Golden Gate Fields closed for the Summer last weekend. While we anxiously wait for opening day at The Spa and Del Mar, there are still a few larger meets going on to keep our itch scratched. Most recently, myself and two of my long time horse racing buddies turned our attention to Santa Anita's closing weekend card. Their Pick 6 had a mandatory payout and we took our best swing at it. Whilst there wasn't a blog (I was traveling and admittedly had a whiff on Saturday half focused betting) we had one hell of a day on closing Sunday. More to come there shortly.
While everyone should be talking about how my group chat consisting of me and my two buddies from back home named Degenerate Horse Guys hit the mandatory payout pick 6 for ~$11,000 and change, they aren't. Instead they are talking about Zedan Racing and Bob Bafferts potential next star horse, Muth.
Muth made easy work of his $61k MSW debut on Sunday in the second race at Santa Anita. It was an interesting debut for Zedan and Baffert to run the horse at 5F. Considering this likely will be Amir and Bob's horse with some of if not the highest Derby aspirations for next Spring, you would have expected them to go a bit longer to start. In recent memory, I can't think of a Baffert derby winner who made it's debut at 5F. Regardless, whilst I poke fun at Bob from time and have mixed feelings about him, the horse ran a monster race.
I mean jesus, not too much more to say or write other than that. The horse ran the opening quarter in 21.4 and if you watch the replay was a total hand ride by Juan Hernandez. He shook his reigns a bit in the stretch to make sure Muth didn't fall asleep. Impressive debut for sure, you never know how 2YO's will act and like trackside announcer Frank Mirahmadi said it was professional. I am curious what the next move will be for this 2YO, you would have to imagine they would point him to a race at Del Mar. My guess would be they get him one more race before the Del Mar Futurity but we will see. I wouldn't be too surprised if that just ended up being the next move for the connections. Makes sense, keep him in so-cal and stretch him out to 7F. Regardless, will be interesting to keep an eye on moving forward.
Back to gambling. Saturday was a bit of a shit show. Had two plays the 1 horse in the first race and then a 4-3 exacta box in the third race. Both lost, Rispoli in the first race had a questionable trip aboard the one and never really was in the race. And we missed the second place horse in the third race (the 3 came in third). Wasn't great by any means. I also was traveling and not able to watch any of the races so it was a place and pray scenario which is never fun. Luckily, the gang of degenerate horse guys had my back and had it in a big way as we went to fucking war on Sunday.
I met one of the members of this infamous group chat back in middle school. Gambling for both of us is a bit of a family tradition. Something that against the best wishes of both of our respective mothers was handed down by the men in our families. He and I used to ditch class senior year of high school and drive my Montero Sport down to Barona Casino and play 1-2 NL hold'em. This naturally turned into sports betting, which then turned into chasing parlays and e-sports, to then him getting into the great sport of kings and us firing on ponies to this day.
The only thing different from back in our early days are the weight we've gained, hair on our faces, and the stakes have gotten significantly higher since high school. The other guy in the group chat is one of the most sick fuck awesome gamblers I have ever met. He fires straight bullets. I honestly have never met him in person, but my buddy from high school looped us into a group chat (they work together) and the rest has been history. Whilst sometimes we fade one another in college basketball and football, we typically are on the same team and it is a hell of a lot of fun.
The pick 6 at Santa Anita had a guaranteed payout and it was estimated the pool would get to $3m. You have to be high on illicit drugs to think 3 degenerates like us weren't going to take a stab at that. We split two tickets where we spread pretty deep. I'll be honest, we have hit one pick 6 together. It was closing weekend at Golden Gate Fields. Our ticket cost us ~1k and the pick 6 was so chalky it returned about $550. We lost money which actually was fucking hilarious.
We have been chasing big pick 6's for a while now, whether its the Rainbow Pick 6 with those crooks down in Florida, aimlessly just lighting money on fire in the summers at Del Mar and Toga, or as I wrote above... even chasing quarter horse pick 6's on Sunday nights. I was skeptical to say the least that we would actually hit closing day at Santa Anita. Was even more skeptical it would end up paying that big, thought we would get a chalk fest.
In the first race we had a 20-1 shot lost a photo finish to the favorite. Luckily we had both horses in both tickets but wasn't necessarily the best omen to get going. However, we stayed the course and caught a few key upsets in our tickets. Next thing you fucking know, bada bing bada boom.. the boys are buzzing, the phone is vibrating non-stop and we are at every horse players dream, will pays. And I have played this game a long time, having 7 horses with 4-5 figure payouts in will pays is maybe the best feeling in the world. I mean just look at what some of these horses would have paid:
This honestly was one of the larger single payout potentials of my gambling career. It definitely is not every day where you have 7 horses with some of these payouts. Including the 3 above $40k. It was quite a surreal feeling and a great reminder of why I play this game when everyone asks. Something that people who don't know shit about gambling at this company will never understand. Because they can't even muster up the courage to bring $500 to the track and fire unless theres a camera on them at all times.
I admittedly was sneak watching the majority of the races and I conveniently had to "take a shower" 3 minutes before post time. I sat in the bathroom in a towel holding my phone and trying to keep my cool knowing what was on the line. Heres the race, except in spanish:
I held my screams in, gave a silent fist pump, and took one of the best showers of my fucking lives after. Kent Dorsemeaux had a huge ride and banged home an $11k winner for the good guys.
It was awesome man, it was a great end to a rather meh Spring. I feel very excited and optimistic headed into the best time of the year (Del Mar & Toga) and look forward to sharing a winning Pick 6 here. Let's have a huge Summer!
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That's hype bro... happy for you, my friend! Think it's going to be a great gambling season for TacoMagic!