Bridge Jumpers

[Boscar Obarra]

Entertaining piece in the form

http://www.drf.com/news/lady-red-story-woman-and-bridge-jumpers

[miff]

Quite a few bridge jumpers from days past under the Brooklyn Bridge hovered around the barrel of fire,hanging with the \"math\" guys!

Hana chief Platt added an interesting hedge spin on bridge jumping,if possible.

[kencbs]

My 1st trip to L.A. in 1983, someone bet $100k to show on the Erin\'s Isle/Exploded entry in the 6-horse Hol Gold Cup.  They finished 4th & 5th.  And someone bet $100k to show on Groovy in the BC Sprint at SA.  He was 4th.  I think there may have been other cases like that in SoCal, but I can\'t recall details.  I know bridge jumpers did poorly there in the 80\'s/early 90\'s, so I think they don\'t do it there anymore.

Just curious - does anyone recall if there were bridge jumpers betting on Devil\'s Bag in the Flamingo (or Fla Derby), the race he finished 4th?

Ken

[TMW]

This is kind of morbid but I learned something after I googled Devil\'s Bag and bridge jumping after reading your post. There is a term for jumping off of a real bridge -- \"tombstoning.\" Never heard of it. Kind of sad that Devil\'s Bag bridge is a favorite for those that want to end it all.

Doesn\'t answer your question though.

[richiebee]

The \'84 Flamingo was won by Time For a Change (Phipps/Penna/Bailey). Devils Bag
was fourth, but apparently no show wagering was offered, so no \"tombstoning.\" I
was in residence on the Hialeah backstretch that year, and remember the drama
building as Woody Stephens told everyone that Devil\'s Bag was the fastest horse
he ever trained, and tried to back it up by working The Devil fast and
frequently throughout the winter. The Devil couldn\'t bear up to Woody\'s
training, but Stephens had a deep bench and Swale won both the Derby and the
Belmont that year

In 1966, the infamous \"Chicken Flamingo\" was run at Hialeah. Buckpasser (Phipps
again) was considered an overwhelming favorite in the seven horse Flamingo, so
track management cancelled ALL wagering on the event. Apparently the angry crowd
(and who is angrier than horseplayers denied the opportunity to bet?) began
booing as the field was being saddled and continued booing right up to post
time. Buckpasser, ridden by Bill Shoemaker, was all out to narrowly defeat Abe\'s
Hope, an Illinois bred ridden by Earlie Fires. There is a good account of this
race in Pete Axthelm\'s \"The Kid\".

[Boscar Obarra]

You have to win over 95% of the time to make ANYTHING. (at 2.10)

 Hard to believe this is being done without some other gimmick involved.