Columnist Jeff Haney: Welcome, race fans: Books gear up for Breeders’ Cup

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 1999 | 10:13 a.m.

Jeff Haney's sports betting column appears Wednesday. Reach him at 259-4041 or haney@vegas.com

"Horses is smarter than people. You don't see no horses standing in line to bet on no peoples."

-- Old racetrack saying

And so it goes each autumn in local race books, as thousands of peoples will line up Saturday to put their money down on the Breeders' Cup -- an eight-race extravaganza, with each event deciding the sport's champion thoroughbred in its particular division.

It's called the greatest day in racing, and in recent years the Breeders' Cup has made strides toward becoming one of the biggest, and busiest, days of the year in Las Vegas.

John Avello, director of race and sports operations for Bally's and Paris, pegs Breeders' Cup Day at No. 2 on the Las Vegas sports calendar, just ahead of the Kentucky Derby but still trailing Super Bowl Sunday.

Bigger than the Derby?

"In the last five years, it has surpassed the Kentucky Derby," Avello said. "The Derby is just one race, whereas with the Breeders' Cup you have eight tremendous races featuring the best horses in the world.

"The NCAA Tournament, which takes place over a couple of weeks, is a huge event for us, and the Super Bowl is certainly the biggest day of the year. But this is by far the biggest horse racing day."

At Sunset Station, race and sports director Tom Smilanich says wall-to-wall crowds are a sure bet for Saturday. But Smilanich says the Breeders' Cup has yet to pass the Kentucky Derby in popularity -- though it may be gaining down the stretch.

"In my opinion, the Derby is still No. 1," Smilanich said. "Of course, the Super Bowl, far and away, is in a class by itself. But I am seeing more interest in racing in the past few years, especially the bigger events, as more corporate sponsors have come on board and more people have become aware of what the sport has to offer."

Whether the Breeders' Cup is running second or third in the race for the largest single-day event, there's no argument it brings a tremendous amount of excitement to Las Vegas race and sports books.

"It's going to be about as wild as it can get in here," said Avello. "We have a party scheduled upstairs at Paris for 1,000 people, and both books will be at full capacity."

Pick 6 Fever

The most attractive proposition for Breeders' Cup bettors -- except, of course, the T-shirts, baseball caps and souvenir mugs being given away with a $20 bet at many local properties -- is the $5 million-guaranteed Breeders' Cup Pick 6.

The popularity of this wager was illustrated a year ago, when the guarantee was beefed up to its current level of $5 million and the handle on the bet surged from $3.37 million to $6.49 million.

This year, nefarious Breeders' Cup officials have determined the Pick 6 will consist of races 5 through 10: the Mile, Sprint, Filly & Mare Turf, Juvenile, Turf and Classic.

Many bettors regard this development as they would an open lesion, because -- not coincidentally -- those are shaping up as the five most difficult races on the card to handicap.

"In other years, when you had a couple of horses who were standouts, people would isolate them in their Pick 6s and Pick 7s," Avello said. "This time, you're looking at a potential 'bomb' -- or a horse that pays a lot -- in each race."

If a couple of those bombs do go off Saturday at muggy, tropical Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla., it could add up to an explosive Pick 6 payoff. Even so, it would be a long shot to beat the record payoff of $1.5 million in 1993 (when the wager was a Pick 7). That figure received a huge boost when Classic winner Arcangues came in at an astonishing 133-1 at Santa Anita.

Avello said $1 million-guaranteed Pick 6s on Friday and Sunday at Gulfstream should keep the place hopping the entire weekend. He also noted that there will be three matchup (one-on-one) propositions posted on each Breeders' Cup race, and his matchups will be distributed among all Park Place properties.

Futures shock

With final entries set for today, Avello closed the Breeders' Cup futures book Tuesday night.

Not surprisingly, highly regarded Behrens had more tickets written on him than any other horse. Behrens, with four wins and four second-place finishes in eight races this year, was bet down to as low as 8-5 in the futures book to win the Classic.

In a mild surprise, lesser-known Soaring Softly, competing in the Filly & Mare Turf, attracted nearly as much attention from bettors.

"Soaring Softly had as much money bet on her as anybody," Avello said.

The Mile gets the nod as the most wide-open affair on the card, according to futures book wagering. Betting was spread evenly among likely entrants, with Hawksley Hill a shaky 4-1 favorite.

Missing in action

Not all of racing's notables will be on hand at the Breeders' Cup. The wonderfully named thoroughbred Smarter Than Us is nowhere to be found. Nor is two-time Mile champ Da Hoss, who used to mysteriously reappear like an equine Brigadoon to compete in the Cup each fall.

Greats such as Free House, Silver Charm and Charismatic have bailed out due to injuries and retirement.

While unfortunate, their absence will cast only a weak shadow on the festivities of Breeders' Cup Day, says Sunset Station's Smilanich.

"It has lost a little bit of its luster because of the horses that dropped out," Smilanich said. "But I expect it to be packed this weekend. When we get the bigger races in here, you can feel a real electricity in the air. Everyone has a blast."

* CONTEST WINNERS: One entrant, Joseph Guidice, went 17-0 to claim the $15,000 weekly prize in the Stardust's free All-American Football Contest.

In the Stardust Invitational, Greg Daraban went 4-2-1 to edge fellow Las Vegan Jimmy Rotunda (4-3) this past weekend. Both men cashed in on their best bet: Daraban picked the Lions plus 2 1/2 over the Buccaneers (Detroit won 20-3), and Rotunda had Pitt plus 22 over Virginia Tech (the Panthers lost 30-17).

At 9 p.m. Friday at the Stardust, handicapper and radio personality Dave Cokin faces Dana Corbo, owner and president of Don Best Sports.