Update: ‘Mattress Mack’ bets $2.4 million on Essential Quality to win Kentucky Derby
Update: According to NBC, “Mattress Mack” has now bet $2.4 million to win on Essential Quality.
Update from Churchill Downs on Saturday morning: “An official @ChurchillDowns reports that Mattress Mack bet an additional $400,000 to win on Essential Quality in the @KentuckyDerby around 11:30 am ET Saturday. Odds dropped from 3-1 to 2-1. He also bet $500,000 to win on him Friday. Expect more to come...”
Jim McIngvale, better known as “Mattress Mac,” has apparently shaken up the odds for the Kentucky Derby.
As part of a sales promotion, the Houston furniture magnate is believed to have bet $500,000 on Essential Quality, driving the favorite’s morning-line odds of 2-1 down to live odds of 3-5 for Saturday’s 147th running of the race at Churchill Downs.
A prominent horse owner himself, McIngvale announced this week that he intended to bet between $2 million and $4 million on the Kentucky Derby favorite. The bet is tied into his Gallery Furniture promotion that says those buying a mattress valued at $3,000 or higher would get the mattress for free if the Derby favorite wins.
“Mattress Mac” has done this before. He reportedly lost more than $13 million in bets on the MLB’s Houston Astros in 2019.
“Obviously, I have a vested interest in the favorite winning because if the favorite wins, the customers get free mattresses, and they give us positive PR and word of mouth for the next 10 years,” McIngvale told America’s Best Racing. “So I have a very vested interest in the favorite winning.”
According to ABR, McIngvale was to wire Churchill Downs $4 million during Derby week, then direct the track how he wanted to make his bet.
“When to bet it is the key question,” McIngvale told ABR. “Obviously, if I bet $2 million on Friday (when early betting opens), the odds will go down to 1-9. I’m trying to provide value on these other horses for bettors to get odds more normalized on Essential Quality.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 5:35 PM.
