Most embarassing handicapping/wagering moment

[azibuck]

From another thread, a poster wrote:

When I give out a horse I always put his name on the post as I am very prone to give wrong numbers for too many reasons to say. I am extremely bad with horse numbers. I have bet the odds instead of the horse number so many times I am embarassed to tell anyone.

Which reminded me of an incredible gaffe I made early in my wagering life (about 4 years ago). I had handicapped a couple of major races--I think it was the "Big 3 Pick 3" Derby Prep day when that was around. I went to OTB, purchased my tickets and went home to watch the races.

I got home and just before the first race was looking at my notes and realized the numbers of the horses didn't match my tickets. I had called out the numbers of how I had the horses ranked. So I had something like $5 win on the "1", $2 exacta box "1,2", $2 Pick 3 "1,2/1/1,2,3".

"Luckily" the horses I had scoped out didn't win, but neither did the 1, 2, or 3's I'd purchased.

When making notes on my PP's, I've ranked my horses A, B, C... ever since.

[pic6vic]

I left a $565.00 voucher in the machine. I bet the person behind me thought he hit the jackpot

[cj]

I was looking over a Fairplex card when I lived in Maryland. I fell in love with the 6 horse in one of those 1 3/8 races they run there. I informed my wife I was going to bet that horse only and would be home right after. It was a good half hour drive each way. This was in the days before online wagering.

So, I get there with 20 minutes to post. I keep looking over the PPs as the horse is 8-1 and staying solid. He never moves from 8-1. I go to the window with my $50 in hand and bet $50 win on the 6. Or so I thought. I watch the race and start to cheer pretty loudly as the horse takes the lead heading into the final turn and pulls away to a very easy win. I am thrilled...til I reach in my pocket and see I bet $50 win on the 8. I guess the odds and Program # swapped in my head somehow, because upon reflection I know it wasn't a teller error, I remember saying 8! Anyway, cost me $400.

BTW, I always write my bets down now before I make them!

CJ

[Kappa]

I'm glad to see that I am not the only one who has bet the 'odds' rather than the saddle cloth number. Usually, I walk feel very stupid after the race, especially if my intended horse was the winner.

However, on one occasion, the horse I had handicapped and thought I bet lost, but I cashed the ticket I had erronously bought on on his 'odds'! I still felt dumb, but I kept the money :D

[Tom]

I wheeled a 4-5 shot - Kir - with every horse in the race except the 7, a 50-1 no-shot plug. The plug ran second, the extacta paid $185 and I got zilch.
I once bet a horse in a 4mile and 70 yard race! and he got lapped
D'oh!

[mikekk]

Once spent 80 bucks singling a 34-1 shot in the Pick 4.

It won.

The winners of the next 3 were 2-5; 1-1; 4-5.

Had the $60 Pick 4 five times.

As I was counting my winnings and patting myself on the back, it suddenly struck me...let's see, 40 x a $70.00 win payoff would have been...

As Tom would say, "DOH!"

Mikekk

[superfecta]

But I once keyed a horse in a trifecta that was 15/1 in the morning line.Went off at 99-1 and won.No tri tho....$6x 214 would have been a better bet that time.

[horsemaven]

In 20+ years of betting the horses, I've made many dumb mistakes that cost me $$$. Back in the late 1980s when Monmouth had Pick 6 wagering, I made a doozy. The pot had carried over 4-5 days and was now the largest ever. I was living in NYC at the time so I drove over to the Meadowlands to put the bet in. I had settled on a $144 ticket but at the last moment decided to reduce the cost to $96 by eliminating one horse. I drove home and followed the results via the radio. After the first four legs, I was alive with two $25+ winners. In the fifth leg, the horse I had excluded was placed first via a DQ. There were ten winning tickets each worth about $50,000.

Mike

[Jed]

Spent a morning playing the larger tracks, usually between $50-$100 to win.

Saw a race at a smaller track and played $100win on a 11-1. The odds dropped to 6-5 by the time I got back to my seat. On the inner track tote it showed under $600 in the total win pool.

Felt really dumb at the time, but the horse won and paid about $265 instead of the $1200 I was hoping for.

[GameTheory]

Originally posted by Jed
Spent a morning playing the larger tracks, usually between $50-$100 to win.

Saw a race at a smaller track and played $100win on a 11-1. The odds dropped to 6-5 by the time I got back to my seat. On the inner track tote it showed under $600 in the total win pool.

Felt really dumb at the time, but the horse won and paid about $265 instead of the $1200 I was hoping for.

And a bunch of others probably bet even more on the horse following your "smart money"...

