Worst bad beats of all time

[ZippyChippy423]

My story. It was about 15 years ago or so( where does the time go?) Anyway I played a $24 pick 6 ticket at Aqueduct. A friend of mine owned a small piece of a horse named “ Speed Jama” ....he was all speed and raced just 5 days before and won. Anyway back to Speed Jama in a few. I was lucky enough to make it through the first 5 legs. Three was an 11-1 somewhere in that sequence so it was pretty exciting to have a shot in the last leg. Knowing it’s very tough for a horse to come back off a 5 day layoff and win I opted off of choosing my friends horse “speed Jama” even though he was confident. My pick was named “ Harry the Rock” and was the only shot I had. As suspected Speed Jama did all the early Speed dirty work while Harry the rock tracked close behind. As Speed Jama folded up on the far turn my horse shot up under and drew away....for about 5 seconds it was a life changing moment. The ticket was paying 18k. The moment came to a screeching halt as a super long shot named “ Fast Is a Turtle” got me deep in the lane. I play that moment over again in my head a few times a year. This was the same time of year my bad beat happened oh the memories. BTW the turtle horse next time out won at double digits again. Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas !

[chiguy]

It was sometime in the 1990's, Friday night racing at Hollywood along with Los Al etc. My best buddy and I put together a place/pick all at HP. I believe we put in $32 each. When we handicapped the races the night before the one race we agreed on with one horse was the last race. I think there were 9 races back in those days. It was a Mike Mitchell off the claim with Corey N. riding. The horse was 4/5 on the morning line. Don't remember his name. We singled him to close out the ticket. The only thing we discussed was that he was 0-0-0 in 12 starts at HP. However we both agreed that there was no way he could not at least finish 2nd in a truly bad field of claimers going 1 1/8. We got through the first 8 races with two races where we had both horses. In addition we had a race with two double digits odds horses run 1-2 and we had one of them. Another race with a 5-1 and 40 something to 1 where we had the 5-1. We had no idea what it was going to be paying but we were standing in line to cash 15 minutes before the race went off, with our SS cards in hand we were so confident. Anyways as you have guessed by now the horse didn't run in the first two. In fact he never picked up his feet at all and ran last all around the track. The bet paid just over 16k. We figured maybe 5k with this horse in it and we would have had it a few times.

[Cuffdaddy]

Around 3 years ago so my memory of exact amounts are foggy but I was live to 4 horses for entire Pick 4 pool at either Delta or Evangeline. One of my horses wins the race and I go crazy, the pool was approx 25K. Anyway, I sitting there waiting for the official sign to post, 5 minutes pass then 10 then 20, track announcer saying tote delay. They then declare race a no contest and pay to all in that last leg and I collect a tad under 10K. The following race goes off as planned with no further issues.
I called track the next day and was told it was the tote company who caused the issue and track decided instead of waiting longer they had to go on with the card.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Cuffdaddy

Around 3 years ago so my memory of exact amounts are foggy but I was live to 4 horses for entire Pick 4 pool at either Delta or Evangeline. One of my horses wins the race and I go crazy, the pool was approx 25K. Anyway, I sitting there waiting for the official sign to post, 5 minutes pass then 10 then 20, track announcer saying tote delay. They then declare race a no contest and pay to all in that last leg and I collect a tad under 10K. The following race goes off as planned with no further issues.
I called track the next day and was told it was the tote company who caused the issue and track decided instead of waiting longer they had to go on with the card.

It's nice to score for just under 10K on your "worst bad beat of all time".

[Cuffdaddy]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

It's nice to score for just under 10K on your "worst bad beat of all time".

Funny, I have had others where I collected zilch but for some reason this one stuck with me, I think because it was the entire pool and I had already won, so I thought.
As I am sure you are very aware, if you bet long enough virtually every possible thing can happen in this game and it is a learned experience to be able to purge the pain as soon as possible.
The clearer the mind the better the handicapping.

[lex]

Sorry about that loss but now I'm wondering what ever happened to Fast Iz A Turtle. I remember him well. I think maybe he ended up at Finger Lakes.

[ZippyChippy423]

Originally Posted by lex

Sorry about that loss but now I'm wondering what ever happened to Fast Iz A Turtle. I remember him well. I think maybe he ended up at Finger Lakes.

The turtle had his last race at Finger Lakes in 2009. I still have not gotten over my bad beat. The Turtle nailed my horse at the wire at over 40-1. The pick six paid 150,000 and my consolation was a paultry 700.00. There was about 7 or 8 other people that felt the same pain as me as we lost out on 18k.

[sammy the sage]

Da'Tara....belmont....threw out Big Brown...knew he had no shot that day...had every horse covered but Da'tara...p/6, multiple/4's and 3's...would have been a 6 figure score...stupid me didn't even bet $100 on him just for break-even coverage at 50/1 or whatever he ended up at...have tried to forget that one...

[wisconsin]

Back in the 90's my brother and I were playing late night harness simulcast action from Fairmount Park and we had an exacta box and win bets on a pair of 25-1 shots. They were a clear cut 1-2 inside the 8th pole, but one broke stride and than the other broke a few seconds later and we got nuttin'...

