Carlsbad Farmer Denied $1-Million Track Prize

The destitute Carlsbad farmer who thought he won $1 million July 21 in a contest at Hollywood Park will receive no prize money because the insurance company for the horse track concluded Monday that he violated the rules of the contest.

George A. Martinez, an attorney for farmer Rodolfo Sahagun, said that he plans to sue the Inglewood track and its insurance company, Mission National Insurance Co., for “multiples of $1 million” because his client wasn’t adequately told the rules of the game.

The attorney for the insurance company, Don Robbins, could not be reached for comment.

Sahagun won a handicapping contest at the track when he correctly picked nine winners. Sahagun admitted that he filled out four cards, one of which is handed to each person entering the track. On the back of each ticket, it says that each person is allowed to submit only one entry. Although Sahagun chose the answers on all four cards, three of the cards were signed by Sahagun and one card was signed by his wife, Concepcion.

“Mr. Sahagun didn’t know there was a limitation as to the number of tickets that could be submitted,” Martinez said. “If in fact there was this restriction, it was waived by Hollywood Park because they were given notice of the fact.”

Martinez said that when it was announced July 21 that Sahagun was indeed the one who had successfully chosen nine winners, he asked the organizers: “Which one of my tickets was the winner?”

Sahagun, a father of four who was on welfare when he traveled to Inglewood to attend the races, was told that day he could pick up the check for the first installment the next day.

Initially, after it was revealed that he won $1 million, the farmer was cut off for several weeks from his welfare benefits of $900 a month. Also, because of the publicity, it was revealed that Sahagun is on probation for a misdemeanor child-molestation conviction. But none of the revelations entered into his ability to collect his prize, his attorney said.

“I think the park had every intention of paying him, but when the insurance company came to reality of paying the first of 20 $50,000 installments, they decided to fight it,” Martinez said.