When Earl Pratt was 16, he was already six feet tall and, consequently, had no problem placing bets with the mutuel clerks at Sportsman’s Park outside Chicago. 

That was 69 years ago.

Pratt has been playing the horses ever since and, today, at 85, the Lander, Wyoming, resident is fresh off the thrill of the biggest score of his life, earning $155,203 for finishing first—and sixth with his other entry—in the $377,784 BC Pick & Pray Tourney.

Almost all of us have preconceived notions of what an 85-year-old man might look like…or sound like over the phone. Pratt is none of that. His voice is clear and strong; his self-deprecating wit unmistakable. As for his handicapping acumen, his performance in the first-ever BC Pick & Pray Tourney speaks for itself.

There were 211 entries in the two-day event, and after Friday’s first day, Earl found himself in 3rd and 23rd places. 

“I split my picks in three races on Friday,” he said, “but only one of them mattered.”

The one that did matter was Super Corredora ($19.60, $7.20) in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. What seemed to many handicappers like a gigantic step up in class for a last-race maiden breaker looked more like an opportunity to Earl.

“Her breeding and connections were strong,” he recalled, “and that last race seemed to be a coming of age. I owned trotters in Chicago in the 1970s, and when you could get them good, they would often stay good for five or six races. Super Corredora was obviously a 2-year-old, so the circumstances were different, but I’m never reluctant to play a horse that shows recent improvement.”

Both of Pratt’s entries got off to a flying start with Vodka Vodka ($27.00, $8.20) in Friday’s opener at Del Mar after Kent Desormeaux sent the Aggie Ordonez charge three wide to the lead entering the far turn.

“I liked all the factors…the record was good,” he said. “I think Desormeaux’s still an outstanding rider. I’m a fan. He rarely gives a weak ride. When he makes a mistake, it’s usually from being a little too aggressive. He rides to win, and with cheaper horses, going hard to get the lead turning for home means a lot.”

Pratt got blanked in the final three races to end Day 1.

That three-race dry spell became a 10-race skid, though, when he cashed not a thing in the first seven races on Day 2.

Did he start to get nervous?

“Not really,” Earl said, matter-of-factly. “I was surprisingly calm, I think, because my assessment at the start of the day was that I had done well enough on Friday that I was likely to finish in the top five — and I still felt that way. I felt as though my analysis wasn’t as bad as my results. I would have had some winners earlier in the day, but my general strategy in any tournament with more than 30 entries is that if you have a choice between two horses, you have to go with the longer one, or you’re never going to win. When I don’t follow that strategy, I’m great at getting into the top 20% and not winning anything!

“Also, three of the horses I really liked the most on Saturday were in the last five races.”

The first of those three was (the more-aptly-named-than-we-realized) Forever Young in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“I thought he lost some of his previous races because of terrible rides,” he said, a touch of disgust sneaking into his voice because he had bet Forever Young to win and place in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. “I was sure the trainer would tell the jockey to make sure he didn’t get covered up.”

Two races later came the horse that would put Earl in the lead to stay—Ethical Diamond in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

“I had some cash bets on that one too,” he laughed. “His trainer, Willie Mullins, is an outstanding trainer. He trained the winner of this year’s Grand National steeplechase. In terms of endurance on the turf, there’s no greater test. I figured if he put the horse in the race, it belonged in the race. He doesn’t do things for show. Trying to please owners is not in his DNA. I figured, ‘Based on Mullins, it belongs. Based on his race record…[long pause]…he might belong.’”

So now Pratt was ahead in the BC Pick & Pray Tourney by 80 cents, and, somehow, that slim advantage stood up at the end.

He did allow himself a laugh when thinking about Nysos in the next-to-last race in the contest, the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Pratt thought Nysos was a very likely winner, but he correctly figured that he would be odds-on, and that price was just too short, in his mind, to accept in a Pick & Pray with so many entries.

“If I had known I was going to be up by 80 cents going into that race, I would have jumped right aboard the Baffert bandwagon,” he said, “but it was too late for that. The mail was already in the mailbox!”

The final “letter” that Pratt sent was the last of the three that he really liked on Saturday—Bellezza in the Filly & Mare Turf. That one didn’t hit the board, but neither did 3-1 favorite Cinderella’s Dream, who runner up Steve Arrison needed in order to move past Pratt. No one within reach had the 9-1 winner Gezora. That meant that victory—and the $135,450 grand prize that went with it—belonged to Earl Pratt.

Which takes us to the almost obligatory question after contests like this one: “Any thoughts on what you might want to do with the money?”

It was one of two questions during our hour-long phone call that Pratt had trouble answering. The cadence of his eventual reply was slower than usual.

“I don’t know,” he said, with regard to the sudden windfall. “I’m too old. I live in the place that I want. My pick-up truck is fine. I don’t really want anything. I once thought I might like to have a place in Hot Springs Village to go to the races there at Oaklawn, but I don’t think that anymore. I like where I am.”

Twice a widower, Pratt has lived many places in his life — Illinois…Michigan…California…Florida…Texas…Nevada. Today he calls Lander his home—in no small part because his daughter Melissa and her family live not too far away in the central Wyoming community.

The other question that stopped Pratt for a bit was whether there was anyone out there—a friend, a relative, maybe a horseplaying buddy—that he might want included in this article.

“I’m at an age…not to be maudlin about it…but I’m at an age where literally all of my good horse racing friends are dead.”

Sadly, one of those—the best of those—was his son Bruce, who passed away in 2020.

“I’ve only been playing tournaments for the last 10 years,” he said. “He was the one who got me into it. I had been playing horses all the time, but Bruce entered a very nicely-staged tournament at Santa Anita, and you were allowed to bring a guest. I was his guest. He thought I might like tournaments, and he was right. Once I began playing in them, we had a healthy rivalry. We’d check each other’s scores. One time I won a contest in Ohio—I can’t remember whether it was at Thistledown or River Downs—and he told me, ‘You finally found a field you could beat!’

“He would have gotten a kick out of me winning last weekend,” Earl said, his voice trailing off.

Winning is always the objective, of course, but Pratt also credits the mere act of handicapping and playing in contests for keeping himself mentally young. Along those lines, he has some rather harsh words for some of his contemporaries.

“I feel you have to do something hard and unscripted,” he said. “Most old people seem to give up. They become risk averse. They quit doing what they love to do.”

No one can ever accuse Earl Pratt of that. The next big target on his radar is the $250,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray Classic here at HorseTourneys on December 6-7.

“Going back-to-back would be a big deal,” he mused aloud.

Until then, he will continue to revel in his family life in Lander—and also his day-to-day horseplaying. Sure, Melissa may get on his case here and there for old-man things…like the day she looked over her father’s shoulder and noticed that he had—no exaggeration—approximately 200 windows open on his laptop. That’s just fine with Earl, though. Despite the betting score of his lifetime, Earl Pratt comes across like a man who knows he has a good thing going and isn’t in any hurry to change things up at this point.

“I used to like going to the track,” he admitted, “but now I’m just addicted to online play. As I like to tell people, when I play at home, the food is free, and the bathrooms are immaculate!”