Breaking the Bank: Closing Day Fireworks
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Breaking the Bank - featuring data courtesy of Equibase - highlights the biggest scores of the past week in racing. (Photo by Penelope P. Miller/America's Best Racing)
The gates at Del Mar and Saratoga have closed after another spectacular summer of racing, but before the curtain fell on both coasts there were some loud fireworks.
Fans who said goodbye to Del Mar on Sept. 7 saw some payoffs light up the track’s tote board with more than enough dollar signs and digits attached to them to turn someone’s life around once and for all.
The biggest score came in the Pick 6, where a 34-1 shot helped trigger a gargantuan payoff of $694,792.40 that slammed a sledgehammer down on the doors to the bank.
The wheelbarrows of cash were a result of a sequence that included two winning favorites and four other winners that paid at least $16.80.
The Pick 6 started explosively with Yes Yes Yes taking the fifth race at a $25 mutuel and then Where’s the D rebounding from a seventh-place finish in his debut to win the sixth race at 34-1 odds and pay $71.
The double on the fifth and sixth races gave an indication of the riches awaiting those with winning tickets on the mandatory payout in the Pick 6 when it returned $1,061.60.
The seventh also yielded another improbable winner as Do the Dance ($29.40) completed a Pick 3 worth $5,577.
Order was restored when 1-2 favorite Nyquist ($3) won the Del Mar Futurity, but when Jakaby Jade won the ninth race and paid $16.80 everything was in place for a king’s ransom to be handed out.
As it turned out, 6-5 favorite Unforgettable U ($4.20) won the finale by 7 ¼ lengths, yet not even some chalk in the final leg could keep the payoff under a half-million dollars.
Earlier in that closing day card at Del Mar, there was even more zaniness.
The Pick 5 to start the day began innocently enough with favored Waymond Bond ($5.40) prevailing in the opener, but then The Gold Monkey registered a $91 stunner that wasn’t even the biggest longshot in the sequence.
That honor went to No Comparison, who won the third race and took home the week’s “How did you come up with that one?” award in the process. Trying turf for the first time and racing for the first time since December, No Comparison had no peers in the maiden race and scored at 46-1 odds for a week’s-best payoff of $95.40.
The double combining the two 40-1 shots returned a relatively small $1,530, but the Pick 3 with those two and 6-5 favorite Big Macher in the fourth race returned $11,291.50 and served noticed somebody was about to break the bank.
The aforementioned Yes Yes Yes, at 11-1, took the fifth race and made someone very happy, happy, happy when he completed a Pick 5 that paid $313,842.55 for 50 cents and put someone on easy street for many years to come.
Click here for Equibase charts for Sept. 7 at Del Mar
Handicappers at Gulfstream Park on Sept. 7 also benefitted from a mandatory payoff when the Rainbow Pick 6 Jackpot was distributed to multiple winners.
With a carryover of $663,400, the pool soared past the $2 million mark as handicappers jumped at the opportunity to take home some of the money being rolled into the wager.
There were 62 live tickets heading into the final race, and one patron would have raked in nearly $2.3 million if Hengist, a 33-1 shot, had won the last race. Unfortunately for that person, after racing second in the early stages Hengist faded to last in the field of 12.
Instead, it was Amace who notched a 5-1 victory and closed the deal on an extremely lucrative payoff of $261,743.55 for every 20-cent wager.
Saratoga gave its patrons a memorable payoff on closing day when the Pick 5 on the first five races on Sept. 7 returned $67,467 – more than enough to erase the sting of any bad beats earlier in the meet at the famed Spa.
With payoffs like that at Saratoga, as well as Del Mar and Gulfstream, it seems safe to say Labor Day 2015 was the kind of holiday that gave longshot players plenty of reasons to celebrate.
