Breaking the Bank: The Big Finish at Gulfstream

Breaking the Bank - featuring data courtesy of Equibase - highlights the biggest scores of the past week in racing. (Gulfstream Park photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
After a longshot winner in the opener, the card on Sept. 11 at Gulfstream Park was humming along smoothly until the last race with no other double-digit winners plus the excitement of a mandatory payout in the Rainbow Pick 6.
At that point there probably were quite a few bettors feeling pretty good about their chances to capitalize on a nicely seeded pool. The card coasted into the finale with winners at 2.90-to-1, 3-to-5, 3.20-to-1, 3.60-to-1 and 4.80-to-1 in Races 5-9.
But then, wham! Gameday Spanking closed from seventh, rallied into contention from 3 wide, challenge for the lead in the stretch and shook clear to prevail by 4 ½ lengths at 44.60-to-1.
The Rainbow Pick 6 is a jackpot wager that requires the bettor to correctly select the winners of 6 straight races, but the caveat is that there can only be one unique winner for the entire pot to pay out. Otherwise, the winning tickets split a percentage of the pot and the rest of the pool carries over until there is a unique winner.
But with the mandatory payout, the entire pool on Sept. 11 was going to be paid out whether there was a single winner or 500 winning tickets. Buoyed by the carryover of $123,063 heading into Thursday's program and the lure of the mandatory payout, bettors poured $572,514 into the Rainbow 6 pool.
Heading into the nightcap, there had to be hundreds of bettors feeling pretty good about cashing a nice ticket, but Gameday Spanking shredded quite a few tickets despite the absence of opposable digits.
He also sparked a string of huge payouts.
The Rainbow Pick 6 paid $48,407.92 to multiple winning tickets, and the $1 Super High 5, which featured a carryover of $43,479 plus the allure of a mandatory payout, returned a whopping $205,788.70.
Gameday Spanking also anchored a $1 Pick 3 that paid $6,119 and a $1 Pick 4 that returned $17,508, but let’s go back to that Super High 5.
Bea Wildcat finished a well-beaten second at 2.40-to-1, so no big surprises there, but the longest shot in the field, El Cobre at 103.10-to-1, finished third. El Cobre was a half-length in front of 8-to-5 favorite Little Bert. The battle for fifth also played a key role in there being only a single winning ticket as the second-highest-priced horse in the field, Exuberant Song, edged the fourth betting choice at 55.20-to-1.
How tough was it to come up with that winning combination? Difficult enough that nobody correctly selected the top five finishers. The winning ticket had only the first four finishers and nobody else correctly picked the first four in exact order.
What a race!
Check out the Equibase charts for Sept. 11 at Gulfstream Park
Believe it or not, it was like déjà vu for the 10th race the very next day on Sept. 12 at Gulfstream. Useful Berry prevailed at 58.80-to-1, edging 7-to-2 Rollbaby by a neck. The third-place finisher was again a massive bomb with Birdmudiful checking in at 82.10, 1 ½ length clear of fourth-place finisher Pyrite Smokin at 12.70-to-1 odds.
The 10-cent superfecta return of $9,872.40 was the highest return on investment for that bet for the week and the $1 trifecta paid $20,164.40. As you might guess, nobody correctly selected the top five finishers in the Super High 5.

Check out the Equibase chart for the 10th race on Sept. 12 at Gulfstream
(Blog Continued Below Table)
Top Payouts for the Week Ended Sept. 14

Wager
 Wager Amount 
 Payoff 
Track
Date
Race#

Win
 $2.00
 $155.40
GP
9/12/14
5

Place
 $2.00
 $62.60
RP
9/11/14
7

Show
 $2.00
 $51.80
CT
9/11/14
3

Exacta
 $1.00
 $303.20
CBY
9/13/14
11

Exacta
 $2.00
 $4,416.40
RP
9/11/14
7

Quinella
 $2.00
 $238.10
ASD
9/10/14
7

Trifecta
 $0.50
 $522.70
AP
9/13/14
2

Trifecta
 $1.00
 $20,164.40
GP
9/12/14
10

Trifecta
 $2.00
 $18,931.00
RP
9/11/14
7

Superfecta
 $0.10
 $9,872.46
GP
9/12/14
10

Superfecta
 $0.50
 $13,895.70
MNR
9/9/14
7

Superfecta
 $1.00
 $90,338.30
WO
9/10/14
6

Superfecta
 $2.00
 $65,826.00
LAD
9/11/14
3

Daily Double
 $1.00
 $225.30
DEL
9/13/14
10

Daily Double
 $2.00
 $1,352.20
GP
9/12/14
6

Pick 3
 $0.50
 $501.85
BTP
9/12/14
4

Pick 3
 $1.00
 $6,119.00
GP
9/11/14
10

Pick 3
 $2.00
 $5,227.20
PEN
9/12/14
6

Pick 4
 $0.50
 $6,867.25
EMD
9/14/14
10

Pick 4
 $1.00
 $17,508.00
GP
9/11/14
10

Pick 4
 $2.00
 $10,996.80
IND
9/11/14
5

Pick 5
 $0.50
 $46,122.95
GG
9/14/14
5

Pick 5
 $1.00
 $6,695.00
DEL
9/10/14
7

Pick 5
 $2.00
 $118,595.00
BEL
9/13/14
5

Pick 5 Jackpot
 $0.20
 $646.06
LRL
9/13/14
11

Pick 5 Jackpot
 $0.50
 $755.80
LAD
9/13/14
9

Pick 6
 $0.20
 $3,530.48
GG
9/14/14
10

Pick 6
 $1.00
 $6,320.10
AP
9/12/14
9

Pick 6
 $2.00
 $113,528.00
BEL
9/10/14
9

Pick 6 Jackpot
 $0.10
 $1,030.84
MTH
9/14/14
10

Pick 6 Jackpot
 $0.20
 $48,407.92
GP
9/11/14
10

Super High Five
 $0.50
 $3,395.50
MNR
9/14/14
8

Super High Five
 $1.00
 $205,788.70
GP
9/11/14
10

Super High Five
 $2.00
 $3,160.80
MNR
9/8/14
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.  

Before checking out until next week, let’s take a quick look at the early Pick 5 on Saturday, Sept. 13 at Belmont Park. This was a challenging but not impossible sequence that paid out $118,595 for a $2 ticket.
Captain Gaughen won the opener at 10.20-to-1 to whittle down the number of live tickets, and that number was reduced further when front-running Sun and Moon (3.55-to-1) held off fast-finishing 9-to-10 favorite Cali Star by a neck. Hadrian won the third race at 11.70-to-1 odds with 0.95-to-1 favorite Moonluck dominating in the fourth race. Zandar posted a clear win at 8.40-to-1 odds in the fifth and final race in the sequence to cap a six-figure payout.

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.