RichieBee

I wish you had let me know you were in Moscow! I live just over 500 yards from the Hippodrome (ryadom byeloruskam vokzalam, if your wife is Russian). Although the facility is pretty impressive to look at, the racing is pathetic and the information is even worse. They also race dogs and camels there, but in recent years they have cut that down/out. If you want to bet horses in Moscow, though, you are far better off going to Metelitsa on Novie Arbat. They focus much more on English and South African racing, but you can usually bet Philadelphia Park and on occaison a few other American races. They have insane rules there, so you need to make sure you know them before you bet. Also, your wife may object to you going there because Metelitsa is very well known for its prostitutes. However, the racebook is downstairs (v podvale) and the prostitutes are upstairs, if you bring her along, she will realize that they might as well be a mile apart. Let me know the next time you are in Moscow if you are interested in meeting a stranded American horseplayer here. Were you here for the huge snowstorm this past weekend? I was taking a taxi to Korona (on Novie Arbat), and the driver told me that, if I thought the city was bad, I should see the suburbs. He said they got more than 2 meters (over 6 feet) of snow just over Saturday night/Sunday morning.

SCM2