Monday, August 18, 2008

Check List for Petaluma Tony

San Mateo, Calif., Aug. 19, 2008--Things you ought to know about Tony from Petaluma, who parlayed a $12 ticket (3x1x1x2x1x1) to cash a $356,909.60 pick six at Del Mar last month (there was only one other winning ticket):

* He and two younger brothers all suffer from retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary eye disease. Tony, 62, is legally blind. Two years ago, given the choice of using a cane or a guide dog, he opted for a dog. Now he has "Warner," a black Labrador retriever.

* Warner, Tony said, "must have thought I lost my mind" when he sat at home and listened to the TVG telecast of the final leg. Dumaani's Gold, Tony's 5-1 single in the race, and Improvising, the 5-2 favorite, finished in a dead heat. "My horse was a length and a half behind in the stretch," Tony said, "but I could tell from Trevor Denman's call that she was just coming and coming. While I waited for the photo, I thought, 'Even if my horse doesn't win, I'm in line for a pretty decent consolation with five out of six.' But when when they announced the 5 (Dumaani's Gold) had dead-heated, I went crazy, and Warner couldn't figure out what was wrong with me."

* Singling Zardana, the Ron McAnally trainee who won the fifth leg, the Osunitas Handicap, at 43-1, wasn't that difficult, Tony said. "This was a Brazilian-bred, and McAnally has a reputation of doing wonderful things with horses from down there," Tony said. "There were no Secretariats in the race, and McAnally had to have a reason for taking a shot. I knew that not many horses were winning wire to wire on the grass at Del Mar, and if I knew that, McAnally had to know it, too. I kind of thought that he'd tell his jockey (Aaron Gryder) to take back instead of going for the lead. And that's the way the race set up."

* Because Tony can't read the Daily Racing Form, he relies on listening to several handicappers he respects. He sets his alarm clock for 7 a.m every Saturday to listen to Sam Spear's hour-long racing show on San Francisco station KNBR. Ellis Starr, a regular handicapper on the Spear show, gave out Beyla, the 7-2 winner of the third leg.

* "Trainer-owner-jockey combinations are important when you're trying to pick winners," Tony said. "So are bloodlines. I've been following racing long enough to recognize a lot of the key bloodlines."

* Tony hardly ever plays the pick six, and can't explain why that Saturday he did. "It's harder to hit than the lottery," he said.

* Before he hit the pick six, Tony was living off a disability pension of $1,500 a month and a part-time job that paid $600 a month. Three days a week, he spent three hours on buses getting to a 4 1/2-hour job. He has quit the job.

* Before his eyesight began to fail, Tony was a 206-average bowler.

* Tony's 1970 marriage ended in divorce. Bowling apparently played a part. Shortly after they were married, his wife landed a job that required her to relocate from California to the New York City area. Tony, who was bowling in six leagues a week, followed her six months later. "After a couple of years, she told me that she had found someone else," he said.

* Tony eventually returned to his native California, but not before he was at Belmont Park the day Secretariat swept the 1973 Triple Crown.

* Tony celebrated his 62nd birthday by spending last weekend in Reno at the Eldorado Hotel and Casino. "I go there a couple of times a year," he said. "It's a great place, it reminds you of the good old days in Reno, and they make me feel very comfortable."

* Tony is a small bettor, and plans to stay that way. His money from Del Mar is in two banks, and he's hired an accountant to manage his future. "I know betting on the horses can be addictive," he said. "I don't think I'm an addict. But when I get interested in something, as I am in racing, I get very passionate. I think there's a big difference between being addictive and being passionate."

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