Hi there,
Big week. Yesterday we got our New York license, so every New York State resident can now sign up and bet with us. Keeneland runs the QEII tomorrow at 5:16pm ET, Newmarket crowns its two-year-olds with the Dewhurst, Charles Town puts $1.025 million on one Saturday night, and the thing I really want to talk about is a race that lasts 30 seconds, goes every fifteen minutes from 1pm ET, and you don’t bet it enough. The dogs. Which brings me to the dog.
The Yankees got swept Wednesday, their season ended by a man in the left-field seats who paid $14 for a beer and then cost us the pennant with his bare hand. My wife found me on the couch in the dark and asked, gently, what I’d do with my evenings now. I said, “the dogs.” I meant Wheeling Downs. I want to be very clear that I meant Wheeling Downs.
I got home Thursday to a dog bed in the hallway, two bowls with names on them (plural), and a rescue application on her laptop that was 80% complete. Under “reason for adopting” she’d written “my husband asked.” I explained I meant the betting kind, the kind that never needs walking. She said that’s exactly what a man says when he’s trying to get out of a commitment. By Thursday night I had agreed to a home visit.
So this week’s newsletter is a betting guide, and it’s also Exhibit A. Let’s get into it.
→ RACING THIS WEEK
- 🗓️ TODAY (Fri) – 🇬🇧 Newmarket · FUTURE CHAMPIONS DAY 1 · Fillies’ Mile (G1, £500K) + Challenge (G2) + 3 G3s · first race 8:15am ET · 🇺🇸 Keeneland · Sycamore (G2, $400K) · 1pm ET · 🇺🇸 Hoosier Park · INDIANA SIRES STAKES FINALS · 8 x $250K, $2M (harness) · 5:30pm ET · 🇺🇸 Vernon Downs · Big Apple finals, $1M (harness)
- 🗓️ TOMORROW (Sat) – 🇺🇸 Keeneland · QEII CHALLENGE CUP (G1, $750K) · 5:16pm ET · 🇬🇧 Newmarket · DEWHURST (G1, £500K) 10am ET + Cesarewitch (£175K) 10:40am ET + 3 G3s · first race 8:15am ET · 🇺🇸 Charles Town · WV BREEDERS’ CLASSICS · 10 stakes, $1.025M · 7pm ET · 🇺🇸 Belmont Park · Hill Prince (G3, $200K) + Bricks and Mortar ($175K) · 12:05pm ET · 🇨🇦 Woodbine · Ontario Damsel + Sophomore ($125K each) · 1:05pm ET · 🇺🇸 Santa Anita · California Flag H. ($100K) · 🇺🇸 Northfield · Courageous Lady (G3) (harness) · 🇺🇸 Red Mile · Grand Circuit closing day (harness)
- 🗓️ SUNDAY – 🇺🇸 Keeneland · Franklin (G2, $400K) · 4:12pm ET · 🇨🇦 Woodbine · Glorious Song + Display ($125K each) · 🇺🇸 Santa Anita · California Distaff H. ($100K)
- 🗓️ NEXT WEEK – Sat Oct 17: 🇬🇧 Ascot · BRITISH CHAMPIONS DAY · £4.35M, five G1s · World Pool · first race 7:55am ET · 🇺🇸 Keeneland · Raven Run (G2) + Perryville (G3) · 🇺🇸 Scioto Downs · Breeders Crown eliminations Fri + Sat (harness)
- GREYHOUNDS 🐕 · 🇺🇸 Wheeling Downs · Wed to Sun · 1pm ET · 15 to 20 races a day · 🇺🇸 Tri-State · evenings · 🇦🇺 Australia · overnight, every night · 4% cashback · This is the week to try them. See below.
