A Few Thorns in the Run for Roses : Gambling: Hundreds of bettors fill off-track sites to watch Kentucky Derby but find it hard to pick a winner.

They came. They bet. And most of the Kentucky Derby fans who packed Ventura County’s off-track betting site lost.

A 20-1 long shot by the name of Thunder Gulch sent a large portion of the bettors to the parking lots of the County Fairgrounds in Ventura.

The optimistic queued up at the lone money machine outside the off-track betting parlor to refill their pockets so they could take another wager on the remaining races.

“I can’t go home a loser,” said one man at the ATM. “My wife will kill me.”

Tradition also took a beating Saturday.

Save for the dozen pink roses placed next to the television set, there was none of the trappings of the formal Kentucky-style Derby Day. Instead, the Run for the Roses took on a distinctive Southern California flavor inside the pink stucco building.

The bar sold one mint julep all day.

That was after the bartender belatedly found a half-empty bottle of Maker’s Choice Mint Julep, widely snubbed as an inferior brand.

“It sure didn’t look too good,” the bartender said with a laugh. “It was green.”

Instead, beer and margaritas were de rigeur. Shorts, T-shirts and “Corona Beach Party” straw hats replaced sun dresses, flowery hats and the light-colored suit and ties preferred by the televised crowd at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Nobody seemed to care or notice when track officials played a recording of “My Old Kentucky Home.” The strains were overwhelmed by the din of eager bettors.

“To hell with them,” said Richard Herrera of Oxnard, as he watched a televised interview with Joan Rivers at Churchill Downs. Herrera switched his drink order to Jack Daniels and 7-Up and went back to his racing form with a grumble.

“This is the Super Bowl of horse racing,” said Herrera, who saddled up to the bar shortly after the doors opened at 8 a.m. He ordered a Bloody Mary and went to work methodically examining the Daily Racing Form.

Meanwhile, workers set up televisions and betting windows in the Gem and Mineral Building on the fairgrounds to accommodate the anticipated overflow crowd from the betting parlor called Watch and Wager.

By 9 a.m., the place began to fill and a constant murmur of horse talk engulfed the building. The din increased by the minute, reaching a crescendo of yelling, loud prayers and pleadings as the Kentucky Derby horses turned for home shortly after 2:30 p.m.

About 1,800 gamblers took their chances Saturday at the betting parlor, which overlooks Surfers Point at Seaside Park. Most sat mesmerized and shoulder-to-shoulder before giant television screens in the darkened rooms downstairs. Upstairs, where patrons paid $8 more to sit in the room with an ocean view, they dined and sipped their drinks like the $12 patrons they were.

Besides the big race, gamblers also could bet on more than 50 races run at tracks all over the globe, including Canada and Hong Kong. The action continued all day, with at least one of the three dozen television sets airing a live horse race.

Michael Akiba and Marcus Kassin, both 21, drove to Ventura from Los Angeles for the race. They wanted to avoid the anticipated crush of people at Hollywood Park and other Los Angeles-area betting sites.

“Those places are zoos,” Kassin said. “We wanted to come to a place where we could kick back.”

Carrying racing forms, newspaper tip sheets and the bravado of the young, the two Los Angeles men came early, ordered breakfast and confidently predicted their all-but-certain victory in the Kentucky Derby.

Over eggs and potatoes, Akiba said matter-of-factly that he has been coming to the track for 20 of his 21 years. Before the race, he said he felt strongly that money can be made at the track.

“I’m pretty good,” he said. But moments after the derby, it was apparent by their expressions that neither young man had bet Thunder Gulch.

“I gave him no chance,” a dejected Kassin said.

Lingering at the bar after the race, Herrera said he had considered Thunder Gulch for the longest time. But ultimately, he decided to put his money on another horse.

“They got a name for guys like me,” Herrera said, heading for the exit after the race. “Loser.”

A few people did hold a winning Kentucky Derby ticket Saturday.

Not only did Dennis Forrest pick the winner, he picked the horse that finished second as well--an exotic wager known as an exacta. He pocketed more than $500 for a $4 investment.

“I haven’t hit the derby in 10 years,” the Oxnard resident said. “I always bet the favorites.”

This year was different. And Forrest let it show with a holler and a whoop before buying a round of drinks for his friends.

Rickie Hamm also made a wise gambling decision Saturday. She accompanied her husband to the fairgrounds for the Kentucky Derby. They staked out a table on the outdoor patio.

“I don’t bet,” she said. “I came to eat the hot dogs and take in the sun.”