[dav4463]

I bought the racing form one day and spent 3 hours pouring over the races for four tracks, knowing that I had a full day of racing ahead. When I got to the track, none of the horses were the same! I bought the wrong day's racing form and handicapped all the races for the previous day !

[JustRalph]

I did that once Dav.......it sucks.........

[dav4463]

It's even worse when you check results and realize you would have had a winning day !

[BIG HIT]

Hi guy's before simulcasting bought the drf four the next day.Made all my pick's and was ready for next day.Of the ten race's had 9 winner's and one second.
But being married and she had emergence so couldn't go.Never had a day like that since.Must love her though as that is ground's four divorice.

[railbird]

TWO QUICKIES: 1 The Meadowlands 1991, three friends go for simulcast we buy one program and one racing form . I used the form and came up with birdies tribute in the 5th at over 50-1 close to post we were separated so I ran to the window with the form not realizing there was an entry in the race, I call out "eight bucks to win on the ONE (birdie was the first in the form) and four dollar exacts ONE with 2,4,5 .Make a long story short birdies tribute wins pays 116.40 the exacter 3-4 pays 646.00...! Birdies Tribute OFFICIAL program no. was 3 .Still have tickets and results.STILL SICK@#$%^$

2... Had $14 dollars with a tip in the first at aquaduct, there were 8 horses in the second race so I had to leave one out to wheel him in the double .The winner in the first pays 25.20, AND you know the rest of the story The DD paid 200+.

[Handy Cap]

This is an extremely cool post, I like this...
Two things...

I bet a harness horse one time at Balmoral Park when it was a 5/8ths mile track...so anyway...this horse shot out to the lead like a cannon...had the lead by 3 lengths the whole race..so coming into the stretch the second and last time...the horse instead of turning for home....kept on going and ran straight into the barn at full speed.....heard a big crash....and then seen the horse, driver and all...running out of control in the parking lot behind the track..

Second thing.....you mention about looking at day old programs...There was this older couple..just 2 dollar betters....They kept whooping and hollering after every race...so finally I just had to ask..so I said, hey, doin good huh?? and they said, man I dont know who picks horses for this greensheet, but he is good...they hit 2 tris, both payed over a grand..and...a 300 exacta...of course...by playing the top numbers on YESTERDAYS GREEN SHEET!!!

[pic6vic]

Here's another twist to making mistakes.

It's a Saturday in 1984 and they are running at HOL. I'm at work and a workmate of mine calls and asks me to pick 3 horses in the pick 6. I give him the 3 horse. About an hour later he comes into the office and gives me $1300.00 to wheel these 3 horses in the pick 6 with everything. We figure the ticke out and he doesn't have enough money so we leave out the longest price in each race. (my choice). He couldn't make it to the track. He goes home and just as I am to leave for the track he calls.(he is not a horseplayer). He says he doesn't like my choice in the 2nd leg. So I change it on my slip. I get to the track with just enough time to bet and forget to make the change he wants. The 3 horses I gave him won and the pick6 pays 64,000 plus consolations. He is not home when I call. he now thinks he has one conso worth about $800.00. It took me 20 minutes to convince him that we had the pick 6. I got 25% of the ticket. He blew his end in less than 2 months. True story

[superfecta]

Originally posted by pic6vic
Here's another twist to making mistakes.

The 3 horses I gave him won and the pick6 pays 64,000 plus consolations. He is not home when I call. he now thinks he has one conso worth about $800.00. It took me 20 minutes to convince him that we had the pick 6. I got 25% of the ticket. He blew his end in less than 2 months. True story Only 25%?Why not 50%?!You had half the horses and you made the bet.What in the world did he blow his money on?The stock market?:confused:

[Hottalker nmslim]

Even though I have never been embarrased, I had a friend who hit a pick 6 for $42 and a little later that month hit a Pick 3 for $3.20!

[kenwoodall]

My wife always picks the longest odds horse and she just began going to races abd had a 35-1 shot that crossed the wire first. It took her 10 minutes to believe me and settle down when i told her the horse will not pay off it the rider is left up the track thrown off! Then she got mad and wanted to complain to the track people!!

[JustRalph]

My wife gets into it pretty good sometimes. We had a party at the house one night and there were about 20 people over. We are all feeling pretty good and my dad is watching the big screen in the family room. We are talking about racing and one of her girlfriends is watching and they see a harness race coming up on TVG. they are fawning over this harness horse with the great name. I think it was "baby carrots" or something like that. The wife decides she is going to play 'Baby Carrots" and walks over to the rec-room computer and tosses 20 across on the horse ( I think it was Balmoral). So they go to post and the horse goes off at 5-1 or so. They are coming down the stretch and old baby carrots is in a stretch duel and trying to hold on. My wife jumps up out of her seat and starts screaming at the TV, " Spank Him, Spank Him!" I forget whether he won or not. But we all broke up and my buddies never fail to remind me of " Spank him!" and they are always asking if I get to hear that very often?