→ 🍎 NEW YORK: WE’RE LIVE
Yesterday the paperwork came through and MyWinners is now licensed in New York State. All New York residents welcome, starting now. Same app, same free past performances, same tips, same live streams of every track from Keeneland to Wheeling Downs, same cashback promos, and the same newsletter from the same guy with a dog bed in his hallway. If you live in New York, sign up today and you’re bet-ready for Belmont tomorrow at 12:05pm ET. If you know someone who does, forward this. We’ve been asked “when New York?” more times than I can count. The answer is now.
→ 🐕 GO TO THE DOGS
Here’s a number that surprised me when I pulled it. Wheeling Downs and Tri-State, the two greyhound tracks in West Virginia, are both some of the top tier tracks on MyWinners by handle. Not top tier greyhound tracks. Top tier, full stop, in a lineup that includes Keeneland and Belmont. A small group of you figured this out a long time ago and have been very quiet about it. This week I’m blowing your cover.
If you’ve never bet a greyhound race, here’s the whole thing in one paragraph. Eight dogs, eight boxes, numbered 1 to 8 from the rail out. The lure goes, the boxes open, and about 30 seconds later it’s over. No jockey, no pace scenario, no trainer intent, no “he didn’t like the kickback.” The dog that gets out of the box clean and gets to the first turn in front usually wins, and the first turn is where every race is decided, because eight dogs funneling into one bend is where the trouble happens. That’s it. That’s the handicapping. Early speed and a clear run. If you want the longer version, with grades, distances and how to read a program, Rob wrote the greyhound betting guide on the blog this week.
Why this week. Wheeling Downs runs Wednesday through Sunday with first post at 1pm ET and 15 to 20 races a day, so tomorrow you can bet a race every fifteen minutes from lunch until Keeneland’s QEII at 5:16pm ET, and then switch to Charles Town at 7pm ET and keep going. Tri-State picks up the evening shift. The Australian dogs run overnight, every night, with 4% cashback on every bet, which means the losing nights cost less. And in the Handicapping Store, there’s a free daily tip sheet for both Wheeling and Tri-State, the same sheet the regulars use. Free. Every day.
How to bet it. Three things the people who do this well told me when I asked. One: the box matters more than the dog’s name. An early-speed dog in the 1 or 8 box has room, an early-speed dog in the 4 or 5 box has traffic. Two: don’t bet to win. Greyhound pools are built for exotics. The quinella (two dogs, either order) and the trifecta are where the money is, because with eight runners and no jockeys the results get spread around. Three: grade matters. A dog dropping down from a higher grade is the greyhound equivalent of a class drop in claiming races, and it works the same way.
The weekend plan. Download the Wheeling tip sheet now. Pick three races, not fifteen. Bet a $2 quinella box of the sheet’s top three in each one ($6 a race, $18 total). If you cash one, you’ll understand why the Wheeling crowd never says anything. If you cash none, reply and tell me, because by Monday I need to prove to my wife that this is a hobby and not a reason to adopt.
One more thing, because it’s a fair question and I’d rather answer it than dodge it. If you’re wondering what happens to these dogs when they stop racing, and how the sport looks after them while they’re in it, we wrote that up too: greyhound racing and welfare. Read it before you bet, or before the home visit. Either way.
Bet the Greyhounds on MyWinners →
→ 🏇 KEENELAND WEEK TWO: THE QEII, AND WHAT FALL STARS WEEKEND TOLD US
Last weekend was the fifteen-ticket weekend and it went, broadly, the way the favorites wanted it to go. Rhetorical went straight to the lead in the Turf Mile at 9/5 and never let one past him, 2 1/4 lengths over Lake Forest, with Zulu Kingdom (my bingo square) tiring to fifth. American History won the Breeders’ Futurity for Pletcher over Coach Pope and Q B Rocket. Classic Q took the First Lady, which I said she would and which is the only correct thing I said all weekend. Evanescence beat Praying in the TCA. Emphatic took the Alcibiades Friday, Fully Subscribed the Spinster Sunday. At Belmont, U.S.S. Valor ran down Gaudreau in the Champagne and Dotsy won the Frizette at 11/1 over a field that included Libby Lloyd, who finished fourth. Santa Anita sent three: Hughes (Baffert, American Pharoah) to the Juvenile, Domain Expansion (Oak Leaf) to the Juvenile Fillies, and Thought Process, who won the Rodeo Drive (G2) by 4 1/4 lengths for Phil D’Amato, to the Filly & Mare Turf. In Paris, Daryz did the thing no colt had done since 1978 and won a second Arc, Bay City Roller second, Diamond Necklace third. Rob’s prep-race wrap has every result and who’s now in which Breeders’ Cup race.
