Anthony Altomonte is one of the most well-known horseplayers at the Meadowlands Racetrack and is no stranger to big scores betting the horses. He estimates that he has been a part of at least two six-figure winning tickets and even cashed a Pick 4 ticket on the Meadowlands for about $80,000.

But this past Memorial Day will forever be remembered for the score of a lifetime. Altomonte and two partners purchased the single winning ticket on Santa Anita’s pick six worth $1,478,942.40. The winning ticket was purchased at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, NJ and cost $2,160.

The payoff was fueled by a two-day carryover and a total pool of $2,386,736.

“This will definitely be my favourite Memorial Day ever,” said Altomonte, who also credits his son, Joseph, and godson, Philip, for helping to put the winning ticket together. “They are my young guns and are really sharp handicappers.”

“Originally our ticket was $4,600 but we really did not want to spend that much,” explained Altomonte, who plays the horses professionally and is at the Meadowlands at least five days a week. “So we took a couple of horses out. Sometimes you make the wrong choices in that kind of situation and every once in a while you get lucky and make all of the right decisions.”

Altomonte’s ticket was actually alive to three different horses in the final race of the sequence. The group made a tough decision to leave the race favourite off of their ticket.

“We all agreed that the 9 (eventual winner El Super) was the value horse with Richard Mandella and Flavien Prat riding,” said Altomonte, “but I was worried about the 10 (race favourite Clear The Way) because Phil D’Amato is one of my favourite trainers in California.”

Despite being a full-time horseplayer who is one of the largest players at the Meadowlands, Altomonte said he does not play the Pick 6 on a regular basis.

“Even though I do this every day, I only play them when I really like the sequence,” said Altomonte. “I read the Form, use The Sheets, and then my partners and I decide if we want to take a swing.”

While the winning sequence only had one winning favourite, the highest priced horse was 14-1. Altomonte said even he was surprised by the payoff.

“We were alive to three horses that were paying about $147,000 and $211,000 in addition to the $1.4 million. Amazingly, the odds of all three of our horses were fairly similar and yet the actual payoff was freaky high. I would not have been disappointed if we collected $211,000 but this payoff was tremendous.”

(Meadowlands Racetrack)