[penguinfan]

Had some cash in my pocket that belonged to my boss, who I wouldn't see for 2 days. I was going back to the office and stopped by the track to see if these couple long shots I had looked at the night before ran good or were stiffs, well the races were running a bit behind and I still had time to get in on the race. Figuring I had days to get the bosses money to him I could use it and replace when I got home or to the bank, I had the money no problem, so I buy an exacta box, wheel them in a couple tri's, total of $62. Here comes trouble though, the boss is now coming into the OTB!! He is not a horse player so he certainly saw the company vehicle sitting out-side and decided to come in for the money and to chew my ass for being there during work hours. I run to the window and have the teller cancell the tickets and run back to the front side of the OTB where the boss is looking for me. I give him the money thats his, wade through a rediculous "needed an indoor pay-phone" excuse to save my ass and watch over his shoulder as my horses come in 1-2 for a $340+ exacta and a $2300+ trifecta.
Few years ago, but stings just like yesterday.

Penguinfan

[race_n_ponys]

well, i got to learn a lesson the hard way 2 summers ago at the mountains.........i just play at home mostly(like to be able to watch the win/place/show pool on the computer and watch it on my big screen) i keep pretty good track of mountaineer........and its probally the only track that i will play a jockey and not even look at the form........so anyways, that was the year eads was doing pretty good(in the money quite often) and i had my mind made up i was gona watch the odds.........call up just before post and play him wheeled in the tri's............well i get this brite idea to just play him for place and show wheeled with all.......and not to win w/all.............so what does he do........he wins of course and it was a glorious mountaineer payoff of 6300......ok, so right there i just cost myself a 3100 signer(i play $1 tri's)........then i guess the stuborn german in me takes over..........because,i do it again.......i wheel him for place and show with all and he wins the damn race! the tri paid just over 3,000,.......cost myself a 1500 signer..................after about 20-30 minutes of straight cussing..........i played him again, and this time i made sure the first wager i called off was: eads horse with/all/all........and the dang if he didnt win again..........the tri paid just over 1800(i got 900) i actually ended up making a couple hundred that day........that is probally why i can talk about it..........but boy did it take me a while to get over my stupidity......instead of making a couple franklins........i shoulda had over 5500 back in the account that night...............wish i could say easy come easy go,.....but not with this little episode of being stupid................well, ive got a few of 'em,just like everyone else, but this one i always remember

[Jeff P]

My own stupidest track moment- 4th of July weekend in the summer of '95 - I had a girlfriend whose father owned and bet heavily on his own horses. Cheap stock- most of the ones he had ran at old Prescott Downs in Arizona. One Sunday he has one that he tells me is ready to run today. I take a look at the form and decide to take a stand against - there is just no way I can envision his horse competing- let alone winning against today's field. The horse wins for fun and sets a track record (6 1/2 f - Fort Tuthill Downs Flagstaff, AZ) in the process. He paid decent odds too. The connections had set up the race by darkening the horse's form at Prescott Downs earlier in the year with the intention of running him in Flagstaff that 4th of July weekend. They had been planning on making a score and had let me in on it. The kicker was that I had to act overjoyed and give them all high fives as they celebrated. I remember standing there in the winner's circle with them getting my picture taken- smiling on the outside and grumbling on the inside- and crumbling up the $50.00 win bet that I had made on another horse.

[BlueChip@DRF]

Back sometime in 2001, I was at The Meadowlands trying to place my bets for my co-worker. He wanted $100 to play on this horse in the 5th at Sam Houston. When I went to the window, I just blurted out the bet forgetting I was one race too early. And I also played a $5 Win/Place bet on what I thought was an 8/1 shot. I then went to get a hotdog. After wandering around for a while, I decided to look up at the simulcast for Sam Houston. 2 minutes to post and I decided to look at the ticket. Something didn't look right. The names seemed different. I looked at the program and, to my horror, saw it was NOT the race that should have been bet. By now, even the $20/$50 windows had lines. I got locked out. I called my co-worker to tell him of my mistake and that I owed him $100. So I had a sunken feeling while I watched the race. His number didn't come in. However, mine did, for 2nd, but I had no idea what the odds were because I was too stunned that I misplayed $100. I soon found out that my $5 WP mistake horse was 40/1! It paid $43.00 for place, the favorite came in 3rd. So pretty much, I got lucky. WHEW!!!!! Thanks to superbug (at the time) Casey Kaufman!!!!

After that lesson, I have written down ALL my bets before I get to the track and NEVER handicap at the track, only in the comfort of my own home.