BETTING THE SYSTEMS : Money Management Brings Good Day at Races

The “Broker” maintains that playing the stock market is the same as betting the ponies. A tall, thin, cadaverous individual, with a face that brings to mind Abraham Lincoln, he believes that both actions take a certain mastering.

For example, making money with stocks, he tells his clients, is merely a matter of ups and downs. If you have more ups than downs, you’ve got to make money. And winning at the race track, he tells his afternoon cronies, is a matter of picking the right system. Just stabbing and picking horses helter-skelter off the Racing Form, he says, is the quickest way to bankruptcy.

Actually, the Broker hasn’t been that much of a success in the market. Of course, he and his clients make money, but not so much that they’re getting rich and leaving their businesses or jobs. As for the race track, the Broker’s friends say he has been more successful with his system than he has a right to be.

The Broker has been doing fairly well with a money-management system that he devised during an off-moment while his stocks were doing more rising than falling.

Thus, extremely confident, and well-financed with the profits he makes on the stock market, the Broker bets as follows:

First race--$2; second race--$4; third race--$6; fourth race--$10; fifth race--$16; sixth race--$26; seventh race--$44; eighth race--$76, and ninth race--$100.

For this kind of wagering, a player needs a bankroll of $284 a day. However, as the Broker theorizes, any win paying $6 or more during the nine races will make up all the losses prior to the win and return a profit for the day.

The key to the system, however, is that if a horse wins and the payoff is less than $6, then the player must keep wagering the money progression, even if there’s a profit.

And since the broker relies on his research department at his stock brokerage firm to give him the stocks to suggest to his customers, he also takes the advice of professional handicappers when using his betting system. What he does from day to day is follow one of the handicappers in the Los Angeles Times as listed in the Consensus box.

During the Santa Anita season that recently ended, the Broker bet on either Bob Mieszerski, who ended up with the most wins, or Curtis Crayon, who finished with the most money won, depending on who held the hottest hand in picking winners.

For example, on April 22 at Santa Anita, Curtis Crayon picked four winners. Although his first two paid less than $4, his win in the sixth returned $16.20 and another win in the eighth paid off a hefty $37.20. Here’s how the system worked:

The Broker lost $2 on the first race, $4 on the second and $6 on the third. Losing $12, he wagered $10 on the fourth race, which was won by Lady Lavina, a heavy favorite that paid $3.60. Cashing in his tickets, the Broker had $18, but still was losing $4. Therefore, he continued to bet the progression.

In the fifth race, the Broker wagered $16 on Golden Pheasant, which also was a heavy favorite, paying $3.80 to win. Returns amounted to $30.40 and the Broker was ahead $10.40. But since no horse had won paying $6 or more, the betting progression continued.

A $26 bet was required for the sixth race. Just Deeds, a nag Crayon picked on top in a six-furlong allowance sprint for 4-year-olds and up, with jockey Chris McCarron in the saddle, jumped out of the No. 4 post position to second at the start. At the quarter-pole, Just Deeds was in front by a head and was running strongly. Entering the stretch, Just Deeds fell behind T.V. Screen by 2 1/2 lengths. Then Just Deeds made a big move coming down the stretch, overtook T.V. Screen and won by a neck.

Backers of the horse received $16.20 for a $2 win ticket. For his $26, the Broker collected $210.60. After deducting his $26 bet and adding $10.40 to the profit, the Broker was ahead $195 for the day.

At this point, the Broker quit and left the track. However, had he not won the sixth race, but continued the progression, he would have lost the seventh and his $44 bet.

The eighth race, however, would have easily put him ahead had he been losing and continuing the progression. Betting $76, the Broker would have seen Delegant, Crayon’s best bet of the day, come home an easy winner on the turf in the $500,000 San Juan Capistrano Invitational, a 1 3/4-mile race for 4-year-olds and up.

The win paid $37.20 and the Broker would have marched off with almost $1,400 in winnings.

Another good day for the Broker at Santa Anita on April 20 was when he switched from Crayon to Mieszerski. Although Mieszerski came up with only two winners, they were enough to give the Broker a profit. Losing through the seventh race, the Broker bet $76 on Paper Princess in the eighth, about 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf for fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up.

Paper Princess won by one-half length over Warming Zone to pay backers $5 to win. The Broker received $190 for his $76 bet. Total betting for the eight races amounted to $184, giving the Broker a $6 profit. However, since the winning payoff was less than $6, the Broker was forced to bet $100 on the last race, according to his system’s rules.

In the ninth, Mieszerski’s top choice, Pop’s Ruling, was scratched, thus elevating Lans Manus to the No. 1 selection. Lans Manus broke from the No. 10 post position in the six-furlong sprint for 4-year-olds and up and went wire to wire to win by five lengths.

The nag paid $8 to win for every $2 win ticket and the Broker collected $400. Subtracting the $100 bet on the race and adding on the $6 won on the eighth race, the Broker left the track winning $306 for the day.

Although the amount of money bet and won is larger than most people can handle, it doesn’t faze the Broker. Since he handles large sums of money in the stock market, the Broker thinks nothing at all of betting $100 on the last race. After all, for some people, he reasons, it’s simply a matter of dipping into the petty cash.