Not all betting strategies need to be rooted in logic

Mark Twain once said “Truth is stranger than fiction.” Well, three horse betting stories last week had to be read while sitting down.

The first is about a horseplayer named A. Hariri, who on Aug. 23 won the Del Mar pick 6 for $495,060. He bet a $146 ticket.

“The way I play horses is by name,” Hariri told twinspires.com, where he has his online betting account. “I don’t care about odds; I play names I like.”

This is a betting system that would have made the Richard Dreyfuss character, Jay Trotter, proud in the movie “Let It Ride.” What Trotter said in the movie about “I’m having a very good day” would have been apropos for Hariri.

Hariri’s lone single was Orientatious ($20.20), and his biggest winner was Zimmer ($31.80).

“I’m sharing my strategy so others can use it and win, too,” Hariri said.

Next is a story the Las Vegas Review-Journal broke Aug. 23 in which some race book employees allegedly defrauded the Palms of more than $800,000 in 2006 and 2007.

It was a simple scheme that could succeed only with insider help.

Many race books in Las Vegas offer “house quinellas,” which are a book bet, not pari-mutuel. A standard house quinella rule is six or more starters must be in a race.

What happened was a large player was being allowed to bet house quinellas where scratches reduced a field to fewer than six horses. After the race, these Palms employees either would pay the bettor if he won or refund his tickets if he lost. It seemed foolproof.

However, the plot finally was uncovered more than five years later.

Finally, on Aug. 23 at Emerald Downs, a $100,000 win bet was placed, and then canceled, on Lonely and Free in the last few minutes before race 6.

The large bet set off a series of automated robotic wagers that skewed the odds board. Lonely and Free, who was 6-1 in the morning line, went to 1-9 after the bet and, when it was canceled moments before the start, went off at 52-1.

I suspect the reason this incident isn’t a bigger story is because Lonely and Free ran second. He would have paid $106.20 to win.

Ron Luniewski, CEO of XpressBet, told the Daily Racing Form that this was an “honest mistake.” The customer meant to bet $1,000, not $100,000.

A mystery to me is most online betting services have a maximum bet size that one manually can punch in. For example, twinspires.com’s online max wager is $2,500.

This doesn’t pass the smell test. But then I don’t have $100,000 in my wagering account, either.

■ GOLDBERG AT SUNSET STATION – Renowned football and horse racing analyst Hank Goldberg will be at the Sunset Station sports book today at 5 p.m. to discuss the NFL season. He also will discuss horse racing with Sunset race and sports book director Chuck Esposito.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick.