After my terrible pick 4 results this past Wednesday, I decided to try and redeem myself with Saturday’s all-stakes late pick 4 at Gulfstream. With a strong favorite in most of the races, it looked like it wouldn’t be too hard to build a good pick 4 that was within my $18 budget. I had 2 horses in the first race with “Major Dude” as my top selection. He won with my 2nd selection 1-1/2 lengths behind. The next race I thought was the most challenging. I had 3 horses in the 10-horse field. “Red Carpet Ready” ridden by Luis Saez was on my ticket and won by 2-1/4 lengths. The 3rd race had 9 horses and I had put my money on the two fastest runners.
At this point I was looking for a side bet that would cover me if my pick 4 failed in the 4th race. I decided to put in a $1 exacta with “Cairo Consort” who was the favorite on top, with 3 horses underneath. I added my other horse and one that I had decided to leave out. Plus, the #5 at 16-1 who was ridden by Luis Saez and trained by Todd Pletcher. At the start “Cairo Consort” had a bad break and was 7 lengths behind the field. I thought my exacta was dead and my pick 4 was on the ropes! But Irad Ortiz somehow got Cairo to make up the lost ground and pass the field to win.
It was one of the best come back rides I have seen in a while. To top it off, the #5 horse was in second place, giving me the $30 exacta win. That took the pressure off going into the last race where I had 3 of the 8 runners. The favorite was “Cyclone Mischief” who would only pay out $37.50 if he won. I was rooting for one of my other two who would pay more. Cyclone failed to make an effort and finished 2nd to last. One of my other horses ended up 3rd to last. But I had the winner, “Rocket Can” ridden by Junior Alvarado, who won by 3/4 of a length. The pick 4 paid $51.60 giving me $82.40 in winnings for the day.