Investigators have widened their inquiry of betting on the Oct. 26 Breeders' Cup to a third man who apparently attended the same college as two others linked to the transaction and who placed suspicious bets with the same telephone wagering service.
The New York State Racing and Wagering Board is investigating the circumstances under which a Baltimore man placed a wager on the Breeders' Cup that could pay $3.1 million. Derrick Davis, 29, holds the winning tickets on the Ultra Pick Six, a wager in which the bettor tries to select the outcome of six consecutive races.
His payoff, however, has been frozen by the board as it investigates. A man was fired last week by Autotote, the firm that processed bets for the phone service Davis used. The fired worker, Christopher Harn of Newark, Del., attended Drexel University, and apparently lived in the same fraternity house as Davis.
Autotote has described the fired software engineer as a "rogue employee" who had passwords that would have enabled him to alter the Pick Six bet after the first four races had been run.
A search of records by Catskill Off-Track Betting Corp. of Pomona, N.Y., which operates the phone betting service that Davis used, has turned up another man who may have a connection to Harn, according to Donald Groth, president of the state-owned Catskill.
"I have reason to believe he knows Harn," Groth said.
Groth declined to provide the man's identity or any information about him. One source familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the third man had an account at Catskill before Davis established one, and used it to place wagers on other multiple-race bets in a similar fashion. The third man appears to have known Harn during their Drexel years.
Davis' wager aroused suspicion because he bet on a single horse in each of the first four races - including some long shots - but the entire field in the last two races. Investigators are examining computer records to see if Davis' first four bets were altered in Autotote's computers before they were forwarded to the Breeders' Cup central computers after the fourth race.
Stacy Clifford, a spokeswoman for the New York racing board, declined to comment on the third man, or confirm that the agency is investigating him. "We're looking at anything related to what happened," Clifford said.
The New York state police are assisting in the investigation, she said. "When and if they feel it is appropriate to file charges, they will," she said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has not been brought into the case, although observers believe that is inevitable given the number of states involved in the alleged security breach. The Breeders' Cup was run at a track outside Chicago.
The racing board is also looking into a pair of suspicious bets placed on races run in Saratoga, N.Y., this summer.
"We'd be crazy to think this was the first time this happened," said another source involved in the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Investigators are searching track records around the country to see if other wagers were compromised by security breaches, the source said.
Harn's attorney, Daniel Conti, declined to comment. He has said his client is innocent of any wrongdoing. Davis, who operates a computer business in Baltimore, has said he made a legitimate bet and has done nothing wrong. His attorney was unavailable yesterday.
Neither man has been charged with any crimes.
Joseph De Francis, president of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, said a search of records by the tracks have uncovered no signs of Davis winning large bets at the Maryland tracks. Pick Six bets are not offered at the tracks, other than via simulcasts with tracks out of state.