Last Monday was a holiday and several tracks were running races. I was thinking of playing the pick six at Santa Anita, but it looked like someone had won the jackpot the day before, so there was no mandatory payout. Instead, I put in a pick four and was betting on a few individual races. My $9 pick four got knocked out in the 2nd leg when Varoma, who was the second longest shot, won the race. As they were getting ready to go into the gate, I got a good look of Varoma. The horse was a nice looking 4 year old dark bay filly. I quickly checked the horse’s stats for the last three races in Equibase and found that the horse was improving with each race. Varoma was a closer and Mike Smith was in the saddle. I decided to put in a $2 win wager. Varoma was dead last at the start of the race. I wasn’t very hopeful at this point. But then, Mike Smith passed the field in the stretch on Varoma and won the race by a length at 14-1. The payout was $30 for my $2 bet.
I know, I should have bet more. But I was basically buying insurance for my pick four. So far this year, I’m down about $250. But that’s because I’m playing more pick fours. The goal is to hit a big one. There is one more Friday in February for the TVG extra $3,000 when you hit the Late Pick 4 at Santa Anita. This one will be a challenge with 3 out of 4 being maiden races. Maiden races often produce longshot winners, but they are much harder to handicap. Most of the time you only have jockey/trainer stats and workouts to go on. For maidens, I also find it helpful to look at the pedigree and see if the horse is out of one of the bigger name barns.