Avila overcomes early misstep to reach Belmont Stakes event

Horseplayers are going to make mistakes. That’s just part of the game. But in the end, it’s not those mistakes that define you as a player, it’s how you react to them.

Just look at Jason Avila, who won his way into this weekend’s Belmont Stakes Challenge last Sunday via DRF Tournaments.

In the Belmont qualifier, things did not start off according to plan for Avila, who has a strong family connection to racing. He went on family trips to Santa Anita as a kid, with his father and grandfather introducing him to the finer points of the game. Even now, he’ll often go to track with family members, including his mother, who was communicating with him throughout the tournament Sunday so she knew which horses to root for.

“In the first race, I told her to root for the 2 and 8,” he said. “Then, a minute later, I texted back and said I switched it to the 8 and the 10 because I liked the way the 10, a first-time starter, was being bet.”

The No. 2, Foolish Ghost, ended up winning at 61-1.

“You should know better than that,” his mother texted him back.

Avila felt like he’d been punched in the mouth, but no one else in the contest had picked the horse either. He refocused and had another opportunity in short order. In Belmont’s seventh, he once again liked two longshots.

“I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again,” he said. “My main opinion was to be against the favorite, Elenzee, because I didn’t think she’d move forward again, so I stuck with my two longshots, including Callant, who I thought was better on turf than dirt and I thought would be close to the pace.”

Callant got to the wire first at 36-1. Avila was well positioned now since only one other player had the horse and the contest awarded two seats. But then the roller coaster swung down again. Like many players, Avila puts in default selections early in contests.

“I’ll look at the races quickly and put in picks just in case I lose track or get shut out,” he said.

Over the next four races, he switched off his default pick each time. Had he left them alone, he’d have had three winners and a runner-up horse, virtually assuring himself of a Belmont seat. Instead, the field was catching up fast. With three races to go, he was on the outside looking in, 20 cents out of second.

“Even though it was just 20 cents, that difference is huge,” he said, “because whether you’re up 20 cents or $20, when you’re ahead, you have control of the board, and that’s what you want to have late in a contest.”

In Santa Anita’s sixth race, he backed 5-2 Sweet Treat and got back into qualifying position with a $10 cushion heading into the last contest race.

“Any horse but the favorite was going to beat me, but I didn’t like the favorite,” he said. “I had the race down to three horses, and only one was proven at the distance, the 2, Unapologetic. I was a little worried about the 8, Van Cortland.”

As the horses broke from the gate, Avila quickly checked the contest website to see which horses the other leading contenders had chosen. As he was doing that, he saw the saddle slip on the No. 8, meaning that horse essentially had no chance. As he looked down the leaderboard, he saw that he’d blocked his competition. Most players behind him had played the No. 2 or No. 8, so he was going to hold on no matter what.

“I called my mom and told her, ‘I think I got this no matter what happens, but let’s get this 2 up just to make sure,” he said.

Indeed, Unapologetic scored for Avila.

“It usually doesn’t work out like that,” he said. “When you make mistakes in racing, you usually suffer the consequences.”

Avila said he was fortunate that there was a break in the races during the middle portion of the contest that allowed him to take a walk, get some air, and clear his head.

“The mental part of racing is huge,” he said, adding that he came back from his walk with perspective. “I realized that even though a lot had gone wrong, it was still as simple as pick a winner, get a spot.”

He also credited his family. “I had some angels on my side for sure,” he said. “I think my grandpa and my pops were guiding in those horses.”