$16 Pick Six Bet on Friday the 13th Turns a Mailer Into a Millionaire

Frank Judson said he or his wife go to the Sonoma County Fairgrounds here every day of the Bay Meadows racing season to place a few bets. He had no reason to expect better than usual luck on Friday the 13th.

But on Saturday, the 66-year-old newspaper mailer cashed a Pick Six ticket that cost him $16, and collected $1,132,466 in what track officials said may be the biggest single payoff in United States racing history.

“I didn’t know I had won until I picked up this morning’s paper,” he said.

“Either my wife or myself go to the fairgrounds every day to bet the daily double and the Pick Six on the Bay Meadows races,” Judson said. “We wouldn’t drive all the way to San Mateo (where the track is located), except just on special occasions.”

He said he placed his bet Friday at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, one of four satellite facilities that offer wagering on Bay Meadows races as part of the inter-track network started in Northern California on Oct. 17.

Judson selected the winners of the second through the seventh races at Bay Meadows. A $74.20 victory by Cordova Red, the second longest shot on the board in the seventh, made Judson a millionaire.

Saturday, he cashed in, giving 20% to the Internal Revenue Service and $400 to the mutuel clerk who sold him the winning ticket.

With the rest of his money, Judson said he will pay some bills and retire a little earlier than the Jan. 29, 1986 date he had previously planned. And, he said, he expects to hear from his two children soon.

He also spent $8 to buy another Pick Six ticket Saturday.