Top Payouts for the Week Ended Sept. 13
Wager
Wager Amount
Payoff
Track
Date
Race#
Win
$ 2.00
$ 95.40
DMR
9/7/2015
3
Place
$ 2.00
$ 75.70
LBG
9/12/2015
10
Show
$ 2.00
$ 36.40
MNR
9/9/2015
6
Exacta
$ 1.00
$ 1,071.30
LRC
9/13/2015
5
Exacta
$ 2.00
$ 1,331.40
PID
9/13/2015
2
Quinella
$ 2.00
$ 464.80
ELK
9/7/2015
8
Trifecta
$ 0.50
$ 2,691.90
IND
9/12/2015
6
Trifecta
$ 1.00
$ 7,806.80
DEL
9/12/2015
9
Trifecta
$ 2.00
$ 8,307.40
PID
9/13/2015
2
Superfecta
$ 0.10
$ 5,017.48
IND
9/12/2015
6
Superfecta
$ 0.50
$ 1,627.10
ELP
9/7/2015
8
Superfecta
$ 1.00
$ 146,964.90
WO
9/13/2015
4
Superfecta
$ 2.00
$ 38,277.20
PID
9/13/2015
2
Daily Double
$ 1.00
$ 958.10
CD
9/11/2015
5
Daily Double
$ 2.00
$ 1,566.60
DMR
9/7/2015
7
Pick 3
$ 0.50
$ 1,889.45
IND
9/9/2015
5
Pick 3
$ 1.00
$ 11,291.50
DMR
9/7/2015
4
Pick 3
$ 2.00
$ 5,438.00
SAR
9/7/2015
6
Pick 4
$ 0.50
$ 14,841.05
GP
9/7/2015
11
Pick 4
$ 1.00
$ 63,581.40
CD
9/11/2015
7
Pick 4
$ 2.00
$ 22,658.00
SAR
9/7/2015
5
Pick 5
$ 0.20
$ 22,234.40
WO
9/13/2015
6
Pick 5
$ 0.50
$ 313,842.55
DMR
9/7/2015
5
Pick 5
$ 1.00
$ 7,465.10
STK
9/13/2015
9
Pick 5
$ 2.00
$ 67,467.00
SAR
9/7/2015
5
Pick 5 Jackpot
$ 0.50
$ 179.25
LAD
9/11/2015
8
Pick 6
$ 0.10
$ 1,819.30
LRL
9/13/2015
10
Pick 6
$ 1.00
$ 851.90
PID
9/8/2015
7
Pick 6
$ 2.00
$ 694,742.40
DMR
9/7/2015
10
Pick 6 Jackpot
$ 0.20
$ 261,743.62
GP
9/7/2015
11
Super High Five
$ 0.50
$ 4,214.55
MNR
9/13/2015
9
Super High Five
$ 1.00
$ 42,082.20
LRC
9/12/2015
9
Super High Five
$ 2.00
$ 1,409.20
MNR
9/9/2015
9
© 2015 Equibase Company LLC, all rights reserved. Data provided or compiled by Equibase Company LLC generally is accurate, but occasionally errors and omissions occur as a result of incorrect data received by others, mistakes in processing and other causes. Equibase Company LLC disclaims responsibility for the consequences, if any, of such errors, but would appreciate their being called to their attention.
Commonly Used Gambling Terms
Account wagering – Betting by internet or phone, in which a bettor must open an account and deposit money with which to bet.
Across the board – A bet on a horse to win, place and show. If the horse wins, the player collects three ways; if second, two ways; and if third, one way, losing the win and place bets. Actually, three bets.
Bounce – An especially poor performance on the heels of an especially good one.
Box – A betting term denoting a combination bet whereby all possible numeric combinations are covered for certain horses.
Bridge jumper – A person who wagers large amounts of money, usually on short- priced horses to show, hoping to realize a small but almost certain profit. The term comes from the structure those bettors may seek if they lose the bet.
Chalk – Betting favorite in a race.
Chalk player – Gambler who wagers on favorites.
Daily Double (or Double) – Type of bet calling for the selection of winners of two consecutive races.
Exacta – A wager in which the first two finishers in a race, in exact order of finish, must be picked.
Exacta box – A wager in which all possible combinations using a given number of horses are selected.
Exotic (bet) – Any bet other than win, place, or show that requires multiple combinations. Examples of exotic wagers are trifecta, Pick 6, Pick 4.
Handle – Amount of money wagered in the pari-mutuel system on a race, full day of races, or entire racing season at a track.
In the money – A horse that finishes first, second or third.
Key horse – A single horse used in multiple combinations in an exotic bet.
Morning line – The starting odds set by the track handicapper.
On the board – Finishing among the first three.
On the nose – Betting a horse to win only.
Overlay – A horse whose odds are greater than its potential to win.
Pari-mutuel – System of wagering where all the money is returned to the bettors after deduction of track and state percentages.
Parlay – A multi-race bet in which all winnings are subsequently wagered on a succeeding race.
Part wheel – Using a key horse or horses in different, but not all possible, exotic wagering combinations.
Pick (6 or other number) – A type of multi-race bet in which the winners of all the included races must be selected. Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Pick 6 are commonly used by tracks in the United States.
Place bet – A bet on a horse to finish first or second.
Quinella - Bet in which the first two finishers must be picked in either order.
Show bet – A bet on a horse to finish in the money; third or better.
Speed Figure – A metric that rates a horse’s performance in a race, which is determined by a combination of the horse’s performance and the level of competition he/she competed against.
Trifecta – A bet in which the first three finishers must be selected in exact order.
Trifecta box – A trifecta wager in which all possible combinations using a given number of horses are bet upon.
Underlay – Horse whose odds are more promising than his potential to win.
Win – A bet on a horse to finish first.
Wheel – Betting all possible combinations in an exotic wager using at least one horse as the key.