Breaking the Bank: The Cat's Meow
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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)
If you love cats as well as horses, then the second race at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 12 provided you with the combination to open the safe and break open the bank just in time for the holidays.
Let’s just say your cat is rather large or a bit overweight. With that in mind, you had to bet on Giant Cat in that back end of the daily double, and if you did, you collected enough cash to purchase your feline a bejeweled collar as the 4-year-old gelding roared like a lion in the stretch and drew off to a two-length victory at 64-1 odds.
Aside from paying $131.60 for each $2 win ticket after improving on two sixths, two ninths and an eighth in his last five starts, Giant Cat also produced a litter of big-time exotic payoffs. The $2 exacta with 12-1 Garbato paid a week’s best $1,690.40 and the $1 trifecta with 23-1 shot Storm Warnings topped the charts with a $13,215.70 payoff for a buck.
The 10-cent trifecta, which was capped by 7-2 second choice Poco Man, returned $2,977.80, which also works out to $59,556 for a $2 ticket.
If those cat lovers at Gulfstream took their money and invested it in the Pick 6 at Aqueduct later that day, some wise wagering could have netted them a share of a $150,949 payoff for $2.
Fueled by a carryover of $134,344, the Pick 6 pool surpassed a half-million dollars and was actually hittable without a gargantuan ticket.
The winning sequence included just one favorite: Fumin Newman ($7.10), a first-time starter from trainer Jimmy Jerkens who captured the last race of the day. There were also two victorious second choices, Zoo Yorker ($8.90) and Jack O’Liam ($7.40), and the day’s featured Bay Ridge Stakes went to fourth choice Saythreehailmary’s ($11.40).
The tough nuts were Marriage Fever ($18.80) and Our Caravan ($18.60), both of whom were dismissed at 8-1 odds.
Click here for the Equibase charts from Dec. 12 at Aqueduct
Aqueduct also played Santa Claus to Pick 5 players on Dec. 10 with a winning combination that paid $95,793 per a $2 ticket.
There was a victorious even-money favorite among the Fab Five (Old Mexico, $4), so an unfathomable longshot was needed to stretch the payoff into the neighborhood of $100,000 and that role was played by His Girl Friday, who was switching from turf to dirt and won the fourth race at a whopping $98.50 mutuel.
At Gulfstream, one handicapper raked in the Rainbow Pick 6 Jackpot for $44,230 on Dec. 9.
That razor-sharp handicapper used a $145.60 ticket wagered through Xpressbet to take down the pool, hitting on three singles, two of which were 5-1 or more (Keep Me Grounded $13.80, The Imposter $14.20), and also wheeling the sixth race, which was won by Donation at a robust $81.60.
That handicapper also wheeled the final race and emerged with the lone winning ticket when Theywonderyidrink ($18.60) won the finale.
Laurel provided some holiday riches on Dec.12 for the handicapper who connected on a 10-cent superfecta that featured horses priced at odds of 16-1, 33-1, 10-1 and 13-1 and returned $12,240.
The week’s “How did you come up with that one?” award was presented at Gulfstream on Dec. 12, and, believe it or not, cat lovers did not figure in it.
In the sixth race, which was moved from the turf to the main track, Bella Nusta was sent off at 82-1 odds after losing by nearly 33 lengths in an off-the-turf race in her previous start at Gulfstream Park West.
Yet the switch from what used to be Calder to Gulfstream provided to be a magical elixir as Bella Nusta scored a front-running half-length victory and paid a week’s-best $166.20 for a $2 ticket.
With the three betting favorites filling the second through fourth slots, the exotics were not as lucrative as the second race payouts, but with piles of cash like a $1,026 exacta, $3,684.20 trifecta and $851.01 superfecta they were still the cat’s meow.
Top Payouts for the Week Ended Dec. 13
Wager
Wager Amount
Payoff
Track
Date
Race#
Win
$ 2.00
$ 166.20
GP
12/12/2015
6
Place
$ 2.00
$ 110.20
GP
12/9/2015
7
Show
$ 2.00
$ 69.00
FL
12/9/2015
3
Exacta
$ 1.00
$ 491.80
GG
12/10/2015
7
Exacta
$ 2.00
$ 1,690.40
GP
12/12/2015
2
Quinella
$ 1.00
$ 53.70
TUP
12/8/2015
6
Quinella
$ 2.00
$ 121.00
AQU
12/10/2015
4
Trifecta
$ 0.20
$ 183.84
HAW
12/11/2015
4
Trifecta
$ 0.50
$ 10,405.70
PEN
12/12/2015
6
Trifecta
$ 1.00
$ 13,215.70
GP
12/12/2015
2
Trifecta
$ 2.00
$ 7,448.60
TP
12/11/2015
7
Superfecta
$ 0.10
$ 8,120.52
GP
12/9/2015
7
Superfecta
$ 0.20
$ 1,399.44
HAW
12/11/2015
4
Superfecta
$ 1.00
$ 122,405.20
LRL
12/12/2015
4
Superfecta
$ 2.00
$ 10,173.00
AQU
12/11/2015
7
Daily Double
$ 1.00
$ 463.20
TUP
12/8/2015
6
Daily Double
$ 2.00
$ 3,029.80
GP
12/12/2015
7
Pick 3
$ 0.20
$ 262.80
HAW
12/8/2015
7
Pick 3
$ 0.50
$ 4,531.40
LRL
12/12/2015
6
Pick 3
$ 1.00
$ 8,277.80
GP
12/12/2015
7
Pick 3
$ 2.00
$ 12,788.00
AQU
12/11/2015
8
Pick 4
$ 0.20
$ 621.42
HAW
12/8/2015
8
Pick 4
$ 0.50
$ 9,999.95
RP
12/13/2015
10
Pick 4
$ 1.00
$ 28,589.50
GG
12/11/2015
8
Pick 4
$ 2.00
$ 64,869.00
AQU
12/11/2015
9
Pick 5
$ 0.20
$ 568.30
HAW
12/12/2015
5
Pick 5
$ 0.50
$ 35,433.30
GP
12/9/2015
10
Pick 5
$ 2.00
$ 95,793.00
AQU
12/10/2015
5
Pick 6
$ 0.10
$ 2,639.60
LRL
12/11/2015
9
Pick 6
$ 1.00
$ 1,293.00
TUP
12/9/2015
8
Pick 6
$ 2.00
$ 150,949.00
AQU
12/12/2015
9
Pick 6 Jackpot
$ 0.10
$ 1,650.27
LRL
12/13/2015
9
Pick 6 Jackpot
$ 0.20
$ 44,230.54
GP
12/9/2015
10
Super High Five
$ 0.50
$ 9,261.40
FG
12/13/2015
10
Super High Five
$ 1.00
$ 12,159.40
GP
12/10/2015
4
Click here for a complete list of racetracks with abbreviations.
© 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.