How Mattress Mack may bet his $4 million on Kentucky Derby
By the time he arrives for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, Mattress Mack’s presence will be felt in a lot of ways. About 4 million of them.
That is how many dollars Jim McIngvale said he would wire to Churchill Downs with at least half – $2 million – being bet on Derby favorite Essential Quality.
“I think it’s going to be a straight win ticket, but I may bet some exactas as well, some high-dollar exactas obviously wheeling Essential Quality,” McIngvale told Horse Racing Nation and the VSiN racing podcast. “I can’t wait to get to Louisville and watch Essential Quality hopefully win – and win lots of free mattresses for these customers.”
McIngvale was referring to one of his trademark promotions tied to a big bet. Anyone buying a mattress worth at least $3,000 before this weekend at any of his Gallery Furniture stores will get a full refund or a 150 percent in in-store credit if Essential Quality wins.
His big bet will create a seismic shift in the Derby’s pari-mutuel odds. Using 2019 as a barometer, $2 million would have represented 3 percent of the win-place-show pool. How much will McIngvale move the needle?
“That’s the big question,” he said in a Zoom call from Gallery Furniture headquarters in Houston. “A lot of people told me I should bet Friday. I won’t be there, but I’ve got people that will be there. I might bet $1 million on Friday and bleed it into Saturday. I might wait to Saturday until a couple hours before the race and bet it all. I’m still strategizing on that. You want to do it early enough to where there’s some value on the other horses for the other bettors.”
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With that kind of money being poured into the pool, McIngvale might be tempted to hedge his bet with other wagers, maybe even a futures play in Las Vegas. He said, though, he would keep his money in Kentucky.
“I’m a Kentucky horseman,” said McIngvale, who owns about 50 racehorses not to mention the well-marketed stallion Runhappy. “I really admire the fact that Churchill Downs does so much for horse racing and reinvests the money in the purses for the horsemen like myself and for all the great horsemen in Kentucky who invest so much time in this game.”
If he sticks to the $2 million in win bets on Essential Quality, McIngvale said he will rely on others to guide him and his other $2 million on exotic and multi-race wagers.
“I’ve got people who know a lot more about gambling than I do that are helping me on this,” he said. “I’m a promoter. I’ll leave it to these professionals to tell me how to do the exactas and tris and superfectas, depending on how much money is in the pools and what’s the best value underneath Essential Quality.”
McIngvale’s wagers on big events are well chronicled. In February he won $2.75 million after betting $3.46 on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win the Super Bowl.