This week the tickets are gone but the money isn’t. Tomorrow’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1, $750K, 1 1/8 miles turf, 5:16pm ET) is the race for three-year-old fillies on grass, and it drew eleven. Luster is the headline, drawn in post 2, and she’s the one the market will land on. Tam Tam, Kensington Lane, and Storm’s Wake are the ones with a case against her. Rob’s QEII preview runs through all eleven, and his weekend guide has the rest of the card. Today’s Sycamore (G2, $400K, 1 1/2 miles turf, 5:16pm ET) is the marathon, and Sunday’s Franklin (G2, $400K, 5 1/2 furlongs turf, 4:12pm ET) is the sprint. Three turf stakes, three different distances, one weekend, and a late first post that lets you watch Newmarket in the morning and Wheeling at lunch and still be fresh for the QEII.
→ 🏇🇬🇧 NEWMARKET: THE RACES THAT NAME NEXT YEAR’S GUINEAS FAVORITES
Two mornings of two-year-olds at Newmarket, first race 8:15am ET both days, and if you want to know who’s going to be favorite for the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas next May, these are the two races that decide it.
This morning it’s the Fillies’ Mile (G1, £500K). Musical Times is 4/9 for Charlie Appleby after she bolted up in the May Hill, and she’s already the Guineas favorite. At that price the win market is pointless, so the bet is underneath her. Rogue Passion is the main danger. Tomorrow it’s the Dewhurst (G1, £500K, 10am ET), the big one. Desert Castle is somewhere between 4/5 and 10/11 depending on who you ask, and he’ll move again before the off. He won the Champagne Stakes and would be a second straight Appleby favorite in 24 hours. Only five go: Darkness Falls, Great Barrier Reef, Appleby’s second string Jassas, and Andrew Balding’s Gentle Hurricane are the four trying to beat him. Then at 10:40am ET the Cesarewitch (£175K), 2 1/4 miles with 29 declared from a maximum of 32, the biggest betting handicap of the British autumn. Beylerbeyi is the favorite. In a race with 29 horses, do not bet the favorite to win. Bet it in the exacta and the trifecta and let the pool do the work. Free international PPs for both days are in the Handicapping Store.
→ MORE RACING THIS WEEKEND
🏇 Charles Town · Saturday · first post 7pm ET. The 40th West Virginia Breeders’ Classics, ten stakes, $1.025 million, and the only $300K race in the country on Saturday night: the Sam Huff Breeders’ Classic. All ten are for West Virginia-breds, which means the fields are full of horses you’ve seen beating each other at Charles Town all year, and that’s a handicapper’s dream. Form holds. The bullring at Charles Town is six furlongs around, so the inside posts and the early speed are the whole story, which, if you’ve read the top of this email, is going to sound familiar. West Virginia Saturday: dogs at 1pm ET at Wheeling, horses at 7pm ET at Charles Town, same state, same app.
🏇 Belmont Park · Saturday · first post 12:05pm ET. The Hill Prince (G3, $200K) for three-year-olds on turf, and the first running of the Bricks and Mortar ($175K), named for the 2019 Horse of the Year. $375K across two turf stakes. Rob’s Belmont preview has both fields.
