Thursday, November 27, 2008

A.C. Avila: A Horse Trainer Whose Dreams Predict Winners


Southern California Thoroughbred trainer A.C. Avila had a dream last year about a big win. In his dream, he saw racehorse owner Madeline Auerbach handing a huge check to her trainer, Barry Abrams, and insisting that Abrams cash it and bet on their horse. The next day, Avila asked Auerbach, "Do you have a horse in today?" "No," she answered. "Tomorrow?" he insisted. "No, but we have one in Saturday," she said, referring to Rushen Heat in an allowance feature at Hollywood Park.

"I had a dream," Avila told her. "She's going to win." Auerbach didn't pay much attention to his premonition, but Avila bet $2,000 to win on Rushen Heat, who paid nearly $10.00.

Avila tells another story of when he was training in Brazil. That time, he dreamed he was dressed entirely in blue. Several days after the dream, he was on the way to the track when he noticed that he was wearing a blue shirt, blue jeans, and blue shoes. He made a wager they had at the time in which he had to select the winning exacta in each of four consecutive races. "I just made the bet, without really handicapping," he said. "And I won. It paid about $111,000 U.S."

He doesn't have these dreams very frequently, but swears that when he does he always knows that they will come true. My new greeting for A.C. will be, "Had any dreams lately?"

3 comments:

Alfredo said...

Hello Mary,

Just ran across your blog yesterday. Very impressive!

Great human interest piece about A.C.'s dreams. Even though I've been following racing my entire adult live, since the mid 70's, this is the first time I've seen a picture of A. C.

I noticed you listed handicapping as one of your hobbies. Do you ever make any selections on your blog? Personally I really enjoy getting involved at Public Handicapper.

I guess I going to have to make some time to check out your archive.

Great work!

Alfredo

Mary Forney's Blog said...

Thanks for reading,Alfredo, I appreciate the nice comments. I've also been following racing most of my life, and have always been intrigued by the people -- the trainers, riders, owners, and fans. So, I enjoy focusing on the human interest part of racing. I don't make any selections in my blog; however, my personal bets are usually based more on what I know about the connections, than what's on paper! Best of racing luck to you! Mary

Anonymous said...

buenos dias como esta quisiera poder comunicarme con el seƱor ac avila vivo en maracaibo venezuela y siempre juegos a sus caballos en mis pick 3 y pick 4 ojala me regalara informacion k sienpre se nesecita gracias
alfonsodias88@hotmail.com
alfonsodias8@hotmail.com

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