Sometimes in handicapping, ticket structure and luck combine to provide a huge payout. Sometimes, the big hit will take you from nothing to the approximately $70,000 won Sunday by Canterbury Park paddock host Brian Arrigoni, who rode a wave of incredible occurrences on a memorable afternoon.
“The irony in all of this is I opened my DRF Bets account to zero dollars on Sunday and put in $144 for the early Pick 5, which I was able to hit and it gave me some money and some confidence to go after it a little bit more in the late pick 5,” said Arrigoni, setting the stage for a massive day tackling Gulfstream Park's Clasico del Caribe card.
“The 20-cent Pick 6 wager isn’t something that I play very often, but I did decide to dive in because of the early Pick 5," Arrigoni said. "With there being no mandatory payout, it’s not a wager I would normally recommend."
“I was hoping to beat Kukulkan on one of the tickets," Arrigoni said. "I used three choices on one of my Pick 5s. The No. 4 ran second at 22-1, and Kukulkan ended up winning, so it wasn’t the worst result knowing that I still had live tickets. But if that horse would have gotten beat I would have been in a good spot."
Another moderately-priced horse crossed the wire first in Race 8, but Arrigoni was fine with the result as he had Genubi Asquifar with Lopez aboard on every one of his multi-race tickets.
Halfway home in the Pick 6, alive with two Pick 5 tickets and four pick 4 plays, Arrigoni was confident next in a horse keyed on three of his tickets, Letruska, in the Copa Invitacional del Caribe Stakes.
“I liked the horse," Arrigoni said. "She shipped in early. I think that stood out to me. Even though there was a layoff, the horse had been there since October. They didn’t feel the need to get a race in prior to this. They were working her out consistently. I think it was overlooked that she put in three bullet works ahead of this race.”
Letruska struck at under 2-1 in the win pool, and Arrigoni started to wonder if the sequence was going to “chalk out.” He was alive in all of his multi-race tickets, but had spent good money on them and his expected return at this point wasn’t particularly high.
That finally changed in the penultimate race on the card. Arrigoni settled in to watch Race 10 and experienced a feeling common to everyday horseplayers. He saw the longest shot on the board leading a race, and although he had No. 8 Sacamandu on all of his tickets, he didn’t expect the colt to win the race in gate-to-wire fashion under jockey Luis Contreras.
“When you have a 33-1 shot ahead by five and then six (lengths) at the top of the lane, you’re just waiting for the race to fall apart," Arrigoni said. "I kept waiting for the two horses that I didn’t have on my tickets to get there. In the first four legs (of the pick 6), we really didn’t have a longshot come in.
"It had been reasonably-priced horses all the way along with 9-2 being the highest price. And now I don’t have the top two favorites, which were heavily bet throughout. But in that race, the No. 8 got the lead right off the start, kicked clear, and didn’t look like a 33-1 shot when he won the race.”
It was at this point that Arrigoni knew that if he could cash one or two of his tickets after the final race of the day, he'd be paid handsomely. When he did get a chance to look at the will pays, he was pretty pleased to say the least.
“There was a big difference between what I was going to make if (No. 2 Gran Omero) won versus what I’d make if (No. 11 The Brother Slew) won. If the No. 11 wins, I’m hitting for $54,000 plus whatever the pick 6 pays. If the No. 2 had won, it would have been $7,257.
What unfolded was almost surreal for Arrigoni. The Brother Slew, at 45-1 took the lead in mid-stretch and held on over Gran Omero. But a rider's objection and stewards inquiry delayed Arrigoni's celebration.
He either had a good score or, if the result held, a legendary one.
“It just brought me back to Kentucky Derby day with Maximum Security and that disqualification cost me plenty," Arrigoni said. "I thought, ‘Here we go again.'"
The result did stand, and Arrigoni hit every ticket except the Pick 4 that singled another horse. Of course, he said, “I thought it was a great call by the stewards."
The Pick 6 paid $11,806.40. Two Pick 5 tickets cashed with a base payout $16,782.10. One of the pick 5 tickets had eleven 4-of-5 consolation payouts of $47.60, while the other had 10 such instances. Arrigoni also had the Pick 4 three times at $7,219.25.
This, all after starting the day with $0 in his account.
