A Kentucky Derby Bet in Tijuana Sparks Friction with the Cartels

'Seabiscuit' meets 'Narcos'

Historic Agua Caliente

Hola Amigos! Anything involving Mexico is fair game here. This post combines a Kentucky Derby win and a Mexican cartel. How could that be a thing? Read all about it!

In 1987, Mark "Miami" Paul, who had been betting on horse races since his teens, tuned in to watch a race at New York's prestigious Saratoga racetrack. He couldn't take his eyes off Winning Colors, a two-year old filly who was bigger than most colts. She broke out of the gate and never lost the lead. Transfixed, he knew if she ever ran in his home state, California, he and his betting pal Dino would bet on her.

Though Miami worked as a realtor, by the time one o’clock rolled around, he'd tidied us his desk and could make the first race at Santa Anita with Dino. "I only had one skill," he told U.S .Bets. “That was knowing Dino Matteo, my best friend and the guy who introduced me to horse racing.”

Figuring the odds

Miami knew a special horse when he saw one but he said Dino was brilliant. He always had an angle and always figured the odds. Dino read the racing forms and dithered over the horse’s past performances. He watched replays. He might not bet for a while but when he thought he had an edge, he'd double down.

Mark “Miami” Paul

“He was the best I’d ever seen,” Miami said.

Winning Colors made it to California and was scheduled to run at Santa Anita later that year. Watching her beat all the colts in numerous races energized both Miami and Dino and fanned their obsession with the filly. She kicked the stuffing out of every contender, race after race, taking first. The spell was cast: Maybe she could run in the Kentucky Derby.

Their unlikely enterprise, planning six months in advance that an unknown soon to be three-year old filly could make the entrance requirements to the 114-year old Kentucky Derby, sounded Pollyanna-like in the extreme. Firstly, only two fillies had won the derby in the entirety of the race's history. And secondly, once entered, she’d have to win. The odds against her were high. Still, they held on to hope.

Dino called early one morning, agitated and fast talking, according to Miami. "Listen, I was up all night running stats. She's so incredible she's starting to get noticed. They did an article about her yesterday. The odds on her will change soon. We've got to go to Tijuana. Today."

Miami pushed back. "Vegas is closer and no border crossing."

Unbelievable odds

“She’s 12 to one in the future book betting in Vegas,” Dino said. “But down in TJ, she’s 50 to one at Agua Caliente. This is a chance of a lifetime! Pick me up and bring all the money you have. We’ll each bet $2500. At 50 to one odds, that gives us a payday of $250 grand.”

Even as semi-professional gamblers, Miami wrote in The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told,¹ they'd had wins, but closer to $5000. He was skeptical. What were the chances an unknown filly could get entered in and win the Kentucky Derby? Plus he wasn’t flush at the time. Dino pushed back. "Just do it.”

Four hours later they were at the track’s gaming window, explaining they wanted to play their future book—Winning Colors for the 1988 Kentucky Derby, 50 to 1 odds. Dino asked the guy to confirm it.

"The teller's eyes lit up," Miami said. "He stared at Dino and asked, 'You want to bet $2500 dollars that a filly will win the Derby?'

"Dino said, 'Yeah, I know it's crazy but I still want to place the bet.'" The last thing Miami remembered was Dino counting out 50 hundred dollar bills.

The plot thickens

Now they had to wait five months hoping Winning Colors could win races that would earn her a spot to qualify for the Derby. Miami ran into a friend and told him about his and Dino's bet.

The friend was skeptical. "Dude, the guy who owns Agua Caliente? He’s connected to the Arellano-Felix cartel. The track owner, Jorge Hank Rhon, uses it to launder money. Even if they had that much money, what makes you think they're gonna hand over $250 grand and let you waltz out of there? You guys are out of your minds."

Jorge Hank Rohn, Agua Caliente owner

Miami said he worried about it for half a minute, then reality set in: What were the actual odds of Winning Colors even getting into the Derby? First she had to run and win a series of stakes races. And she'd have to run against Goodbye Halo, an up and coming champion in the initial qualifier at Las Virgenes.

