Breaking the Bank: Fond Farewell to the Spa

Breaking the Bank - featuring data courtesy of Equibase - highlights the biggest scores of the past week in racing. (Saratoga Race Course photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to summer racing at Saratoga Race Course and Del Mar, the former especially has been the gift that keeps on giving to this Breaking the Bank column.
Saratoga has a reputation — deserved or not has often been the subject of debate — as a venue that makes elite racehorses just a little more vulnerable. Hence, the nickname “Graveyard of Favorites.”
The 2014 summer meet produced a number of beaten favorites and massive payouts, but I tend to attribute that to the depth and quality of the fields for Saratoga races than any mysterious cause.
Fittingly, the final week of racing at Saratoga produced another massive return.
The Pick 5 on Aug. 29 for Races 1-5 closed with a 33.50-to-1 winner that anchored a reported payout of $595,502 for a $2 bet. With just a bit over $350,000 in the pool for the Pick 5, we can assume that the winning ticket was for $1 at $297,751 or, more likely, a couple of winning tickets for the 50-cent minimum bet that paid $148,825.50. Where else can you turn 50 cents into 150 grand?
The favorites in the sequence all failed to win, but three of the races went to horses that races at 4-to-1 odds or less.
Da Wildcat Girl won the opener at 3.80-to-1, edging 2.45-to-1 favorite Little Gidding by a neck. Winner’s Legacy visited the winner’s circle at 3.65-to-1 odds in the third race and Village Warrior followed with a win in the fourth at 3.80-to-1. Heavily favored For the Luv of Lil finished seventh in the fourth to help spice up the payout, which also was boosted by 16.80-to-1 victor Greeley’s Farewell in Race 2.
The key race in the Pick 5, however, was the previously reference 33.50-to-1 winner in the final race of the sequence. Under Scrutiny won by a nose with 0.65-to-1 chalk Lady Kreesa beaten by only a length while finishing fourth.
You’d have to think there were quite a few players pulling for Lady Kreesa in the last race in the sequence, but rather than a healthy group of happy horseplayers there were one or two very happy Pick 5 players on Aug. 29 at the Spa.
Check out the Equibase charts for Aug. 29 at Saratoga Race Course
(Blog Continued Below Table)
Top Payouts for the Week Ended Aug. 31

Wager
 Wager Amount 
 Payoff 
Track
Date
Race#

Win
 $2.00
 $127.60
MNR
8/26/14
3

Place
 $2.00
 $81.00
MNR
8/31/14
4

Show
 $2.00
 $38.00
MNR
8/31/14
4

Exacta
 $1.00
 $762.00
DEL
8/25/14
4

Exacta
 $2.00
 $1,971.60
ALB
8/31/14
4

Quinella
 $2.00
 $169.60
DMR
8/28/14
7

Trifecta
 $0.50
 $724.70
AP
8/30/14
9

Trifecta
 $1.00
 $8,646.40
DEL
8/25/14
4

Trifecta
 $2.00
 $18,926.80
RP
8/29/14
5

Superfecta
 $0.10
 $3,442.34
EVD
8/30/14
3

Superfecta
 $0.50
 $15,581.35
EMD
8/31/14
7

Superfecta
 $1.00
 $176,259.00
DEL
8/25/14
4

Superfecta
 $2.00
 $191,628.00
RP
8/29/14
5

Daily Double
 $1.00
 $256.90
DEL
8/27/14
3

Daily Double
 $2.00
 $1,118.20
BTP
8/28/14
4

Pick 3
 $0.50
 $1,751.65
EVD
8/30/14
10

Pick 3
 $1.00
 $2,713.30
PID
8/27/14
5

Pick 3
 $2.00
 $6,349.40
EVD
8/27/14
9

Pick 4
 $0.50
 $6,848.80
MNR
8/31/14
8

Pick 4
 $1.00
 $64,015.30
MTH
8/30/14
12

Pick 4
 $2.00
 $48,219.00
SAR
8/29/14
5

Pick 5
 $0.50
 $33,087.20
GG
8/29/14
5

Pick 5
 $1.00
 $6,657.65
NP
8/30/14
5

Pick 5
 $2.00
 $595,502.00
SAR
8/29/14
5

Pick 5 Jackpot
 $0.50
 $455.25
LAD
8/31/14
8

Pick 6
 $0.20
 $20,531.96
GG
8/29/14
7

Pick 6
 $1.00
 $4,988.10
AP
8/31/14
9

Pick 6
 $2.00
 $101,216.40
DMR
8/30/14
11

Pick 6 Jackpot
 $0.10
 $10,217.95
MTH
8/29/14
10

Pick 6 Jackpot
 $0.20
 $7,168.02
GP
8/28/14
10

Super High Five
 $0.50
 $17,042.15
DMR
8/27/14
9

Super High Five
 $1.00
 $4,928.60
GP
8/29/14
10

Super High Five
 $2.00
 $2,526.80
MNR
8/26/14
8

Click here for a complete list of racetracks with abbreviations.

© 2014 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.  

The fourth race on Aug. 25 at Delaware Park led to three of the week’s top reported payouts, including a $762 payout for a $1 exacta and a $1 trifecta return of $8,646.40. But it was the superfecta that produced the eye-catching score.
With each of the top four finishers going off at 21.70-to-1 odds or higher, the superfecta returned a reported $176,259 for a $1 bet. With Far less than that in the pool, it’s easy to figure that the winning ticket was a 10-cent minimum bet cashed for a whopping $17,625.90.
So, how do you turn a dime into more than 17 grand?
Start with a 35.20-to-1 winner in Key Decision, who won by five lengths despite traffic trouble on the final turn into the stretch of the 1-mile and 70-yard turf race.
Add 21.80-to-1 longshot Deciding in second and 37.50-to-1 bomb Bar Wedding in third. Then, round out the top four with 21.70-to-1 Zillions and factor in a sixth-place finish from 9-to-10 favorite In Range and you have the recipe for a massive payout.
Winner Key Decision had never finished in the top three in eight previous starts and came into the race off a last-place finish in a lower-level maiden claiming race. Hey, nobody ever said this game was easy!

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.