🐴 Hoosier Park · tonight · first post 5:30pm ET. Indiana Sires Stakes Finals Night: eight $250K finals for two- and three-year-olds, plus the aged finals, and the full card is worth over $2.4 million across 15 races. And at Vernon Downs tonight, the four Big Apple finals for two-year-olds, $250K each, $1 million total. Tomorrow the Courageous Lady (G3) at Northfield, and tomorrow is also closing day at the Red Mile, which goes out properly: the $365,000 Tattersalls Pace (G2) is the last race of the meet, with the $212,000 Glen Garnsey Memorial (G2) as the co-feature. Last weekend at the Red Mile, Nix Nacken won the Kentucky Futurity in 1:50 flat, equal to the world record for a three-year-old trotting gelding, and paid $37.48. If you had him, you’re not reading this, you’re on a boat. 3% cashback on every harness bet.
🏇 Woodbine · Saturday and Sunday · first post 1:05pm ET. Four $125K stakes, with up to $25K extra on top for Ontario-breds: the Ontario Damsel and Sophomore tomorrow, the Glorious Song and Display on Sunday. Last Saturday, Arabian Crown won the Canadian International by 3 3/4 lengths for Godolphin, so Charlie Appleby had Woodbine’s biggest race and is now favorite for both of Newmarket’s.
🏇 Santa Anita · Saturday and Sunday · first post 3:30pm ET. The California Flag Handicap ($100K) tomorrow and the California Distaff ($100K) on Sunday, both for Cal-breds on turf. Quiet weekend out west after three Breeders’ Cup tickets last Saturday.
🏇 Delaware Park · last Saturday’s make-up card went the way it was supposed to: Regaled came from last to first under Joseph Ramos to win her second straight Delaware Handicap by three lengths on a muddy track. Nerazurri, the favorite, was third. The meet closes next Saturday, October 17.
🌏 Around the world, in three lines. British Champions Day at Ascot is next Saturday, October 17: £4.35 million across seven races, five Group 1s, World Pool, first race 7:55am ET, Champion Stakes 11am ET. Full preview next Friday, but if you’re booking a brunch, book it for 7:30am ET. Ka Ying Rising is still on course for The Everest in Sydney on October 17 too, so it’s going to be a long morning. And the Breeders Crown, harness racing’s championship night, is at Scioto Downs on October 23 and 24, with the eliminations next Friday and Saturday.
🐕 Wheeling Downs + Tri-State + Australia · see the top of the email. Free tip sheets for Wheeling and Tri-State in the Handicapping Store, 4% cashback on the Australian dogs overnight.
Bet This Weekend’s Racing on MyWinners →
→ 🤑 LIVE CARRYOVERS & A MUST-PAY
Tonight at Hoosier. Champions Night carries six guaranteed pools. Guaranteed means the track has put the money in whether anyone else shows up or not. Small field, same guaranteed money. That’s the whole appeal, and on a night when the big harness crowd is at Vernon, the Hoosier pools are yours.
- Race 1: $10,000 guaranteed Pick 5
- Race 2: $10,000 guaranteed Pick 4
- Race 6: $10,000 guaranteed Pick 4
- Race 8: $10,000 guaranteed Pick 5
- Race 12: $15,000 guaranteed Pick 4
- Race 15: $10,000 guaranteed Hoosier High 5
Sunday at Gulfstream. This is the one. Gulfstream has a mandatory payout on the Rainbow 6 on Sunday, and here’s why that matters, because the Rainbow 6 is the most misunderstood bet in the game. On a normal day, picking all six winners does not get you the jackpot. The jackpot only goes out in full to a single unique winning ticket. Everyone else with six winners splits that day’s pool, which is nice, but it isn’t the number on the board. On a mandatory payout day that condition disappears. The whole jackpot has to go out, to whoever has six winners, split between them. It’s the one day the bet does what everybody assumes it does every day. Sunday, you’re playing for the whole thing.
