Closest you have come to the big score...
 

What is the closest everyone has came to hitting a big bet, betting horses ?


I came very close to having a huge pick 4 on this past years breeders cup,
i had all in the mile, with round pond and pine island "rip", Belive it or not i had red rocks singled in the turf, and then the classic the biggest mistake of my life i went bernardini and perfect drift. now the thing about this bet is i played it for $4 dollers, it was a $4 pick 4 wheel so even with bernardini it would have been a pretty huge score. it was hard to swallow not using invasor and bernardini it bothered me for 2 weeks, if i went invasor for $4 it would have been huge, i dont remember exactly but i think the pick 4 paid $80,000, and i would have recived that 2 times.

What are the parameters of a " big score "?

i dont know, my biggest ever has been $4,000... which im sure for some ppl is not that big i guess i'd say anything over $10,000

My friend and I tried to beat English Channel too.. Wrong horse though..We went 7 deep in the mile ,4 deep in f&m, 4 deep (damn red rocks) ,and two deep in the classic.( berny and invasor)..talk about a rush, up until red rocks i thought we had a great shot.. Esp after MA(24-1) and RP(13-1) came home ... I was scared that EC was gonna get us, not RR...The absolute closest I've been, i hope to eclipse that loss this year...

still to this day i dont know why i put perfect drift on the ticket, i let my heart get in the way i always have loved him and i just threw him in kinda hoping he could run the race of his life and win, but if i remember correctly he was the longest shot in the race at post time

I was alive to three horses for the whole pool in the Aqueduct Pick-6 going into the last leg a few weeks ago ( the day Summer Doldrums won ) for over $56K with each horse. Finished second and third unfortunately.

I'm not going to get into every five figure hit I've had but I have had two Pick-6s that paid well over $100K ( $141K and $156K ). I imagine more than a few here have had substantial hits.

it sucked for me, when i cought those first 2 i was happy but still thought i had no chance because i had red rocks singled but when he won, i was almost counting my money thinking they couldnt beat bernardini and that if they did it might be perfect drift finally getting that big win

thats impressive, im mainly a big win place bet kinda player, or pick 4... once in a while i might play a pick 6, hardly ever though. i have never had a score like that though like i said $4000 is my largest.

I had that late Pick-3 BC day for a few bucks.

I'm not laughing at you PG1985, I'm laughing with you. So understand that I'm not bashing you here.

They say in the music business, "if you ain't got a hit, you ain't got $h!t." That's probably true.

I figure the same goes when wagering on horses, if you ain't got the winner on your ticket, darlin', you ain't got $h!t. I don't care how good your choices were on the rest of your ticket. It don't matter. I repeat, it just don't. Not all the IFs on Earth are gonna change that.

In other words, IF A FROG HAD WINGS HE WOULDN'T BUMP HIS @$$ SO MUCH!

The "I was close losers" horseplayers have ripped, could wrap around this Earth, end to end, a blue million times, and they'd still simply be LOSERS.

You don't want to dwell on those, they bring about mental illness.

Breeders Cup, 2 years ago. 3 live in the last leg of the pick 4 (Classic), the winner (whose name escapes me), paid $18,000, and 2 others, including the Austrailian horse which was paying 170,000 (I believe he finished 2nd to last).

Mine's $4000 too.........
 

on a $1 pick 3 at Oaklawn in 2006! What a thrill!:D

i usually just bet $2 to show on the M/L favorite, but this one time at Hawthorne, this 2/1 ml favorite floated all the way up to 4/1. i got so excited that i bet $3 to show.....and then he ran 4th.
i cried for three days.

You play Oaklawn?

So have you had any near misses for $500K or more?

Try Volponi on top of Medags and simply needing the fraud Hawk Wing to break into the Superfecta for 50k.

:D :D

it can be a cruel game can't it?

i had the best day of my life this past years breeders cup, i had round pond to win, red rocks to win, both larger win place wagers

Not much these days....
 

Oaklawn is of course on HRTV, and of course i have Direct TV, and am stuck with TVG! Still, I've seen some exciting races at Oaklawn over the past few years, and I do enjoy that track.

