THE MOTHER LODE OF HANDICAPPING BREEDERS' CUP PICK-SIX PLAY WON $3 MIL. LAST YEAR.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer

The history books say the heroes of the 1999 Breeders' Cup were Cat Thief, the champion of the Classic, and trainer D. Wayne Lukas and jockey Jorge Chavez, winners of two races apiece.

Gamblers have a different take.

To them, the hero last year wasn't a horse or a horseman but a fellow horseplayer.

Before the championship card unfolded at Gulfstream Park near Miami, a video cameraman and serious amateur handicapper named G.D. Heironymous drew on a careful reading of the Daily Racing Form, first-hand observations of morning workouts and a tip from his brother to plot a $192 wager on the Breeders' Cup pick-six.

When a series of upsets proved confounding - at least to other bettors around the country - Heironymous and 18 investors ended up holding the only ticket to name six consecutive winners. They split a record payoff of more than $3 million.

To Heironymous, a 41-year-old resident of Lexington, Ky., the score of a lifetime has been a source of pride as well as riches (the two rewards seem to go hand in hand).

``When you've carried in your pocket the biggest parimutuel payoff in horse racing history . . . there's something to be said for that,'' Heironymous said. ``It was pretty exciting.''

For anybody who doubted the allure of the Breeders' Cup pick-six for handicapping schemers and dreamers, Heironymous-and-friends' $3,058,137.60 payoff confirmed that this is the mother lode of thoroughbred handicapping.

It's unlikely the pick-six payoff will be that big when the 17th Breeders' Cup is held at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. More likely, the races will prove more formful and dozens or hundreds of bettors will win smaller shares of the loot, or the results will be so unpredictable that nobody claims the jackpot.

But that won't stop fans from burning midnight oil - squinting at the past-performance charts, studying video clips or consulting their favorite professional handicappers - hoping to pare the 83 horses in the six races down to an creative combination of contenders.

Since Breeders' Cup officials began guaranteeing a pot of at least $5 million in 1998, fans have risked $6.5 million and $5.4 million on the pick-six.

For those who don't know - meaning those who don't hang out on the local mezzanine - the Breeders' Cup pick-six is simply the grandest incarnation of the wager that debuted decades ago at Caliente racetrack in Tijuana as the ``5-10'' (because it required bettors to connect the winners of races 5 through 10).

Introduced to the United States at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita in the early 1980s, the pick-six revolutionized the sport for many fans, turning it into a big-game hunt. Instead of trying to grind out profits with win, place and show bets, or to pay a month's rent with a solid exacta or trifecta, they aimed for life-changing payoffs of six figures.

Or seven figures: The record pick-six payoff before the 1999 Breeders' Cup at Gulfstream was $1,132,466 for a lone perfect ticket at Bay Meadows near San Francisco on Dec. 3, 1985.

The math is basically the same for the pick-six as for other parimutuel wagers. After the powers that be skim their percentage off the top of the pool, the losing bets pay off the winners. The fewer the winners, the higher the payoff. Thus, the most sizable rewards come from picking winners that other people don't pick.

Some pick-six players try to do that on the cheap by stabbing at single long shots in a few races. Others splurge and cover a handful of horses in the most puzzling events.

The minimum pick-six bet is a mere $2 - but that assumes you use only one horse in each race. The expense multiplies with each horse you add. Using one horse in five races and three horses in the sixth would cost $6; using one horse in three races, two in one and five in the sixth would cost $20; using two horses in each race would cost you $128.

The formula (multiply the numbers of horses you've used in each successive race, then multiply by $2) isn't as hard as it sounds once you get used to it.

To play a relatively small ticket like Heironymous' $192 effort (we said relatively), and nail long shots like 30-1 Anees in the Juvenile and 19-1 Cat Thief in the Classic, was a notable feat.

Heironymous, whose day job is director of television production for Keeneland racetrack in Lexington, says he has been besieged by requests for tips this year. An Arcadia-based magazine called The Horseplayer published his thoughts on pick-six tactics.

``The only way you're going to win any serious amount of money is to play some live long shots,'' he said on the phone from Churchill Downs between races on Wednesday. ``Obviously, there's some clear favorites that deserve to be favorites and have to be played. But you've got to back them up with some long shots. You have to study.''

He adds the universal horseplayer's caveat: ``If you're playing with money you're not prepared to lose, you're making a mistake.''

A year ago, Heironymous was working as a cameraman for Breeders' Cup promoters, shooting footage of training gallops for distribution to television stations. He was impressed with what he saw of Anees, a California product with a single victory to his credit, and decided to include the colt on his pick-six ticket.

Heironymous' brother pointed out the potential of Cat Thief, a well-connected 3-year-old with a history of near-misses, when the two men talked over the card's exacta and trifecta possibilities the day before the Breeders' Cup.

When those dark horses bounded home in front, G.D. Heironymous became an unlikely household name in the world of horseplayers. And left him with a pleasant problem - what to do for an encore.

Not surprisingly, he has more pick-six investment partners this year, allowing him to plan for a larger ticket covering more horses - ``probably $1,200,'' he said.

Saturday's pick-six focuses on the Mile, Sprint, Filly & Mare Turf, Juvenile, Turf and Classic - the last six of the eight Breeders' Cup races.

``The odds are even higher of winning it again,'' Heironymous said, citing the lightning-never-strikes-twice axiom.

But a hero never backs down from a challenge.

Breeder's Cup

Saturday,

TV: Ch. 4, 10 a.m.

ONE MAN'S PICK-SIX TICKET

The Daily News' Kevin Modesti suggests one way a bettor with $100 to risk might play the Breeders' Cup pick-six on Saturday. Listed are the six races and Modesti's selections. See page 10 for his complete Breeders' Cup analysis.

--Mile: Ladies Din (6-1 morning-line odds), Distant Music (10-1), King Cugat (5-1), Forbidden Apple (15-1)

--Sprint: Kona Gold (5-2 favorite)

--Filly & Mare Turf: Petrushka (5-2 favorite), Tranquility Lake (6-1)

--Juvenile: Flame Thrower (3-1 favorite)

--Turf: Kalanisi (7-2), Fantastic Light (8-1)

--Classic: Captain Steve (10-1), Fusaichi Pegasus (8-5 favorite), Giant's Causeway (6-1)

Note: The ticket would cost $96 ($2 for each of 48 possible winning combinations - 4 x 1 x 2 x 1 x 2 x 3).

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo: (1 -- color) FLAME THROWER

(2) Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies entrant Notable Career sticks out her tongue at groom Miguel Veles after a workout at Churchill Downs.

Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press

Box: (1) Breeder's Cup (see text)

(2) ONE MAN'S PICK-SIX TICKET (see text)