All weekend at Woodbine. The Super High Five has a carryover sitting on it and so does the Pick 6, across Saturday’s Ontario Damsel card and Sunday’s Glorious Song and Display. Woodbine’s High 5 is the biggest carryover in the country right now and nobody is talking about it, partly because it’s in Canadian dollars and partly because it’s Woodbine. The money doesn’t know that.
As for Thistledown. Somebody got it. The Pick 6 was six figures on Monday and it’s back to pocket change, which is your weekly reminder that carryovers are a moving target and the only number worth acting on is a live one. Bookmark this link so you can always find them:
→ BREEDERS’ CUP BINGO: THE RESULTS
Fifteen squares, three days, and I need to report my own card first because you’re going to find out anyway. The four I put my name to in print: Zulu Kingdom, fifth. Coach Pope, second. Gaudreau, second. Praying, second. Classic Q won, and she wasn’t a square. The ten I said I’d be “guessing at like everyone else” went better: Hughes in the American Pharoah and Fully Subscribed in the Spinster both landed, which gave me two of five on the Santa Anita-into-Sunday row and nothing anywhere else. Two out of five. No shirt. There’s a lesson in there about which of my picks to follow and I refuse to learn it.
Photographic evidence, now with a headline Gio made in less than a minute. Two chips, one Modelo, one Betting Ambassador who had a better card than me and was kind enough not to say so, and a sheet that stays on the kitchen counter until my wife throws it out or the dog eats it, whichever comes first.
You did better. Or you said you did. We received eight replies claiming a full row of five. Some of those replies arrived after the races were run, some of them had handwriting that changed halfway down the card, and one of them picked a horse that was scratched on Thursday. We are, let’s say, a little dubious that all eight of you won. We dished out eight “Better Luck Next Time” tees anyway, because that’s the kind of people we are and because Leon had already ordered them. Well done. Nobody got all fifteen, or at least nobody claimed to, so the drink at Bobby V’s Stamford remains unnamed, and I remain fairly confident. Favorites row, mostly: Rhetorical, American History, Evanescence, Emphatic and Fully Subscribed carried most of the winning cards. Dotsy at 11/1 in the Frizette killed the rest
The real-money version is getting closer. Bobby V’s Bradley is launching an in-venue handicapping contest, real buy-in, real prize pool, in the next few weeks. The bingo was practice. This one keeps score with money. Details as soon as I have the date.
→ SPORTS THIS WEEK
- 🏈 NFL Week 5 · Sun Oct 11 1pm ET: Browns @ Jets · Giants @ Commanders 1pm ET · Raiders @ Patriots 1pm ET · Mon Oct 12 8:15pm ET: Bills @ Rams · Vic’s games: Eagles @ Jaguars (London, 9:30am ET, so get your bets in early), Vikings @ Saints, 49ers @ Seahawks
- ⚾ MLB Playoffs · Yankees swept by the Rays in the ALDS, 4-3 in Game 3 on Wednesday · Rays to the ALCS · We don’t want to talk about it
- ⚽ EPL · Matchweek 6 · Sat Oct 10 12:30pm ET: Man United v Tottenham · Sun Oct 11 11:30am ET: Liverpool v Man City · Arsenal v Leeds Sat 7:30am ET · Chelsea v Bournemouth Sat 10am ET
- 🥎 Jai Alai · Pelota Miami Season X · Pari-mutuel matches Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11:30am ET · 3% cashback on exacta/trifecta at MyWinners
→ AT BOBBY V’S THIS WEEK
- 🏟️ Stamford. NFL Sunday on every screen from 1pm ET, with the Jets, Giants and Patriots all in the early window, then Man United v Tottenham and Liverpool v Man City on the soccer screens Saturday and Sunday mornings. Sports betting at the counter, Keeneland and Wheeling on the racing wall.
- 🏟️ Windsor Locks. Survivor 51: Underground Games on the big screen Wednesday, October 14, because one of our regulars is on it (we still won’t say who). NFL Sunday from 1pm ET, Charles Town’s Breeders’ Classics on the racing screens Saturday night from 7pm ET.
