Q & Eh: Tale of a horse racing lifer

Unlike her co-hosts on the BetUS Unfiltered, Warren Sapp and Gary Payton, Dawn Lupul isn’t a hall of famer, doesn’t have championship rings and doesn’t have instant name recognition among sports aficionados in the U.S. of A.

On the other hand, when it comes to betting on sports, Sapp and Payton don’t hold a candle to the life-long wagering woman. From a six-year-old to receiving her parents’ winnings from standardbred races at Northlands Park in Edmonton to becoming a horse racing owner, commentator and analyst, to once knocking off the competition in a charity betting challenge, Lupul know what she’s talking about.

In addition to educating newbies to some of the parlance around sports wagering in last week’s Toronto Star column, she had some further advice along with some anecdotes.

On defeating more than 50 journalists, fellow horse racing analysts and personalities in a North American horseplayers championship charity challenge ($5,000 was donated to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund in Lupul’s name) while working at Woodbine in 2019:

“To be honest, I didn’t get to enjoy it very much. I was filling in at Mohawk that day so I was unable to follow along. I knew I had a good chance to be in the top 10, but was on-air for the simulcast when the last race of the contest was on. In fact, the producer of the show, Mike Sanford, told me (on camera) after I was finished that my horse had won and he thought I had won the contest! Then Twitter started blowing up so that was awesome, and that’s basically how I found out.”

On being hired to co-host the BETUS Unfiltered show with football hall of famer Warren Sapp and basketball hall of famer Gary Payton: “It’s so totally random. Someone knew my work from horse racing through Woodbine (and U.S.-based) TVG. Bet US had this show with Warren and Brian Jones, another former NFLer. They wanted to make some changes, so I sent them some clips.

We tried a practice show with Warren and Gary, and there was an instant chemistry between the three of us. It’s a weekly show. . . me with two hall of famers. We talk some current events and although it’s not a gambling show, we introduce some lines from BetUS. The show’s evolving as we go and we’re seeing what we like.

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I love those stories from Gary when he’s talking about Kobe Bryant, and he has a son (Gary Payton II) who’s trying to stick with the NBA (as a member of the Golden State Warriors). You can see how proud he is. Warren has a daughter who’s a very good soccer goalkeeper (at the University of North Florida), so there are also a lot of real moments in the show.

On the legalization of single-event betting in Canada: It’s better to see the money stay in this country rather than going off-shore because people are betting. The desire is there, so legalize it so we can see the benefit here at home.

On betting responsibly: Everything needs to be done responsibly. Gambling can be very enticing. The worst thing for any gambler is to have a lot of success early on because then you’re willing to put more into it than you probably should. To understand how quickly things can go south is important; to never bet more than you can afford.

Don’t chase. Some people, they get down early on a (NFL) Sunday and the next thing you know they’re betting the Sunday night game and they don’t have an opinion on it. That’s a quick way to go so far into the hole that you have to give up. Discipline is a big part of gambling.

On parlays: I don’t play parlays but they’re extremely popular because it’s a chance to bet a little to make a lot. That what the books will advertise because they want people stringing together these 10-game parlays. Any time someone on that side of the room loves something isn’t something you should be involved in yourself.

On prop bets: I like props. You identify a game you like and there’s chance to have multiple bets and you can win them all. You start to think ‘Patrick Mahomes is doing this today, so this receiver should be this many opportunities. Or, they need to win this game so he’s going to be passing the pass so there’s no way this running back is going to rush for more than 50 yards. You can play both sides. There’s a receiver you like for the over and there’s a running back where you’ll play the under.

On newcomers to sports betting: Don’t ever pay for picks because it’s hard enough to make money without giving it away beforehand. The books are so good at what they do (setting odds/lines). If you’re serious (about betting), do practice bets on paper and see how you would have done. Have a budget. . . this is my betting money.

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