“What would you tell the agents when they tried to re-negotiate their existing contacts?”
“That was the fun part! I would just tell ‘em, ‘If he doesn’t want to play, I wish him a great deal of luck in his new career, whatever it might be!’”
After their meal of thick steaks, Klein paid the check and looked at Jeff. He said, “Probably it was the NFL owners that finally made me just want to sell. Some of these damn owners never did anything right in their lives except inherit their parents’ money. They didn’t think like businessmen, they didn’t act like businessmen, and they didn’t care if they made money! Al Davis is a total jerk.”
“Racing’s gain, Mr. Klein.”
“Really Jeff, it was Joyce who got me to sell the team and introduced me to your dad. He and I are really quite alike, Jeff…afraid of nothing!”
March 13, 1988, Santa Anita Racetrack, California
Even though the sky was overcast on the day of the Santa Anita Oaks race, the fans came pouring into the track early to get prime viewing spots for what was being called a match race. There were only four horses running. Most fans now believed that Goodbye Halo was a superhorse and she was being selected to win by most of the newspaper handicappers. Dino and Miami had gone to their good friend, racing author, and professional handicapper, Jay Quest, for his race insights. Quest had written several of the most respected handicapping books in the industry, and they valued his opinions.
When asked about Goodbye Halo versus Winning Colors, Quest told them, “I have often seen top fast fillies; when they are first challenged in a race by another top-class filly, they may fail quite badly in that race. But I usually have seen them bounce back from the experience and run the best races of their young lives next time. I think Winning Colors just has too much talent as evidenced by her blazing early speed. Boys, stay with Colors, and good luck with your Mexico bet.”
“I hope we’re not going to be rich dead men from the cartel guys,” Miami told Quest.
Racetrack bettors are almost always thought of as colorful characters with nicknames like, well, Miami. Many teachers, professors, and individuals interested in mathematics are drawn to horseracing. Studying a Daily Racing Form’s past performance newspaper, and then projecting out a race’s winner, was an academic challenge for many extremely educated and bright people like Quest.
Miami and Dino’s handicapping hero was a former college professor, Tim Raymond. Tim taught them how to use numbers to estimate how fast horses would likely race, while going different distances they had not previously run. He had helped both Dino and Miami have many of their biggest winning days. When Miami asked Tim what he thought of Winning Colors’ race day chances, Tim replied, “Colors is better than Halo. Keep the faith.”
The fans came to bet Goodbye Halo back off her win, and she was bet down to solid favoritism, well below even money. That day’s Stakes was run at one-and-one-sixteenth miles, a sixteenth of a mile farther than their previous race together. This made fans and gamblers believe that more distance could only help Goodbye Halo’s late charge. Meanwhile, Winning Colors was being relatively ignored in the betting in the four-horse race; she was offered at over 2-1 odds in the short field.
Other top fillies were reluctant to race against the big two horses for fear of being embarrassed. Dino and Miami were now very respectful of Goodbye Halo’s winning chances in the championship filly race, but at the current odds, they believed Winning Colors was a steal.
“I feel like we already have $5,000 to win on her because of our Mexico bet, and today is do-or-die for the Derby. Still, at 2-1, we have to bet more on her,” Dino said as they went to the large transaction windows, betting $2,000 to win on today’s race.
Luis was smiling as he led Winning Colors into the saddling paddock. His filly was dramatically taller and bigger, by nearly 200 pounds, than the other young fillies. She walked around the saddling enclosure in front of the fans, now five persons deep, trying to get a look at the two-star fillies.
Goodbye Halo was trained by a man nicknamed “The Bald Eagle” Charles Whittingham, a Hall of Fame trainer, and ridden again by Pat Day, a star veteran jockey with more experience than Gary Stevens, who once again was piloting Klein’s gray filly. When Winning Colors saw Goodbye Halo, she became agitated and snorted. She whirled repeatedly on her hindquarters, trying to break away from Luis’ firm hand on her lead. He had not seen her like this before a race and was worried she would break free or use up her energy before the race had begun. The fans tried to be quiet to not startle the horses, but they were still loud as they strained to see their favorites.
The steward announced, “Riders up,” a signal to the trainers to give a leg up to the jockeys on the four fillies. The fans roared when the horses entered to parade in front of the grandstand and began their warm