This is Stamford on a game day. Now picture it with your office party here.
🎄 Christmas parties. It’s October 9 and I’m already talking about Christmas, which tells you how fast the calendar is filling. Both Bobby V’s locations are taking holiday party bookings now, and the good Friday and Saturday dates in December are going quickly. Office party, family thing, a table of six, a private room (8-100 people), or the whole bar (500+ people) with sports on every wall, a menu and live entertainment built around you, photo booths, DJ’s, bands, magicians, dancers, we’ve done it all. If you want a date, get it in this month.
Email to enquire about your party →
→ 🏇 MY EXOTIC OF THE WEEK
Kenyetta and Natalie with the shirts in question. Front: the flag. Back: how you’ll feel. Eight went out this week to the bingo “winners” and one to Jules in Osceola County, Florida, which is a long way to mail a shirt. There are more. Keep sharing.
Last week: $1 trifecta key, Phone Booth over Coach Pope, American History, and Q B Rocket. The race finished American History, Coach Pope, Q B Rocket. I had all three horses that ran 1-2-3. I had them underneath a horse who did not run 1-2-3. If I’d boxed the four of them for $24 instead of keying for $6, I’d be writing this from the boat next to the Nix Nacken guy. That’s 1-for-4 in the fall and the shirt count is at two.
This week I’m going to the dogs with you. Wheeling Downs tomorrow. Take the free tip sheet from the Handicapping Store, find the race where the sheet’s top pick is drawn in the 1 or the 8 box, and play a $1 trifecta key: that dog on top, the sheet’s next three underneath for second and third. Six combos, $6. Here’s the logic. The sheet does the grade and form work. The box does the trouble work. An early dog on the outside or the rail has one less thing to go wrong at the first turn, and in a race that lasts 30 seconds, one less thing is the whole edge. If there’s no race on the card where the top pick draws the 1 or the 8, you don’t bet. That’s the discipline part. I’m aware I’ve never shown it.
→ 🏈 VIC’S PICKS: WEEK 5
Victor went 2-1 again. 49ers covered against Denver, 24 to 14, the Jaguars won outright in Cincinnati at +2.5, and the Bills -7 against the Patriots lost in the most satisfying way possible: the Patriots won the game. Two straight 2-1 weeks for Victor and both weeks the loss was a pick against one of ours. I’m not saying it’s a curse. I’m saying he should stop.
Victor’s note this week: “Another winning week in the books, but we’re looking to push ahead with a sweep, and I like what’s on the docket for Week 5.” Three picks, and for the first time all season, none of them against one of ours. Progress.
- 👉 Eagles +7.5 @ Jaguars. Victor: “A ‘home’ game for Jacksonville in London, but they are notorious slow starters and I expect a banged-up Philly to keep it close.” Mike: he picked the Jaguars last week and they won outright. Now he’s picking against them for a touchdown and a half. That’s not a lack of loyalty, that’s a man who reads the number.
- 👉 Vikings -1.5 @ Saints. Victor: “Did the Saints give us any reason they should keep this close after that debacle on Monday night? Minnesota keeps rolling in this one.” Mike: no notes. Monday night was hard to watch.
- 👉 49ers ML @ Seattle, +135. Victor: “A proper NFC West battle comes down to the fact that Brock Purdy is starting to look like an MVP candidate and Sam Darnold isn’t yet.” Mike: a road dog on the money line is the most confident thing Victor has done all year. Two straight weeks on the 49ers. If this lands he’ll be insufferable, and I’ll have earned it.
Hold him to his record. We’re keeping score all season.
→ 💰LIVE PROMOS THIS WEEK
For anyone new (hello, New York): Leon is our head of promotions. He’s a Brit, a horse racing nut, and a soccer fan, specifically a Liverpool fan, which we ask you not to hold against him, because he’s trying. He’s also the man who decides what you get for free each week, so be nice to him on Sunday at 11:30am ET when Liverpool play Man City.
