Horseplayers are a superstitious lot. The Daily Racing Blog is no exception, despite knowing that the worries are unfounded and whatever happens can be explained.

So what better day to take a look at some silly superstitions than Friday the 13th. Here are just a few of the superstitions that we horseplayers have either seen or been guilty of over the years.

1. Don’t Break The Routine Perhaps you have to buy your program or past performances from the same place every time. Maybe you need to pack the same lunch or hit the same concession and eat a hot dog before the first race. Maybe you have a lucky seat in the simulcast area. Regardless, you have a routine you follow religiously and if it gets interrupted, you think your betting will suffer.

2. Don’t Talk About Winning While You Are Winning  This goes along with bowling a 300 game or pitching a no-hitter. You don’t talk about it. For instance, you’re playing a Pick 5 and you’ve hit the first three legs, an acquaintance casually asks you how your doing, don’t ever reply with “I’ve Won the first three races”. Better to say something ambiguous, such as; “Too early to tell”.

3. Bring Your Lucky Charm Horseplayers are not immune to the infamous rally cap or some other item that is deemed lucky. It could be your lucky rabbit’s foot, necklace, shirt, hat or other trinket. Point is that you went out of your way to make sure you wore that nasty, old lucky hat today.

4. No Grants Please! A guy we know is particular when getting paid out at the end of a day of racing. You could give him any type of bill except a fifty. When asked why he wouldn’t take a $50 bill, his answer was simply “they are not lucky.” One of the nicest things to hear a cashier ask is “will big bills be okay?” But some still prefer to get paid with Franklins and Jacksons, just in case.

5. Keep ‘Em Separated Some folks don’t want losing tickets to touch potentially Winning tickets for a race that hasn’t run yet. Some horseplayers insist on keeping their tickets in their wallet so they touch money, others prefer to keep them in a pocket away from money and new tickets. After all, you don’t want that bad luck to rub off, do you?

We know there are more racing superstitions than listed here, but for some reason we felt it necessary to stop on a prime number.

What other horse racing superstitions will you admit to having yourself or having you seen?