On Saturday (3/26/22) I was making some small wagers on the horse races at Meydan, Saudi Arabia. In the 9th race I had a trifecta with “Life is Good” to win with 3 other horses underneath. I noticed that TVG had a money back special on the race if your win pick finished in 2nd or 3rd place. So, I put in a $2 win bet on Country Grammar at odds of 9/1. Country Grammar is trained by Bob Baffert and was being ridden by Frankie Dettori, one of the best jockeys in the world. Country Grammer passed a tiring Life is Good in the stretch to get the win. The payout on my wager was $20. I also had a show bet on the 3rd place horse, Chuwa Wizard (JPN), but that didn’t amount to much.
Next, I put in a pick 4 on the last four stakes races at the Fair Grounds. I didn’t have “Two Emmys” in the second leg but had the other 3 races correct. Unfortunately, they don’t give you any money for 3 out of 4. The last race of the day was the grade 2 Louisiana Derby. I had a boxed trifecta wager that consisted of the three horses that I had for this race in my pick 4. The horses were, (2) Zozos, (6) Epicenter, and (7) Pioneer of Medina.
Just before they loaded the gate, Pioneer of Medina threw the jockey and started running loose behind the gate. After a short chase, they managed to catch the horse and the vet said he was okay to race. This was a 9.5-furlong race and I convinced myself that Pioneer of Medina at 15/1 had used too much energy to place in the top 3 in this race. At the last minute, I cancelled my trifecta wager. The TVG announcers had made good arguments for some of the other runners, which also made me doubt my handicapping skills. As the race started #7 took the lead, then was passed by #2 at the quarter pole. #2 was passed by #6 in the stretch and they crossed the finish line 6, 2, 7. My $3 trifecta would have paid $17.05. I also missed out on the $5000 TVG hit and split promo. Although, it wasn’t a big payout, it still feels bad every time I make the wrong decision.