Leon update. He took the sandwich board off. We’d like to say this was a decision. It was not. It was the Yankees. He arrived Thursday morning in a plain black t-shirt, said nothing, made coffee, and sat down, and the whole office has agreed to treat him like a man in mourning. Here’s what he’s giving away, delivered in a whisper: Bet & Get at Mountaineer + Finger Lakes · 3% cashback on all US & Canadian harness · 4% cashback on Australian greyhounds · 3% cashback on jai alai exacta/trifecta at Pelota Miami · Pelota Miami jersey giveaway, $2,500+ in jai alai bets wins a game-worn jersey. The first one went out last week, so it’s real.
→ WORST BEAT OF THE WEEK
First week of the mailbag and you people are in pain. The winner is down in the P.S., with photographic evidence. The bar has been set.
For the record, the house beat of the week belongs to everyone who had Gaudreau on top in the Champagne. Won his debut as the favorite, sat where he needed to sit, and then watched U.S.S. Valor come out of a pack, get bumped, and draw clear by 6 1/2 lengths. It wasn’t close. The horse he’d beaten at Saratoga, Coach Pope, then lost the Breeders’ Futurity the same afternoon. The form line of the weekend, I called it. It was. Both halves of it ran second.
Reply with yours from this weekend. The most painful one gets a “Better Luck Next Time” tee and this spot next Friday.
🎶 New York, New York. 🎶 I’ve been singing it since the license came through yesterday. The office has asked me to stop. My wife has asked me to stop. The empty dog bed, so far, has no opinion.
See you at the rail.
 | Mike B VIP & Community, MyWinners |
Tel: +1800 468 2260 (support)
P.S. The first Worst Beat of the Week winner, and I use the word loosely, is Jules from Osceola County, Florida. His beat, in his words: “Belmont Pick 5 Saturday, $64 ticket, alive to the last leg with Gaudreau as my single in the Champagne, and I’m watching the will-pays with four of the five horses I’d need already home. He was in the right spot turning for home. Then U.S.S. Valor came out of nowhere and won by six and a half and my single ran second, and I’m told the ticket would have paid about $4,100, which I’ve now typed out so I can stop saying it out loud.” Jules, you singled a 5/2 shot against a 4/9 favorite in a Grade 1 for two-year-olds, and the favorite won by six and a half. That’s not a beat, that’s a decision. Have the shirt anyway. He did, and he sent us this.
That is a man at peace with a $4,100 ticket that didn’t cash. Be like Jules.
P.P.S. Last week paid out like we had something to prove. Ten thousand-odd of you cashed a ticket, and some of you cashed a serious one. Erin from Hamden hit the Keeneland Pick 5 on opening Friday for $5,200. Tony from Bridgeport, one of the sharpest handicappers we have, turned his homework into $4,429 on a straight win bet in Keeneland race 11 on Saturday, then found another $3,071 in a Belmont trifecta before he’d finished his coffee. Sam up in Torrington converted a small Belmont Pick 5 into $3,700 and, by his own account, into his NFL bankroll for Sunday. The value hunters didn’t need four figures to get there. Marcus from Norwalk put $36 on an exacta in Santa Anita race 8 and got back $2,670, about 74 times his stake, which is either a model ticket or a very polite robbery. And Eddie from Tampa, who I’m choosing to believe is a Rays fan out of pure generosity this week, took a $9 Pick 4 at Assiniboia Downs for $2,161. Nine tees (eight for bingo, one for the worst beat) and a Pelota Miami jersey also went out the door. We love your work. Stay focused, have fun, and reach out if it ever gets to be too much. We’re here for you.
P.P.P.S. Tonight’s Mega Millions is $364 million. Tomorrow’s Powerball is $516 million. That’s $880 million across two draws, which is enough to buy every greyhound in West Virginia and still have room in the hallway for the bed. Tickets at all nine MyWinners venues.
