decides on the young who is boxed in by more inexperienced jockeys but manages to break through going on the inside rail and wins the race.
Thus we lean that there is no such thing as Luck in the business and it is all a fix.
Hoffman is released from prison after serving three years of a sentence for some drug violation where he has taken the fall to protect his son who was resident in his New York apartment whens found in possession although the quantity of drugs belonged to his former business partner Mike, played by another former A lister the British actor Michael Gabon. And who had secreted them their without permission. Mike is therefore indebted to Ace who it quickly becomes apparent is out to break him.
Ace also makes it plain he trusts no one which given the goings on in the Sopranos is a wise philosophy for any one involved with crime families. He has someone who has looked out for him while away and who now is to become his front man as well as personal driver, This is Gus played a familiar face Dennis Farina. His first job is to act as the owner of a horse called Pint of Plain which is being trained by the Latin Turo Escalante a respected straight trainer who nevertheless has kept the potential of the horse under wraps until his outing to mark the release of Ace. This is one of the horses which a group of trackside gambling bums have in their syndicate betting to win the six race accumulator in which the winnings from one race become the bet on the second and so on.
Meanwhile we learn that the main plan of Ace is to gain control of the race track at Santa Anita Park which has the space and the potential to gain a licence for a Casino, which is his main goal as a means of breaking those who betrayed him but where honour prevented him from getting out of the prison rap. The Santa Anita track in California is regarded as the most prestigious in the USA because of its beautiful mountain background setting and quality of the racing during the Winter and Spring
Ace owns a legitimate investment company and he holds a board meeting in which he commences his plan by ordering a purchase of shares in the track and takes an interest in a young pushy securities trader who he decides to spearhead his revenge. He meets up with his suspicious former business associate who Hoffman does his best to reassure he carries no grudge but seeks his help in gaining control of the racetrack with a view to the Casino development.
He also takes an interest in a young woman who is seeking financial support for former racehorses rather than have them immediately put down when they break a limb as we witness with one horse on the race day. Ace is genuinely interested in giving support but also interested in the young woman in what appears to be primarily a male fronted series.
The series also follows the fortunes of the trackside “bums” a disparate collection of characters. The brains of the group is Jerry who has devised the system of accumulative betting. The plan usually involves betting on three horses in each race with any winnings placed in the races successively and then betting on every hose in the last to guarantee the big pay out. They appear to make sufficient money to finance their other interests or have other means to fund their 24/7 involvement with the track, the local trainers and the inside knowledge wherever it comes available.
Jerry has picked up the info that Escalante has been hiding the potential of a horse called Mon Gateau and persuades the group to place all their accumulated money from the first four races on the fifth in which Mon Gateau is running. Escalante is angry when he hears about the winning bet because this indicates that the jockey has been talking.
After the win of $2.6million the group book into a suite of rooms with interconnecting doors so they can keep an eye on each other until claiming and distributing the prize money because of concerns. The track is wanting to publicise the win, its biggest of the kind to attract future business whereas the syndicate do not want media interest of to be identified less inquiries about their information are made and exiting enjoyable life style is changed. One of the group wheel chair bound has is life revolving at the track and his regular spot available for wheel chair users. However two of the group are behaving in such a way to threaten his approach.
Jerry has started to play cards for bigger pots and loses although in the second episode he comes good with a major win against the man he has previously lost to. Another of the syndicate the older Marcus is flattered to find he has become the sexual interest of two women insurance agents. then finds himself the potential victim of the women who have taken out insurance on his life and set about killing him after a sex session. He is rescued. He has a kindly heart and has a plan to buy Mon Gateau in what we call a Selling Plate (in the USA a claimers stake), where the winning horse is sold. In the USA version there are sealed bids with the best bid taking the horse unless the bids are equal in which instance there is a lottery. Marcus uses a contact to front his bid until the gains a trainers licence. He hopes the purchase of he horse will help to keep Jerry from losing all his winnings in Poker as well as upgrade the role of his friends from gamblers into owners as he proposes to give a piece of horse to each of them. Unfortunately another trainer has also spotted the potential of the horse places the same bid and wins in the lottery suggesting some kind of fix.
A third horse being followed is trained by another Hollywood A Lister Nick Nolte as an aging training from Kentucky who is quietly bringing on a horse sired by the famous Delphi which could have won the famous Derby. Nolte had trained the horse only to have his hopes and ambition dashed when the owner died and the family arranged the accidental death of the potential champion in order to claim the substantial insurance money. Gettin up is showing all the potential of a champion and his female training rider is pleased when she is allowed to let him go during the last quarter of the morning gallop.
Nolte agrees to an established jockey being given the ride under pressure of a Jockey’s agent who is wanting to get his client a good win because the man is on the slide from drugs and drink. Fortunately the jockey is sidelined for medical reasons but this leaves Nolte with the dilemma of using an apprentice who like the horse has not raced before or getting someone who does not know the horse. He decides on the young who is boxed in by more inexperienced jockeys but manages to break through going on the inside rail and wins the race.
Thus we lean that there is no such thing as Luck in the business and it is all a fix.
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