BETTING THE SYSTEMS : ‘Mad Tony’ Puts His Money on the Consensus

“Mad Tony” will admit that he is one of the world’s greatest losers at horse racing and dog racing and jai alai. He also loses in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and Monte Carlo and other casinos in Europe.

However, what makes Mad Tony different from other gamblers is that he loves the atmosphere, the excitement and the action in these gambling emporiums. He will never bet with a bookie, though. His nature is such that he wants to lose his money where the action is. Betting over a phone holds no thrill for him.

Although his losses have been considerable over the years, Mad Tony is a happy-go-lucky sort who always manages to find humor in situations that others find serious. If someone points out to him that he is a constant loser, he will agree, answering: “Somebody has to lose.” With this kind of an attitude, Mad Tony doesn’t lack for friends. He has many around the world, particularly at race tracks.

Money doesn’t seem to be any problem, either. Mad Tony bets and gambles as if he owns the U.S. Mint. Since he doesn’t work and can fly to Europe at a whim, his Southern California race track friends believe that he was blessed with a father who was a genius at buying and selling stocks and who made millions of dollars, which Mad Tony can’t touch; Mad Tony receives the yearly interest, which is what keeps him happily losing bets.

Since it is important to Mad Tony that he figures in the action, he has devised a system that gives him about 50% winners, which is much better than handicapping on his own.

Mad Tony has figured out that if he buys the local newspaper and checks the Consensus column of the handicapping box in the Los Angeles Times, betting that list of top choices to place will give him 50% winners.

At best with such a system, he figures he will break even for this season at Santa Anita. If things go well, he may even squeeze out a slight profit. And if he loses, the amount will be so small that it will be an insignificant percentage of his weekly income.

Mad Tony likes to point out to his friends that for 32 days during Santa Anita, from March 4 to April 13, the system came up with at least one winner a day. There was one day when the system had seven winners and there were many days in which the system had six winners, resulting in lots of trips to the cashiers’ windows, a walk Mad Tony loves to take between races.

One of the best days for the system was on March 25, 1990, when seven horses won and the payoffs for place were higher than usual.

In the first race, Mad Tony won with Cracksman, which paid $3 to place. He won the next race with Swinging Juan, which came in second, paying $5 to place. Cascading Gold in the third came in second for a $2.60 payoff, and Profit Key took the fourth to pay $3 to place.

At this point, for a straight $2 bet, Mad Tony was ahead $5.60 for the day.

Losing the next two races cut his profit down to $1.60. But in the seventh, 6 1/2 furlongs for 4-year-olds and up, Surprise Ambush, going off at $6.20 to $1, started off in front and held on by half a length at the half-mile pole. Surprise Ambush then lost the lead to Chaperral Motel in the stretch but still managed to hang on for second place and pay $7.60 to system backers. Mad Tony was ahead $7.20.

The eighth race, one of the longer routes at 1 1/2 miles on the turf, saw Prized, the top choice in the Consensus, race behind the leaders until the stretch, where he made his move to win by three-quarters of a length. A favorite of the six-horse field, Prized paid $3 to place, giving Mad Tony another win and a profit of $8.20.

The ninth race was another turf effort, but only a mile this time. Consensus nag was Casa Petrone, which went off the third choice in the betting. Casa Petrone didn’t make a move until the stretch, where he streaked from third to first by 1 3/4 lengths, paying $12.60, $5.80 and $4.60 across the board.

After the $5.80 return, Mad Tony added $3.80 to his profit for the day and left the track a $12 winner.

One of the reasons Mad Tony likes to bet a great deal of money on the horses of his system is because even hitting six out nine races won’t guarantee winning a huge pot of cash. Simply reasoned, he bets big so that his profit will be big. “What’s the sense of winning six races and only winning 60 cents?” he asks anyone who will listen.

Then he’ll point out that on April 8, 1990, that’s exactly what happened. Here’s how the races went with the payoffs for place.

1--Number One Tuto, first, $3

2--Khal Me A Deb, second, 4.20

3--What Has Been, first, 3.80

4--Grover’s Mill, fourth, xxx

5--Swindler Mike, fourth, xxx

6--Swinging Juan, first, 2.80

7--Profit Key, first, 2.20

8--Steinlen, first, 2.60

9--Color Guard, seventh, xxx

Bets amounted to $18, returns came to $18.60 and profit hit 60 cents. Although winning such amounts won’t cover his gas to the track, Mad Tony believes that these setbacks are minor in the overall gambling scheme of things.