The Rabbi, The Hat, and the Horses

A lost hat leads to unexpected adventures at the racetrack. Luck and misunderstandings make for an entertaining story.

Idiom of the Day

A Long Shot

Something that is very unlikely to happen

Algo com pouquíssimas chances de acontecer


This guy needed to study a little more Spanish!

On a very windy

Ventoso



day, a rabbi was walking along when a strong gust of wind

Rajada de vento



blew his hat off his head. The rabbi ran after the hat, but the wind was too strong. It kept blowing his hat farther

Mais longe



and farther away. 

A kind young man, seeing what had happened, ran after the hat, caught it and gave it back to the rabbi. The rabbi was so grateful that he gave the young man 20 dollars and blessed him. The young man was so excited

Animado, empolgado



that he decided to go the race track

Pista de corrida



and with the rabbi’s blessing, he decided to check the program and place the entire 20 dollars on a horse. 

After the races, he went home and recounted his very exciting day to his father. "I arrived at the fifth race

Substantivo: CorridaVerbo: Correr velozmente (race, races, raced, racing)



and looked at the program. I saw this horse named ‘Top Hat’ was running. The odds

Probabilidades, chances



on this horse were 100 to 1 but since I received the rabbi’s blessing, I bet the entire 20 dollars on ‘Top Hat’. Guess what? He won! In the next race, there was a horse named ‘Bowler

Chapéu coco



‘ at 30 to 1, so I bet the entire amount of my winnings

Ganhos



on him, and guess what … I won again!" 

"So did you bring the money home?" asked his father. "No," said the son, "I lost it all on the last race. There was a horse named ‘Chateau’ that was a heavy favorite so I bet everything on him, and since ‘Chateau’ means ‘hat’ in French I figured he was a sure thing." "You fool!" said the father. "Hat in French is ‘chapeau,’ not ‘chateau!’" 

Sighing

SuspirandoSigh – Suspirar



to himself, the father then asked, "So who did win the race?" "A real long shot

Something that is very unlikely to happen



," said the son. "Some Spanish horse named ‘Sombrero’."