The Las Virgenes Stakes Race day came and Winning Colors lost to Goodbye Halo by a head. Dino was devastated. He was worried she had to go up against 19 colts and win come Derby day. She had one final shot to make it into the Derby and that was winning at Santa Anita in April where she'd run against the best colts on the West Coast. If she could come through that, she might have a shot at the Derby.

Santa Anita Racetrack exuded a typical sunny southern California vibe the day of the race. Miami and Dino were amazed at the crowd of seventy thousand filling the stands. Women and girls had come to watch the filly run against the boys. Winning Colors had a fan following."Girl Power"and "Go Girl Go" signs were everywhere.

Filly power

"It was a cult scene,” Miami told an interviewer for Snap Judgment. "Winning Colors had star power. We just hoped she could remain calm.”

The crowd was going wild. Known to be bothered by loud noises, the fellow gamblers settled in to watch the race, hoping fans' screams wouldn't affect her sense of well being.

"The other three-year olds were stirring and moving around in the cages, but Winning Colors was undisturbed. The race started, and she broke perfect like a waterfall out of a dam," Miami said. "She takes the lead from the beginning and she wins! By eight lengths! We're yelling, on to Kentucky!"

Journalist down

But cloud nine didn't last long. Two days later Dino called and told Miami a Mexican journalist nicknamed El Gato, Hector Felix Miranda, from Zeta, a Tijuana magazine, had been writing negative pieces about the owner of Agua Caliente. Miranda had been assassinated in his car, blown away by a shotgun blast enroute to work. The head of Agua Caliente security had been arrested for his murder along with Jorge Rohn's personal bodyguard.

Hector Felix Miranda, “El Gato,” journalist

Fear reared its ugly head smack dab in the middle of their dream fantasy. Miami started to worry about both his and Dino's lives more than cashing in on a bet. Now journalists were dying. Dino, however, was not content to walk away as the filly's star continued to rise. He decided they’d go to TJ the day of the Derby and watch the race on Simulcast. They figured with thousands of people at the track, it was safer than going back a week later to collect a quarter of a million dollars with no one around.

The race track was electrified Derby day—a full-on carnival. Mariachi bands blared and the track vibrated with revelers and street vendors. That year’s Kentucky Derby in Louisville had attracted 135 thousand—the largest sports crowd in all the world. It was the toughest derby field in the last 30 years and included an undefeated champion along with 16 notable colts. Winning Colors was the sole female entrant.

Serene on Simulcast

Miami and Dino spotted Winning Colors on one of the Simulcast screens. She looked serene. This was it: the 114th Kentucky Derby. The starter gun sounded and they were off. Within a quarter mile, their filly was running away from the others. Right from the start she led the way. Turning towards home, she shortened her stride— she was tiring out but she kept going. Down to the stretch. She hung on and the photo finish proved her win by a neck. She’d won!

Winning Colors wins by a length

After initial jubilance, they knew they had work to do. They let the crowds settle before heading to the window to collect their earnings. "Oh, a big one," the teller said. “I’ll have to get my supervisor.”

After a delay, he returned with his boss. "Hmm, that's a big ticket. No, not today. You'll have to come back."

Dino looked at the guy. "What do you mean, not today. It says Winning Colors to win the Kentucky Derby, $250 thousand dollars. You have to pay us."

Raincheck?

The guy shook his head. "No, you gotta come back."

Miami said, "You mean come back on Tuesday when nobody's here?" He looked over his shoulder and saw guards standing behind them, rifles slung over their shoulders. By this time the crowds had thinned.

"We gotta get out of here.”

At first Dino resisted but went along. They headed for the staircase with guards following. Miami said, "Run!"

Five guards clambered down the staircase behind them. They flew into the parking lot, jumped into Miami's car. He hit the gas doing 70 mph before hitting the street. As they roared up the boulevard he shouted, "Look behind! Is anyone following us?"

