Several years ago, noted turf columnist Andy Beyer wrote a long piece about one of the worst "bad beats" of all time. It concerned a person (or persons) who lost out on a huge fortune in a Rainbow pick 6 because a late scratch switched more tickets onto the favorite in the race and instead of having the lone winning ticket, he (or they) merely ended up sharing a consolation prize.

    Add yesterday's Rainbow at Gulfstream Park to the list of bad beats of all time.

    The pick 6 was sailing along thusly heading into the final race: Halloween Horror won the eighth and paid $11.20, followed by Cape Force ($13.40), Classic Cotton ($26), Distinta ($25.80), and Chivalrous ($10.60). Heading into the 13th race, there were 28 live tickets, but only the five horse, Starship Zorro, had a lone ticket on him and it was going to be worth more than a million bucks. Analyst Caton Bredar informed the TVG audience of this fact just as the horses were going to the gate.

    Starship Zorro was 11-1 at post time, due to the fact that he had lost eight in a row since his last victory at Gulfstream West back in November. He did have a couple of thirds. 

    Emisael Jaramillo hustled Starship Zorro out quickly and he settled into a comfortable third in the mile and one-sixteenth race on the grass. The 7-year-old son of Giant's Causeway remained in striking position all through the backstretch, and coming to the turn Jaramillo let him loose and Starship Zorro took the lead easily, opening up by a couple of lengths. The owner(s) of the lone ticket had to be jumping out of their skin.

    Starship Zorro was still digging in gamely down the lane, but 7/2 shot Hidden Vow, an 8-year-old New York-bred gelding with Luis Saez aboard, was rolling down the outside. The two went head-and-head in the final 100 yards and at the wire, it was Hidden Vow who prevailed in a head bob.

    The pick 6 payoff to those alive with Hidden Vow was $38,321, and we can't know if those buried by the bad beat had one of those tickets or not. Hopefully, they did, and received some small consolation. But even if they did, they won't soon (if ever) get over this 'bad beat.' 

    The carryover into today's card is $765,299, and by the time the wagering ends the pool will again be well over $1 million. There was $410,662 bet into it yesterday. The bad beat victims will probably try again, assuming their hearts can stand it. 

    (Gulfstream enjoyed another big day at the windows, with the all-sources handle reaching $15,549,019). 

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