Winning streak over
Just when it looked like Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale might be back to winning ways, along comes an +8000 horse at the death to cost him millions at the Kentucky Derby.
Bleacher Report Betting took to Twitter with an image of the beaming Houston businessman placing a $500,000 bet, one of the multiple wagers he made ahead of the classic horse race on Saturday:
According to the New York Post, McIngvale placed a $1.5m wager on +400 favorite Epicenter to win the Kentucky Derby just before the race began. In total, he had $2.6m on the horse. It looked like he had his $12m winnings in the bank with Epicenter leading in the final straight.
out of nowhere came +8000 longshot Rich Strike
This, however, is Mattress Mack we’re talking about. From almost out of nowhere came +8000 longshot Rich Strike, charging up the rail to beat the favorite by three-quarters of a length.
“I thought I was home,” the furniture magnate defeatedly told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Lady Luck turns on Mack
The big $2.6m loss brings an end to McIngvale’s brief winning streak after he backed the right team to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship in April.
The video clip BR Betting shared on Twitter after Epicenter’s defeat shows McIngvale wearing an altogether different face to the one he wore when laying down his dough:
It’s no wonder McIngvale looked like he swallowed a wasp. Not only did Rich Strike have the longest odds among all 20 other horses, the chestnut colt only made it into the Kentucky Derby after another horse had to pull out last minute.
Mack’s bad form returns
Saturday’s loss means McIngvale’s winning streak of one is over. Since the turn of 2022, the renowned sports bettor has lost a total of $20.2m, which includes losing bets on the Super Bowl and the College Football Playoff National Championship.
After the Kentucky Derby Saturday, McIngvale headed down bad memory lane, telling the LVR-J the nature of the loss reminded him of “the Bengals-Rams gut punch.”