You wasted your money on place, as I've been taught, if you thought he could place, you thought he could win. Forget the place wager. Next year, you'll make more money.

Completely disagree. When a longshot finishes second and you get nothing, what have you gotten for being right about a horse outrunning his odds? Nothing.

I was within 100 yards or so of Faith Hill

Very good.

Not a problem, to disagree makes the world go 'round, but if you put that longshot in an exacta with the winner, then you've got something, honey. A fine exacta. Again, forget place betting, put the choice in your exacta.

Honey? Are you a chick?...SO you are saying I should magically find the winner and put him on top and get the exacta? Or wheel my longshot in second as a hedge? Where am I?

Seriously because I think I'm fairly good at finding a longshot horse but getting him with the winner is a whole different story....

i totally agree with randall, i look for the prices in a race 4-1 or higher... you need to go place, my basic wager is $50wp and i think i do ok

i think its crazy if you like a horse at a solid price not to go win place, especially if its a large field

Yeah, I'm a chick, you think some guy's gonna come on here with the signature "G.R.I.T.S.": (noun) Girl Raised In The South. (Though, now I look and the server crash removed it, and I've not replaced it yet.)

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, wheel your longshot to run second. Better yet box the two, and forget it. If you win, you've got a nice exacta.

Beyond that, I'm not sure where you are. Hopefully this explains a bit.

1. I played a $12 pick 6 ticket on Belmont Stakes day and I was singled to Smarty Jones. I dont know how much it would have paid but was still my best handicapping day.

2. I played Hoove's pick 4 ticket at gulfstream with a $100 winner had the two favs going in last race both paid 9k.

yes that might work for you, but some ppl are win place bettors, and some want to get pair a little when there longshot runs a good second i have made alot of money having a 10-1 shot run second and having a $50 wp wager on the horse, when the horse returens $10 and change for second i win $150 instead of losing 100

I've heard both schools of thought -- on betting place (and show for that matter). I've also heard similar thoughts when it comes to exacta wheels and back-wheels.

I don't know if there is a right or wrong answer, but I've used place and show as a "hedge" against my win. I've collected on the place and show wagers and I've lost both of them along with my win bet. I think the exacta discussion is a bit circular -- pick a horse on top, key up on 1 or 2 exactas, have your horse win, but not hit the exacta. I am sure these #'s come out all over the board, but if I can't really feel as confident on my 1 or two key exactas, then I think it makes sense to look for value (especially if I feel the favorite exacta, and the second horse isn't offering value, is probable not to be there, etc.). I certainly don't want to lose as much or near as much on the gimmicks as I've won on the win bet (although those will be low priced horses, #'s, etc.).

Any thoughts from the pro's, serious players, etc.? Thank you.

Eric, the school of thought is take advantage of the pools. Wait till the end to bet. If there is enought value in a large field in the show pool with a vulnerable fave, I have no problem betting to show either...But win/place on price horses is a fine way to go. I can't stomach 20-1 shots I bet finishing second and getting nothing. Simply not worth it.

this past BC...singled Dreaming Of Anna, used Street Sense, singled Oujia Board. Was alive to 5 horses in the Sprint...and Thors Echo was not 1 of them. Will pays were anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000 if memory serves me right.

yep, we were calling UNited for plane reservations until we figured out we needed the rail horse.....

Thors f*cking Echo....

he has joined the likes of Rock Lobster...

Rock Lobster? WTF he do wrong? I liken Thor's Echo more to English Channel.....

Rock Lobster screwed Gander and I last summer at Toga. He is on my "list"

Too tired to talk about your 'pretty horsie' list....It is so much better have 'lists' for jockeys anyways, you can go off on a jockey 1-7 times a day depending on how some of them actually still get rides...

We should go to South America or inner city Chicago and find four weight qualified hard workers and tell them to train hard and you could make them a millionaire. Show them rides by Shane Laviolette as WHAT NOT TO DO and show them rides by Kent Desormeaux/Javy Castellano/some Bailey/Stevens on WHAT TO DO. I see people all around here that could easily make weight and they bust their ass, just hope they have some heart and passion, and they would be better then 70% of the jocks out there...