Breaking the Bank: Thrill of the Chase

Breaking the Bank - featuring data courtesy of Equibase - highlights the biggest scores of the past week in racing. (Crowd photo by Penelope P. Miller/America's Best Racing)
The beauty of betting on horse racing is that you can bet as little or as much as you like, and no matter the size of the bankroll there is always a chance for a big score.
I can still remember a spur-of-the-moment trip to Delaware Park in high school with my girlfriend at the time. We both picked a horse we liked in the first race after we got there and boxed them in a $2 exacta. We jumped up and down together as our picks crossed the finish line first and second and then cashed a ticket for about $400. The same strategy did not work as well for the final three races on the card, but hey we only gave $12 back, and then we went out to a restaurant we never would have been able to afford and splurged on an amazing three-course meal.
Where else, other than the racetrack, can you turn a dime into 15 grand?
Take, for instance, the seventh race at Laurel Park on Sept. 27. With a full field of 14 fillies and mares lined up for the Lady Baltimore Stakes and odds ranging from 3.10-to-1 to 79.80-to-1, the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes was a great betting race.
Medea, a graded stakes winner in June, rallied from 7th to win by a half-length at 4.70-to-1 odds. The 3.10-to-1 favorite, Chat, never threatened and finished 12th, but the key to a $15,184.60 payout for a 10-cent bet was the 79.80-to-1 runner-up Party Starter.
Trained by Michael Matz, Party Starter had won three of her previous six races but entered off a sixth-place finish in her stakes debut on Sept. 13 at Delaware Park. She clearly wasn’t one of the favorites, but almost 80-to-1 on any horse trained by Matz is a gift from the racing gods. He doesn’t place his horses in spots where they can’t compete and his decision to bring Party Starter back in a stakes was telling. I did not profit from this overlay, but one lucky bettor did in a superfecta that was rounded out by 7.10-to-1 Scampering in third and 17.50-to-1 Misty from Malibu in fourth.
Through the years, Matz overlays have been very good to me, not 15-grand good, but definitely worth monitoring.
There was a bigger reported superfecta payout for the week for Race 4 on Sept. 23 at Presque Isle Downs, but the $155,802.60 was misleading in that it was for a $2 super rather than the 10-cent minimum. With less than $10,500 in the pool, we can deduct that this actually was a 10-cent minimum bet that paid $7,790.13 — a very nice return on investment but about half of the score discussed above at Laurel Park.
(Blog Continued Below Table)
Top Payouts for the Week Ended Sept. 28

Wager
 Wager Amount 
 Payoff 
Track
Date
Race#

Win
 $2.00
 $195.00
FL
9/26/14
6

Place
 $2.00
 $94.80
CT
9/27/14
7

Show
 $2.00
 $96.40
EMD
9/28/14
9

Exacta
 $1.00
 $454.80
SA
9/27/14
1

Exacta
 $2.00
 $1,501.00
GP
9/28/14
6

Quinella
 $2.00
 $79.50
BEL
9/26/14
4

Trifecta
 $0.50
 $1,994.40
AP
9/28/14
9

Trifecta
 $1.00
 $3,791.80
GP
9/27/14
1

Trifecta
 $2.00
 $16,333.40
MNR
9/28/14
6

Superfecta
 $0.10
 $15,184.60
LRL
9/27/14
7

Superfecta
 $0.20
 $53.24
LBG
9/28/14
6

Superfecta
 $0.50
 $11,227.55
MNR
9/28/14
6

Superfecta
 $1.00
 $76,135.50
SA
9/27/14
1

Superfecta
 $2.00
 $155,802.60
PID
9/23/14
4

Daily Double
 $1.00
 $377.30
HP
9/27/14
9

Daily Double
 $2.00
 $3,516.10
HST
9/27/14
7

Pick 3
 $0.50
 $195.50
MED
9/26/14
6

Pick 3
 $1.00
 $4,978.80
GP
9/27/14
11

Pick 3
 $2.00
 $8,069.40
LRL
9/24/14
9

Pick 4
 $0.50
 $13,026.65
MNR
9/28/14
8

Pick 4
 $1.00
 $17,497.50
GP
9/27/14
11

Pick 4
 $2.00
 $18,205.80
LRL
9/24/14
9

Pick 5
 $0.50
 $35,684.15
SA
9/27/14
5

Pick 5
 $1.00
 $3,154.55
NP
9/24/14
5

Pick 5
 $2.00
 $52,874.00
BEL
9/26/14
5

Pick 5 Jackpot
 $0.20
 $26,075.58
LRL
9/24/14
9

Pick 6
 $0.20
 $15,381.14
STK
9/28/14
8

Pick 6
 $1.00
 $4,192.50
PID
9/24/14
7

Pick 6
 $2.00
 $80,131.40
SA
9/28/14
9

Pick 6 Jackpot
 $0.10
 $6,686.10
MTH
9/28/14
10

Pick 6 Jackpot
 $0.20
 $82,361.56
GP
9/28/14
11

Super High Five
 $0.20
 $4,713.70
STK
9/26/14
9

Super High Five
 $0.50
 $2,637.85
MNR
9/28/14
8

Super High Five
 $1.00
 $28,245.20
SA
9/27/14
11

Super High Five
 $2.00
 $2,834.80
MNR
9/22/14
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.  

Let’s jump next to a healthy $2 exacta sparked by a 57.80-to-1 winner.
Warren’s Morgan struck as the longest shot in the field on Sept 28 in the sixth race at Gulfstream Park. He set an uncontested pace, drew clear by 4 ½ lengths at the quarter-pole and held on to win by three-quarters of a length in the 6-furlong claiming race on the main track.
Rapid Distinction closed from sixth to take second at 11.50-to-1 odds, 2 ¾ lengths clear of 3.70-to-1 Magic Melissa. The Warren’s Morgan-Rapid Distinction exacta paid a whopping $1,501 for a $2 bet.
Warren’s Morgan also provided the key to a jackpot payout on the Rainbow 6 on Sept. 28 at Gulfstream Park as the opening leg of the sequence. A 57.80-to-1 winner to start this jackpot Pick 6 eliminated a huge percentage of tickets and created a scenario where there was a much greater likelihood of a unique winning ticket.
The Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot is paid out only when there is a single ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique winning ticket, 70% of the pool goes to bettors holding tickets with the most winners and 30% carries over to the jackpot pool.
With a leadoff bomb of a longshot in Warren’s Morgan, a 9-to-5 winner (Joanie’s Image) in Race 7 and a 3-to-5 victor (Richard the Great) in Race 10 helped ease the degree of difficulty enough that one bettor walked away with $80,131.40 on a 20-cent bet.
I’ve heard hardcore handicappers say that they can’t understand how anyone goes out to the track with less than $100, but through the years I’ve done just that plenty of times and had a blast. The 10-cent superfecta and the $2 exacta at Gulfstream are proof that bettors don’t need to invest a couple of hundred bucks in a Pick 6 to cash a big ticket. Besides, even smaller payouts can be very rewarding.
I had a friend come visit me in Kentucky from Delaware. He took $20 to Keeneland Race Course for a day, bet 10-cent superfectas all afternoon, left with about $6 more than he came with and talked all night about how much he couldn’t wait to go back the next day. I had to work that day and dropped him off at Keeneland on my way.
There is just something about the thrill of nailing a race, waiting for the payouts to come up and then cashing a ticket. Sure, this blog is about the big payouts each week, but don’t tell a couple of 18-year-olds dining on a winning $2 exacta or a first-time visitor to Keeneland that their score wasn’t just as enjoyable.
The thrill is the same no matter the bankroll.

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.