Breaking the Bank: Million-Dollar Payday
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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)
There’s an old expression about “feeling like a million bucks” and it surely rang true for one giddy handicapper who played the Jan. 23 card at Santa Anita Park.
Fueled by a two-day carryover, that day’s Pick 6 pool stretched into seven-figure territory and when only one ticket included all six winners, the payoff absolutely shattered the bank to the tune of a life-changing $1,132,476.80 for a $2 wager.
The mammoth winning sequence featured two winning favorites to help handicappers navigate the choppy waters, but racing’s newest millionaire owed a rather large debt of gratitude to trainer Gary Sherlock for eliminating the bulk of the tickets in the $1.8 million pool.
After Basinca ($10.80) was declared the winner of the fourth race to open the sequence, Sherlock sent out Karma King to capture the fifth race at a $36 mutuel.
Wins by favored It Is Living Water ($5) and Avanti Bello ($13.80) followed but then a slew of tickets bit the dust when Sherlock did what was elementary for him on that day. He entered Lost Bus in the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes after a third-place finish in an overnight and despite the class hike his California-bred found her way to the winner’s circle, paying an astronomical $131.20.
The final piece to the puzzle came in the form of True Brilliance ($6.80), who took the last race as a 2-1 favorite and closed out another racetrack version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”
Click here for the Equibase charts from Jan. 23 at Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita also helped lift Super High 5 players into a different tax bracket on Jan. 24. Even though the favored Intoxicating Move ($7.60) won the race, the next four finishers were priced at 31-1, 5-1, 3-1 and 26-1 and combined to pay $26,700.20 for a $1 ticket.
Some smaller but still highly significant pots of cash were also collected last week, highlighted by the second race at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 18 in which a 10-cent superfecta wager turned into a whopping $24,463.38 payout.
Imperial Jack ($43.40) won the race at 20-1 odds and as it turned out, he had the smallest odds among the top four finishers as horses at 22-1, 68-1 and 47-1were next under the wire in a baffling order of finish.
The superfecta in the 10th race at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 24 also accounted for a regal reward with longshot Enough Is Enough ($57) teaming with horses at 17-1, 12-1 and 9-2 to comprise a $6,184 superfecta for a 10-cent wager.
Fair Grounds was the site of the week’s “How did you come up with that one?” award, which had a sweet payoff.
Honey Springs had done little to distinguish herself on turf or dirt in her four races prior to heading into the 7th race on Jan. 18 at the Louisiana track and even less in the first six furlongs of the seven-furlong main track test. But in the final furlong “Honey” took a page from cream’s playbook and rose to the top, rallying from seventh with a furlong to go and prevailing by a nose at 68-1 odds.
Holders of $2 win tickets on the longshot winner might not have felt like a million bucks, but feeling like 138 bucks and 80 cents wasn’t a bad sensation at all on a January day in New Orleans.
Top Payouts for the Week Ended Jan. 24
Wager
Wager Amount
Payoff
Track
Date
Race#
Win
$ 2.00
$ 138.80
FG
1/18/2016
7
Place
$ 2.00
$ 65.80
GP
1/18/2016
7
Show
$ 2.00
$ 33.20
PM
1/19/2016
14
Exacta
$ 1.00
$ 521.40
SA
1/23/2016
8
Exacta
$ 2.00
$ 1,634.00
GP
1/24/2016
11
Quinella
$ 1.00
$ 63.10
TUP
1/23/2016
8
Quinella
$ 2.00
$ 69.00
AQU
1/22/2016
2
Trifecta
$ 0.50
$ 5,236.00
DED
1/20/2016
4
Trifecta
$ 1.00
$ 14,810.60
GP
1/18/2016
2
Trifecta
$ 2.00
$ 3,625.60
HOU
1/19/2016
7
Superfecta
$ 0.10
$ 24,463.38
GP
1/18/2016
2
Superfecta
$ 1.00
$ 61,844.20
TAM
1/23/2016
10
Superfecta
$ 2.00
$ 2,442.00
AQU
1/22/2016
6
Daily Double
$ 1.00
$ 290.90
HOU
1/18/2016
4
Daily Double
$ 2.00
$ 2,562.00
GP
1/24/2016
11
Pick 3
$ 0.50
$ 1,701.90
TUP
1/23/2016
6
Pick 3
$ 1.00
$ 10,548.90
GP
1/24/2016
11
Pick 3
$ 2.00
$ 1,350.00
AQU
1/22/2016
3
Pick 4
$ 0.50
$ 23,260.00
GP
1/24/2016
11
Pick 4
$ 1.00
$ 15,377.00
TAM
1/23/2016
11
Pick 4
$ 2.00
$ 3,084.00
AQU
1/22/2016
5
Pick 5
$ 0.20
$ 7,100.22
PM
1/20/2016
9
Pick 5
$ 0.50
$ 28,443.05
TAM
1/24/2016
10
Pick 5
$ 2.00
$ 22,467.00
AQU
1/22/2016
5
Pick 6
$ 1.00
$ 13,257.80
TUP
1/20/2016
8
Pick 6
$ 2.00
$ 1,132,476.80
SA
1/23/2016
9
Pick 6 Jackpot
$ 0.20
$ 25,419.38
GP
1/21/2016
10
Super High Five
$ 0.20
$ 757.58
HOU
1/18/2016
10
Super High Five
$ 0.50
$ 9,468.30
FG
1/24/2016
10
Super High Five
$ 1.00
$ 26,700.20
SA
1/24/2016
9
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.