With no one on their tail, they headed for the border. Dino was ticked off and kept yelling, "They broke the code. You always pay your gambling debts first."

The next morning they met for breakfast. It came down to the gamblers' code. Since Dino had engineered the stats on Winning Colors and had essentially given them the win, Miami felt it was his job to bring home the bacon and keep them safe. Dino's job was done.

Their next move had to be orchestrated just so. Dino knew three professional fighters with martial arts skills. They hired them for backup at the track that Tuesday and they brought along six new backpacks to carry the loot.

After parking at the track, Dino, Miami and their muscle passed three armed guards en route to the window. They handed the ticket to the teller; she immediately called for a supervisor when she saw the ticket’s worth. A well-dressed man appeared ten minutes later. He said, "Follow me. Gotta talk to el jefe. Only you two."

Dino frowned. "I don't like this," he said, as he motioned to their bodyguards to stand down.

Miami shrugged. Whatta ya gonna do? They followed him down a flight of stairs, through two sets of oak doors plus a third with a set of bars. It began to feel like a dungeon, Miami wrote. Another door opened onto a dark room. Through a cloud of smoke they saw a heavy-set man sitting at a table, cigar in hand. El jefe. He waved them in, indicating they should take a seat.

Without preamble he said, "We know who you are."

That spooked Miami, but he was quick with a response. "Yeah, we're good customers and we're here to cash our tickets."

"Wait a minute," el jefe said, flicking ash from his stogy. "We just want to be fair."

Rattled, Dino lit into him. “Well then, just give us our money. We won our bet. She won the Derby 50 to one. Pay us, godamm it."

With eyes on Miami, el jefe spoke, “Calm your little friend down.”

The con

Things were spinning out of control.

Dino wasn't going for it. "Listen, we know all about you, too. We know all about Jorge Rohn. We know about your cartel connections, and before we came down today, we went to the LA Times and talked to a friend who's a reporter. We told him about our tickets, we told him about Rohn. We told him about Winning Colors. We told him we won our bets and we gave him a copy of our tickets. If you guys don't pay us, you and your boss, Rohn, are going to be on the front page of every newspaper in LA tomorrow. They’ll know who he is, what you did to us, how you stole from us, and it's not going to go away."

El jefe seemed taken aback. "Give me a minute." He got up from the table, walked to the door, and closed it behind him.

After he left, Miami looked at Dino in total disbelief. "Where did that come from? That was brilliant, man."

Dino said, "I don't know. What do I have? I can't threaten him. But publicity? We're still gonna die, but it was a good idea."

Miami and Dino waited. Five minutes, ten minutes. Finally el jefe returned. "Come with me.”

They marched back upstairs. At the counter the teller proceeded to count out $250 thousand dollars. El jefe looked at them, gave a short nod and said, "We don't ever want to see you back here again."

Miami nodded back. "Agreed."

As they filled up the final backpack, Dino took out three hundred dollar bills and handed one to each of the track’s guards before they walked down the hallway, the fighters trailing behind. Everyone got into their cars and booked it for the border.

The finish line

At the US border they crossed through without incident, and it was done. They'd just made $250 thousand dollars on Winning Colors at the Kentucky Derby.

By the time Miami arrived at Dino's house, they were too tired to celebrate. "I felt like we ran the Kentucky Derby ourselves," he said.

He gave Dino a hug and drove home. He climbed out of his car, went straight to his bedroom and opened the backpacks. He spilled all the cash onto his bed and called it a night.

“Seabiscuit meets Narcos”

Mark Paul wrote about his and Dino's adventure in The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told-A True Tale of Three Gamblers, the Kentucky Derby and the Mexican Cartel. When pitching it to film studios, he billed it as "Seasbiscuit" meets "Narcos." And there's a real possibility it may make it to the silver screen. Stay tuned.

1. Mark Paul. The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told—A True Tale of Three Gamblers, the Kentucky Derby and the Mexican Cartel. (Authority Publishing, 2020).

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