"And they are entering the final stretch, still jockeying for position, neck and neck!"

This is another one keeping around, even being almost 50 years old, and exhibiting signs of wear. Wear characteristic of time as measured in circles around the sun, and of time as measured in play turns, carried out by hands, carried out by people around a table.

The image does not fool, and neither does the name. In Jockey we go to the races, horse races of course. Designed by S. Spencer, it was originally published in 1973, by Ravensburger Spieleverlag. And just like other games from this very same publisher, it was introduced in Portugal by the national publishing label Majora, with the side of the box holding the black triangle with the inscription "Jogos de Ravensburg ", Ravensburg Games.

1973.
The Carnation Revolution was yet to happen, in Portugal.
Still 7 more years to the release of “Cavalos de Corrida”, Racehorses, the first single of the Portuguese rock band UHF.

It was race day in Ascot, for another edition of the already centennial Gold Cup. One lap at the racecourse, just over 4000 meters in length, or being more accurate, 2 miles, 3 furlongs and 210 yards, in the peculiar imperial system of units. One single lap, for one single winner. One single lap, for a winning team, owner, trainer, jockey and all the others in the backstage. One single lap to score a success for a long winning breed.

The stopwatch froze at 4 minutes, 33 seconds, 46 hundredths of a second.  The furious gallop at more than 30 miles an hour gave way to a relaxed trot. The stress in the track gave way to victories and losses on the stands. Winner: Lassalle, a four-year-old horse owned by Zenya Yoshida, ridden by Jimmy Lindley and trained by Richard Carver Junior (1). A golden age, in full competitive maturity, in which he won, in addition to the Gold Cup, the Prix de Cadran and the Prix Gladiateur (2).

But, in Jockey, we ran on the outside. We are not owners, nor trainers, nor the jockeys themselves ... and we are not the horses either. We are punters! And yes, we will have some influence on the unfolding of the races, supporting ur favourites, in each of the three events scheduled for this afternoon at the racecourse.

First, to bet.

Trying to predict the odds of success of each of the four horses, based on the cards we have in our possession, and deciding: to bet only for the second place; reduce the risk by betting on two horses for the win; to aim solely for the winner; high stakes betting on first and second in the arrival order. The higher the risk, the greater the reward, in case of victory. And after deciding how, we must decide how much.

The bets are, of course, kept in secret until the end of the race, thus fuelling the suspense.

Then, it is race time.

Punters incite the horses, advancing them along the track. Now since no one owns the horses, each punter can advance any one of them in a single turn, and even different horses in different turns.

Since the bets are not known, the racing strategy must be concealed for as long as possible!

Each punter receives a set of cards, which he sees before placing bets, to use throughout the race. Everyone knows their own cards, but not those of your opponents, and there will be no more cards to draw along the way.

There are two main card-types: coloured and neutral. The former is used to advance the horse of the depicted color, and may represent either a specific distance to be covered or a distance conditioned by the race situation. The later, is used to advance a horse that is in a certain track position, not depending on the colour.

In the photo:

• the yellow horse may move forward up to 30 spaces, if not in first place, but cannot come closer than 5 spaces to the leader, in all a good asset for outstanding reversals;
• the red horse moves forward 10 spaces, a basic and safe movement;
• the blue horse, if in first position, triples its lead, racing for the line;
• the horse currently in second place moves forward 13 spaces;
• the horse currently in third position may move forward 18 spaces, but no more than one space ahead of the leader;
• the horse currently in fourth moves forward 20 spaces.

You have to play the right cards at the right moments!

It is a matter of weighing risk and reward, betting, and racing tactics.

Add to it a good deal of concealment and bluffing.

Observe your opponents’ behaviour.

And head straight for the finish line.

In the end, all the bets are disclosed, which may cause some surprises, and then comes the time to determine profits and losses.

And may the next race start soon, just because a single lap is so short! And the temptation to rack up winnings, or try to recover from losses, is there, in Jockey as in all betting games.

Interestingly, this another game involving money, represented by bank notes, and with everything neatly tucked in the insert, like several others of that age, that featured in previous posts, such as Bolsa, the Stock Exchange, and Petróleo, Oil.