Tag: Mattress Mack

Epicenter's success in winning December's Gun Runner here and finishing second in January's Lecomte at Fair Grounds should serve him well in Saturday's Grade 2 Risen Star. (Image: Hodges Photography/Lou Hodges Jr.)

Risen Star Brings Rising Stars, Rising Stakes to Kentucky Derby Trail

- 4 min read

WIth a nod to Winston Churchill, Saturday’s Grade 2 Risen Star signals both the beginning of the end and the end of the Kentucky Derby trail’s beginning. The prelims are over and we’re now at the beginning of the win-and-you’re-in stretch of the Derby trail. That’s because the 1 1/8-mile […]

Along with a timely bet by Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale, Smile Happy's timely victory in Saturday's Kentucky Jockey Club helped make him the 8/1 individual favorite for the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 1. (Image: Coady Photography)

A Familiar Name Makes Smile Happy KDFW Pool 1 Individual Favorite

- 3 min read

Courtesy of a $10,000 bet by Houston area furniture store owner Jim “Mattress Mack McIngvale, Smile Happy closed as the individual 8/1 favorite in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 1. McIngvale dropped the bet down around 5 p.m. ET, knocking Smile Happy’s odds from 15/1 to 9/1. Even with […]

Penny Saver's 9 1/2-length blowout of a Churchill Downs maiden special weight field makes her the filly to watch in Friday's Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland. (Image: Coady Photography)

Deep Alcibiades Goes a Long Way Defining Who is the Top Juvenile Filly

- 3 min read

Last year, Kenny McPeek watched Simply Ravishing and Crazy Beautiful turn in stunning performances in the Alcibiades at Keeneland. That he watched his 2-year-old duo go 1-2 in the Grade 1 race while at Pimlico was a minor annoyance. McPeek, like everyone else coping with the pandemic, could handle minor […]

Because he's a horseman at his core, Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale made sure to wager his entire $2.4 million on Kentucky Derby favorite Essential Quality at Churchill Downs. (Image: Kentucky HBPA/@KyHBPA)

‘Mattress Mack’ McIngvale Believes Where You Bet the Horses Matters

- 4 min read

When Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale was looking for a site on which to drop a $2.4 million wager on Essential Quality to win the Kentucky Derby, he remembered what he was at heart. McIngvale has been called many things over the years. An entrepreneur. A furniture magnate. A media darling, […]

Medina Spirit and John Velazquez illustrate their tenacity in deep stretch, holding off Mandaloun to capture the 147th Kentucky Derby. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

The 2021 Derby: 12/1 Medina Spirit wins Baffert His Record Seventh

- 5 min read

The primary lesson coming out of the 2021 Kentucky Derby is as simple as it is frustrating for everyone not named Bob Baffert. Even when Baffert brings his third-string horse to Churchill Downs, he wins Derbies. That would be Medina Spirit, who gave Baffert his seventh Derby victory Saturday, passing […]

Joyful Image broke her maiden secon time out earlier this month. Saturday, the Runhappy offspring seeks to be Runhappy's first female stakes winner. Texas furniture magnate Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale owns Runhappy. (Image: Coady Photgraphy)

Mattress Mack’s Runhappy Seeks Happy Ending With Joyful Cadence

- 3 min read

You know Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale as the Moby Dick of sports bettors. But horse racing fans better recognize the Houston furniture magnate/betting whale as the owner of Eclipse Award-winning sprinter-turned-stallion Runhappy. And one of Runhappy’s offspring, Joyful Cadence, runs for her sire’s second stakes progeny victory in Saturday’s Black-Type […]

Furniture store owner and local celebrity Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale poses with a fan during a World Series game at Minute Maid Park in Houston. (Image: Darren Rovell/Twitter)

Mattress Mack Loses $13 Million Betting on Houston Astros in World Series

- 4 min read

Mattress Mack, otherwise known as popular Houston furniture store magnate Jim McIngvale, bet over $13 million via multiple wagers on the Houston Astros to win the 2019 World Series. He lost $13 million when the Washington Nationals won back-to-back games in Houston to win the World Series. If the Astros […]