Pick 3 scratch fun
 

Saturday with Aqueduct cancelled I turned my wagering interest to the tires and wire clippings at Keeneland, and in the 6th race I found a horse i wanted to single in the Pick 3 (middle leg with 2 wide open fields around it) at about 5-1. So the 5th race breaks almost perfect as the 2nd longest priced horse (a Willie Martinez compulsive quitter) I have on my ticket wins and pays $16.60. Then, the horse i singled (Philanthropy Lady) gets scratched at the gate- and the 2 wins at 6-1. In the final leg, Willie Martinez gets it done for me again at 35-1 wire to wire, leaving me with a conso payoff in the pick 3 of $1,811, while the actual pick 3 pays $15,375.

So this begs the question, do i laugh and count my fortunate winnings on what was essentially a "double" that i would NOT have had otherwise, or cry at missing out on the very real possibility of collecting on a 5 figure score? How would you feel, happy or disappointed?

Either way, the scratch rule in Ky on P3's is a very good one. In the old days in NY you would have got stuck with the favorite (which not liking the favorite in the middle leg was a third of the reason for the play) and got totally screwed.

ya know, it's tough. same thing happened to me more or less at hawthorne yesterday in the late pick-4. all of the mto's had scratched earlier in the day as the race was staying on the turf.

before the 8th race, the 9th race was taken off the turf, leaving just five runners and an obvious winner. all selections in that race were considered winners and the p4 returned just $109. it wasn't going to pay a ton more, as it had been running fairly chalky (8-5, 5-2, 9-2) up to that point, but I intentionally had saved my bomber for the last leg because that's what I was basing my ticket around.

So am I happy that I got $109? Sure. Am I a little upset that I had a chance to probably make a very little investment on a small p4 turn into something more likely around $1000? Yes.

It's a double-edged sword.

I'd say that it's frustrating, but to remember that the rules are in place to protect you, even when that means less money -- it's better than no money.

That situation at Hawthorne really angered me. I was alive to 3 horses in the last leg of the P3, and all ended up scratching. I got stuck with the favorite, who I didn't like at all. Why can't the tracks just adopt Pinnacle's policy and just refund money on scratched horses?

The Pick-3 rules are, absurdly, different around the country but are you sure you ever got stuck with the favorite in a PICK-3 in NY on a late scratch? I am sure I have been playing them here since day one and I feel like we always got a consolation.

Sadly, this is not the case in the Pick-4.

I could be thinking of occurances in the pick-4. Such was the case on belmont day when i got scratched into the favorite TWICE (adieu possibly?) which i hated in the acorn, standing against her was half of the basis for the play... I guess the way to find out is review some old charts and see if there were conso payoffs on p-3's.

Illinois policy is you scratch into the favorite? That totally blows on a situation like that, where they take it off the turf.

That's Illinois' rules, and I know they aren't the only state with "scratch and you get the chalk" philosophy.

What's further upsetting was they ran the 5th race on the grass and the weather was perfectly clear. Right before the 8th, for some reason, they took the 9th off the grass.

i may just not be familiar with the illinois racing statutes exactly, but it seems extra weird that MY pick-4 did not transfer to the post time favorite, but YOUR pick-3 did? That's crazy.

I wouldn't have taken Cowboy Code on fast dirt there with someone else's money, let alone as the last leg of a pick-3, let alone at the odds he was at.

Buzzle Ways was a steal on the win side of things.

I'm not sure why they took that 9th off of the turf, because the weather was great -- but the 5th race didn't look very comfortable. They weren't good horses, but did it seem to you like they were running a little funny over the green? Maybe I made that up after the fact, but it seemed the horses were not getting a hold of the grass very well and all of them look very uncomfortable and unsure on it.