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Sipping Bud Light from a plastic cup Sunday, Phoenix firefighter Chris Hertzog clapped his hands and stuck his tongue out in glee.
Hours earlier, he thought he lost a ticket worth $864,253 for accurately predicting the Kentucky Derby's top four horses.
He and a lawyer were driving to Turf Paradise Race Course to battle for the money with the owners.
Then the woman who sold him the ticket called. She found it lying beside a register.
Still, Hertzog's victory dance was for another reason.
He said his divorce was finalized last week.
"This ain't changing my life," said the 39-year-old father of three. "I'm going back to the firehouse on Wednesday."
To celebrate Sunday night he planned to eat with friends - at least a dozen of whom called him in less than 30 minutes - at Richardson's, a central Phoenix restaurant.
Maybe buy a Rolex GMT to replace one he lost fishing.
Maybe a Dodge Viper.
Hertzog's drama started Saturday when he decided to make one of his usual quick picks on a race.
Hertzog placed 100 $1 bets on Saturday's Kentucky Derby with Brenda Reagan at Turf Paradise. A computer randomly generated the picks. Fifty were trifectas - which name the top three finishing horses, in order - and 50 were superfectas, which select the top four finishers.
Hertzog put the tickets in his back pocket and had lunch. After the race, he didn't think he won. So he put the tickets on a table and got up to stroll around the track.
Then everything changed.
"(Turf Paradise owner) Jerry Simms took me aside and asked me if I had the ticket, and I said no, that it'd been thrown away," Hertzog said. "So he took us down to the mechanical room and we started going through trash cans."
Track security guards brought in trash from all the areas where Hertzog thought he had been.
They gave Hertzog and a handful of friends all the time they needed to sift through it.
Hours after they started Saturday, the men gave up.
It was a temporary setback.
After working his regular shift Sunday at Phoenix fire Station 28, Hertzog and his lawyer drove to the track, prepared to argue that Hertzog should get the payout even though he didn't have the ticket.
State law requires a winner to present the actual ticket to receive the winnings.
But there was video of Hertzog buying the ticket at the time the computer sold it. The track sold only one winning superfecta ticket. The woman who sold it said Hertzog was the only buyer.
Meanwhile, Reagan also a bartender at Turf Paradise was working her shift behind the bar. She wasn't looking for Hertzog's ticket.
By chance, she glanced over and saw it lying beside her ticket machine.
She wasn't sure at first if it was the winner. She asked customers at her bar which horses were the Derby's top finishers.
She started waving and shaking.
First she called her boss. Then Hertzog.
"Oh my God," said Reagan, a mother of four. "This is it."
Traditionally, the bettor gives the ticket seller some kind of reward.
Hertzog said he hasn't decided what to give Reagan.
"I'll take care of her," he said. "I'll take care of my guys."
The winnings were the track's biggest payout on a single ticket in memory, Simms said.
Six other tickets were issued across the nation choosing Giacomo, Closing Argument, Afleet Alex and Don't Get Mad as the winning Thoroughbreds.
Turf Paradise wrote Hertzog a check for $604,977.50. Hertzog's federal withholding was about $216,063 and his state was $43,213.
Hertzog asked Kyle Israel, his lawyer (and friend of 15 years, Israel was quick to point out), to show a reporter the check.
"Do you have the check?" Hertzog said.
"Yes, sir," Israel answered.
Aside, Israel said to the reporter, about calling his friend "sir": "There's probably a few choice things I used to call him, but now he definitely gets the nickname upgrade."
After a long day confronting skeptics, Hertzog was relaxed and personable Sunday night.
And what of those skeptics, who didn't believe he could have won?
"Now they do," he laughed.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/azetc/articles/0509bet09.html
Hours earlier, he thought he lost a ticket worth $864,253 for accurately predicting the Kentucky Derby's top four horses.
He and a lawyer were driving to Turf Paradise Race Course to battle for the money with the owners.
Then the woman who sold him the ticket called. She found it lying beside a register.
Still, Hertzog's victory dance was for another reason.
He said his divorce was finalized last week.
"This ain't changing my life," said the 39-year-old father of three. "I'm going back to the firehouse on Wednesday."
To celebrate Sunday night he planned to eat with friends - at least a dozen of whom called him in less than 30 minutes - at Richardson's, a central Phoenix restaurant.
Maybe buy a Rolex GMT to replace one he lost fishing.
Maybe a Dodge Viper.
Hertzog's drama started Saturday when he decided to make one of his usual quick picks on a race.
Hertzog placed 100 $1 bets on Saturday's Kentucky Derby with Brenda Reagan at Turf Paradise. A computer randomly generated the picks. Fifty were trifectas - which name the top three finishing horses, in order - and 50 were superfectas, which select the top four finishers.
Hertzog put the tickets in his back pocket and had lunch. After the race, he didn't think he won. So he put the tickets on a table and got up to stroll around the track.
Then everything changed.
"(Turf Paradise owner) Jerry Simms took me aside and asked me if I had the ticket, and I said no, that it'd been thrown away," Hertzog said. "So he took us down to the mechanical room and we started going through trash cans."
Track security guards brought in trash from all the areas where Hertzog thought he had been.
They gave Hertzog and a handful of friends all the time they needed to sift through it.
Hours after they started Saturday, the men gave up.
It was a temporary setback.
After working his regular shift Sunday at Phoenix fire Station 28, Hertzog and his lawyer drove to the track, prepared to argue that Hertzog should get the payout even though he didn't have the ticket.
State law requires a winner to present the actual ticket to receive the winnings.
But there was video of Hertzog buying the ticket at the time the computer sold it. The track sold only one winning superfecta ticket. The woman who sold it said Hertzog was the only buyer.
Meanwhile, Reagan also a bartender at Turf Paradise was working her shift behind the bar. She wasn't looking for Hertzog's ticket.
By chance, she glanced over and saw it lying beside her ticket machine.
She wasn't sure at first if it was the winner. She asked customers at her bar which horses were the Derby's top finishers.
She started waving and shaking.
First she called her boss. Then Hertzog.
"Oh my God," said Reagan, a mother of four. "This is it."
Traditionally, the bettor gives the ticket seller some kind of reward.
Hertzog said he hasn't decided what to give Reagan.
"I'll take care of her," he said. "I'll take care of my guys."
The winnings were the track's biggest payout on a single ticket in memory, Simms said.
Six other tickets were issued across the nation choosing Giacomo, Closing Argument, Afleet Alex and Don't Get Mad as the winning Thoroughbreds.
Turf Paradise wrote Hertzog a check for $604,977.50. Hertzog's federal withholding was about $216,063 and his state was $43,213.
Hertzog asked Kyle Israel, his lawyer (and friend of 15 years, Israel was quick to point out), to show a reporter the check.
"Do you have the check?" Hertzog said.
"Yes, sir," Israel answered.
Aside, Israel said to the reporter, about calling his friend "sir": "There's probably a few choice things I used to call him, but now he definitely gets the nickname upgrade."
After a long day confronting skeptics, Hertzog was relaxed and personable Sunday night.
And what of those skeptics, who didn't believe he could have won?
"Now they do," he laughed.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/azetc/articles/0509bet09.html