[Afleet]

Ive lost a few pick 6's on the last race, its like a punch in the gut

[arw629]

Maybe 8-10 years ago my buddy who occasionally bets asked me for a longshot at aqueduct. I said i could make a case for the 12 at 40-1. He handed me two bucks and asked me to bet it to win. I go to the teller and ask for $2 on the 12 to win. For some reason he punches 2-12 exacta box and asked for $4. I cancelled the ticket instead of keeping it and then made my buddy’s bet. Sure enough it came 12-2 and paid $1800.

[woodbinepmi]

Back in the 90's a LaD if you caught a track that wet muddy the day before and it came back fast today all you had to do was find speed that could get to the rail. I handicapped the card in 10 minutes and put together a $2 ticket for a pick six, and my luck the track came up with a very speed rail bias. Was alive going into the last race, my horse Houston Reality had a three length lead coming into the stretch and for an unknown reason Jon Court hit him on the right side and he immediately took a left turn and threw him right over the rail. I was speechless!

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by woodbinepmi

Back in the 90's a LaD if you caught a track that wet muddy the day before and it came back fast today all you had to do was find speed that could get to the rail. I handicapped the card in 10 minutes and put together a $2 ticket for a pick six, and my luck the track came up with a very speed rail bias. Was alive going into the last race, my horse Houston Reality had a three length lead coming into the stretch and for an unknown reason Jon Court hit him on the right side and he immediately took a left turn and threw him right over the rail. I was speechless!

I hate seeing jockeys hit maidens with a clear lead in the stretch; seen many weird things happen

[Jeff P]

Enjoyed a bit of a bad beat myself a few minutes ago in Woodbine R8.

Early bias today. (Imo, weather related.)

My bet was the #2 horse at 10-1.

Broke ok. Ran forwardly. Put her primary pace rival away when asked.

BUT --

The #7 horse reared at the start and came out of the gate without the rider while spotting the field several lengths.

A lot of times a riderless horse goes wide on the turn.

But this one crossed over to the rail, drew a bead on the pacesetters, quickly rushed up toward the lead, and after my horse had put her pace rivals away -- put my horse away.

It's one of those things you can clearly see coming as the race unfolds --

But there's not a single thing you can do about it.


-jp

.

[Track Phantom]

Around 2006, I head home from work midday on my way to a meeting about an hour later. I turn on TVG and decide to put one bet in before I had to leave. I had a good weekend and had about $3,000 in my ADW so I decide to bet $20 to win on a horse without even looking at the form. Just a bet, watch the race and go. I decided to bet the #7 at 9-1. I was just about to hit submit before I changed my mind to bet a trifecta. I decided on a $1 trifecta 7 with 10 with all. The #10 was 12-1. There were 11 horses in the race so the bet was going to be $9.

I bet it, hit submit and get ready to watch the race. Problem was I forgot to change the denomination from $20 (which was going to be the amount of the win bet) to $1. Thus, I just hit submit on a $20 tri 7 with 10 with all for $180.

The horses were loading in the gate, and at this time you had to actually call by phone to cancel your bets and needed like 5 minutes to post to get them to cancel. I almost didn't bother but thought $180 on this kind of bet is stupid.

I made the call and the girl asks me what race, what bet and how close to post. I tell her their loading into the gate and she says "oh, we can't do it". I ask her if she could try anyway as it was a large bet made by mistake. She says she'll try.

So, I have to read her the details again and she's taking them and yelling to some other person so they can try to cancel. I'm watching the horses load in the gate on TVG and wondering why I'm even bothering as the last horse was loaded like 20 seconds earlier. Then I realize another horse had been acting up and it was causing a delay.

As she was yelling to the other person, and the horse was acting up, I realized they might get it canceled. So, I tee up a $1 7 with 10 with all trifecta to submit if she tells me the other bet is a cancel.

She yells into the phone "we got it canceled"! I hit submit right at that time and it gives me a red font error that the race is already off. That means they got the bet canceled at the last possible second.

I watch in abject horror when the 10 opened up 2 lengths on the turn and the 7 was the only horse moving behind him. As if it was going to finish any other way, the #7 got by the #10 in the final 100 yards. Do you think the favorite was 3rd? No, of course not, another 15-1 got the show money.

Everything became a daze at that point and I nearly threw-up on the spot. It was 9-1 over 12-1 over 15-1. The $1 trifecta was $1,600.

Not only did I not get my original win bet in, nor did I get "stuck" with the $20 tri, I was actually shut out of the $1,600 win as a consolation by a matter of a second or two.

At the meeting I had to go to, the people speaking were sounded like the teachers in the peanuts cartoons. I had my laptop open in front of me pretending to be listening and taking notes but instead had the ADW window open and was calculating what my payoff would have been with my $20 trifecta in the pool.

I'm pretty sure I took about a decade off my life span on the drive over to that meeting. My blood pressure was in the danger zone.