Whenever someone pulls down a nice Rainbow Pick 6 jackpot at Gulfstream Park, there's always a good story following concerning how much the ticket cost, the number of players involved, how the horses were picked, etc. Last Thursday, the jackpot was hit again on a single ticket, and it paid a juicy $180,853. 

    There were only eight races that day, so the first race in the Pick 6 was No. 3, which was won by Overdriven Cat, bred by Ocala's Beth Bayer, and the price was $4. Everybody was still in the mix.

    It became a little more complicated after that, but not out of reach for most, with the next four winners paying $21, $10.40, $18 and $8.80. A couple of the wins were very close and if the second-place finishers had won, there would have been many more live tickets going into the finale.

    A 3-year-old Gone Astray filly named Dixie Grits foiled all the hopefuls except one, leading all the way and paying $53.40. Bred by Sara Lynn Yutani and her daughter, Marti Haught, who owns the Tack Shack just north of OBS on Airport Road in Ocala, Dixie Grits was on just the one ticket, good for the $180,853 payout.

    On TVG, analyst Paul LoDuca received a phone call from a friend in New York who told the former ballplayer that he had the ticket, purchased at the Nassau OTB, which is the name of the slots parlor opened at Aqueduct recently and the cause of much concern among horsemen. But the really interesting facet of the call was that LoDuca's friend told him he hit it with a 40-cent ticket. He had two horses in the third race, followed by singles in the fourth through eighth. 

    That is some serious handicapping, to go along with a great deal of luck.

    WAS PUTIN INVOLVED? - Speaking of TVG, and the many things about it that infuriate me as a long-time bettor and one who watches the races on TV more than most, here's an incident that occurred on Friday. Back on March 24, I bet on a horse at Gulfstream named Golden Decision, ridden by Luca Panici. The 3-year-old colt by Skipshot was making a strong late move on the grass when he got murdered from all sides in the stretch. He finished fourth. 

    I made a little note of the incident and was ready on April 20 when he returned, this time with Magomet A. Kappushev aboard. (That is not a joke). It was then I noticed that the owner was Rasul Korkmazov and the breeder/trainer was Mikhail Yanakov. 

    Although I am a strict jockey follower, I wasn't going to let this guy go because Russia was intervening in horse racing, too. So I bet him to show. What I found out was that Magomet A. Kappushev is either one of the worst riders I've ever seen, or one of the best at setting up a horse for his next try. He had Golden Decision all over the racetrack, at odds of 13-1, and I wondered where he got his license.

    Just eight days later, my horse shows up again and Magomet is still his rider. He was about 8-1 in the morning line and I figured I'd better try again, just in case. I bet $3 to win, $4 to place and $20 to show. On the first flash of the board, Golden Decision was 2-1 and I thought, "Here we go." He started drifting up until he got to 5-1 as they were nearing the gate. When they were on their way, he was suddenly 2-1 again, and when they hit the line, he was 3-1. But that's not the only point of this tale.

    Magomet put my horse on the lead and did everything possible to keep him there. However, he got tired late and two others passed him in the last sixteenth, on his outside. But I noticed as they were nearing the wire that the horse inside mine checked somewhat and had to take back. Golden Decision finished third; at least I was going to get my show bet cashed. I hoped. 

    I waited patiently to hear if there was an inquiry or objection, or both, but the sharp analysts on TVG never said a word. They were too busy praising Keeneland, and interviewing a trainer, airing commercials, and just plain blabbering. I waited many minutes for the results crawl across the bottom to go from Gulfstream 4 to Gulfstream 5 but it wasn't happening. I knew the stewards had to be watching the stretch run, but nobody said a thing.

    A long time later, Gulfstream 5 reared its ugly head and sure enough, my horse was not listed in third place. I had to check the charts later to learn he had been disqualified and placed fifth. The TVGers still have not mentioned it. I understand they love to interview Todd Pletcher and Jerry Hollendorfer and Dale Romans and many others, and crow about Caton Bredar making her paddock picks, but this network was born and is supported because of horseplayers making wagers.

    My first order of business concerning TVG is to watch races and it should be theirs, too.  

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