8/1/2026

(Auburn, WA) Fans that attend Emerald Downs on a regular basis know the two voices prior to each race. Joe Withee, the long time publicity director from day 1 in 1996 and long time handicapper John Lindley preview each race every Saturday and Sunday. They also give their expert selections for each race.

On this pretty regular Saturday of racing both had quite a remarkable day.

Before we get started it is important to know a few things. Many people forget that horse racing is a parimutuel betting system. This means there is no “house”. Unlike a casino when you hit a big jackpot or big blackjack hand you beat the casino and the casino pays you directly.

Parimutuel is different. This was created on purpose so no track would ever have anything on the line for a race pay-off. For those who don’t get it, the quickest way to explain it is that odds are simply what your fair share of the pot is yours if you have a winning ticket.

The track has what’s called a take. So to keep it simple, let’s say there is a $100 bet in a race. The track takes a percent and it’s different for all wagers but generally its about 20%. So at the time the wagers are all locked in for the race the track automatically gets their share so in the case of $100 they take their $20 and that leaves $80 in the pot to be paid to the winning ticket holders.

This guarantees that the track has no interest in who wins or loses. The $80 is going to be paid no matter what.

In this example, if 4 people have a winning ticket their odds would be 9-1 and for every $2 winner each would get $20 and the 4 winners would take the $80. If there was 1 winning ticket the odds would be 39-1 and the winner would take the whole pot of $80. Either way the track gets $20.

I make this clear so if anyone thinks there is any monkey business with an employee winning any money at the races this is why employees at all tracks are allowed to bet. Because their bets are the same as everyone else’s and as far as I know there isn’t a track anywhere that doesn’t allow their employees to wager.

That is the huge difference between casino gambling and parimutuel betting.

Career Win for Joe Withee

Joe Withee has been in the racing business since the early 1980’s when he began at Longacres. The number of betting wins over all those years is in the thousands but Withee never had a day like Saturday.

Withee doesn’t bet the 10-cent Jackpot Pick 6 on a regular basis but with it hitting a season high $37,000 carryover he decided it was time to pay attention.

The Jackpot Pick 6 only pays the entire amount if there is a single ticket winner.If no one has all 6 or more than one has all 6 then there are consolation pays with a good portion carrying over to the next race day.

After Friday night’s races, Withee was doing his handicapping for Saturday and liked a few price horses that he thought could pull an upset. When he was done he had a ticket that cost a total of $9.60.

Here is is ticket:

The pick 6 was picking 6 winners from the 3rd through the 8th race. In the 1st leg his picks were 7-2 Lucky Code and 1-1 Creative Union and Lucky Code won, Creative Union was 3rd.

In the 4th race he again narrowed it down to  two selections in 6-5 Saint Indie and 2-1 Spicy Coronarita and the 2-1 shot was the winner, Saint Indie was 3rd.

The 5th race was the 1st step in setting up his big win. He spread out the most here with 4 taking 12-1 Bolt Action Beau, 6-1 Schoolofhardknocks, odds-on Kraken Up and 7-2 Gottherizz. The best outcome hit as 12-1 Bolt Action Beau won. Gottherizz was 2nd and Kraken Up finished 3rd.

He went 3 deep in the 6th with 2-1 Eddiecoyle, 8-1 Oneonta and 5-2 Mo Grey. Eddiecoyal pulled off a neck win to keep Joe’s ticket alive.

In the 7th and featured race he singled 6-5 Slew’s Tiz Whiz who came through with a monster stretch run to get up for the win by just a neck.

That left the 8th and final, where he had the favorite Kyalam and 12-1 outsider Golden Regal. Withee knew he wanted Golden Regal and figured he would likely get $400 or $500 as he was sure there would be multiple winners and another carryover.

Afterall, it was a 7-2 to 2-1 to 12-1 to 2-1 to 6-5 and finish with 12-1. The 10-cent minimum bet also makes it easier for lots of people to spread their bets out so it didn’t even occur to him he would have the lone winning ticket.

When the board flashed the pay-off of $42,046.76 he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Withee told us he was just happy to get some money back and thought it would be a good return especially since he invested just $9.60. The winning numbers were 1-5-1-1-1-6 and his official final odds were 420,466-1 to hit that combination.

Lindley wins big on the racing side

One day John Lindley was painting his basement and at the same time had the Keeneland auction streaming on his computer. Every year Lindley has a budget and usually he will not think of bidding more than $20,000. This was his same plan on this particular day and knowing that the average price of the stock at this particular auction is about 200k he was settling in to make his bid or two knowing he would get out bid.

His first step is he likes to focus in on a couple of specific studs including Bolt d’Oro. Lindley says this particular colt stepped up and it was on the lower side so he made his bid at 10k. Hed waited to hear the next bid of 15k and it was made. Lindley stopped painting for a moment to put in his 20k bid figuring it would last long and he would be out.

Lindley lathered up his roller and resumed painting when he heard the auctioneer ask for $25,000, $25,000 (use your inside auction voice in your head here.) 25…25…25,000…20,000 going once, twice SOLD to an on-line bidder!

Lindley was stunned and realized he just bought a Keeneland horse. He would send his new stock to veteran trainer Frank Lucarelli and on Saturday was Bolt Action Beau’s career debut in 5 1/2 furlong maiden special weight sprint against 6 others.

The public dismissed Beau at 12-1 up from the 6-1 morning line. Lindley didn’t know what to expect but was hoping for a solid effort and see some true potential.

He didn’t expect Beau to break out of the 1 hole as a 1st time starter clean and straight to the lead and then to go gate to wire never trailing one step of the race. He won by 3/4’s of a length but dug in like a champ along the rail denying 7-2 Gottherizz and odds-on Kraken Up to take the win.

Bolt Action Beau collected $13,110 in his 1st race with a race or two to aim for through the end of the season. Lindley says like with all 2-year-olds they’re going to be very careful and make sure he is 100% before trying much more this season. But what a start for something Lindley never believed he would have gotten to begin with.

It was quite a day for two of the biggest supporters of NW Racing all within a couple of hours of each other and without Lindley’s big win at 12-1, no way Withee takes the 42k pick 6. Indeed what a day for this pair!

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