Bad Beats: Losing $1,700 by a neck

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If you bet enough, you lose too much.

But some of those bets hurt worse than others.

We’ve had some tough ones since we started Bettors Insider, and we’re sure you did too, but we decided to launch our BAD BEATS feature with what happened to horse race handicapper Chris Garrity yesterday at Santa Anita.

With some heavy favorites in a few races, Garrity decided that the only way to make any money would be via the Race 1 Pick 5 and the Race 2 Pick 4.

Since he thought the first race was wide open, he went with the 1, 2, 6, 7. The 2 won.

In the third race he loved the heavily favored 1-Slewgoodtobetrue. The 1 won.

In the fourth he picked the 1, 3, 6. The 6 won.

And in the fifth, he had the 2, 3, 7 and the 7 won.

His Pick 4 ticket starting with the second race was the same except he added in the 5 in the fifth race. Didn’t need it since the 7 won.

The cost of both 50-cent tickets combined was $48. And he had four of five winners on the Pick 5 and three of four on the Pick 4.

The problem that cost him a payday close to $1,700? The 2nd race, in which his horse, 2-Victory Element, took the lead turning in to the homestretch and looked like gangbusters, only to be caught in the final 16th by 6-Candy Cornell.

Now, of course, when you’re watching the 2nd race, you don’t know that you’re going to win the 3rd, 4th and 5th, but with 20/20 hindsight you want to punch yourself in the head.

Or punch the horse. The $1,700-losing GIF is below: