Rudy Bilotta and I are on our way to the off-track betting parlor in Oakbrook Terrace, where Bilotta–a 90-year-old big-band piano player and gambler who has finally gotten around to writing a book on handicapping–is going to give me a lesson in playing the horses.
“Three,” I say.
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As the money pours in before the first race at Hawthorne, Bilotta stares at the TV next to our table, scribbling down the shifting odds on his program. He believes one can find clues to a horse’s chances by studying its betting action, much as Wall Street investors chart a stock’s price.
“I don’t like this favorite, Country Lawyer,” he announces. “He was 6-5, and now he’s 9-5. Know what they call it when a favorite goes up close to post time? Kiss of death. His odds would be going down if he was any good. I don’t like Steersman, either. I don’t like the way they’re betting him.”
“$27.60 is not a bad price.”
He became a disciple of Las Vegas gambler Louis G. Holloway, who sold handicapping lessons through the mail and tips over the telephone. Holloway was a strong believer in watching the tote board. Bilotta used his methods to win $5,000 on the daily double at Arlington Park, which paid for a car and a trip to California.
In November 2002, Garee’s phone rang and he saw Bilotta’s number on the caller ID. Garee heard his wife, Dee Dee, telling the caller, “I’m sorry to hear that,” and assumed his old teacher had died. Garee took the phone. The caller was Bilotta. Russell had died from a heart attack the month before.
