Patrick Jensen bet $200 on Triple Crown contender Big Brown at the Preakness this year, but he hasn't cashed in any of his winning slips.
Instead, the Mount Airy resident is selling the $2 win tickets on eBay, along with programs and collectible Kentucky Derby drinking glasses.
"It's kind of my way of gambling," Jensen, 38, said.
The hope that Big Brown will win the Belmont Stakes today and become a Triple Crown winner has spurred the dreams of fans of thoroughbred racing - as well as those in the collectibles industry.
As of last night, various sellers had bids of more than $90 for a Derby and Preakness ticket combo.
Mementos from Triple Crown winners are the most popular racing items collected and sold, auction leaders and other experts say, because the achievement is so rare. Only 11 horses have held the title since the races began in the 1800s, and there hasn't been once since Affirmed in 1978.
"That's the thing that resonates most with the public. Even nonhorse-racing fans can relate to a Kentucky Derby winner," and a Triple Crown favorite has even more recognition, said Brian Marren, vice president of acquisitions for Mastro Auctions in Illinois.
Already, hopeful sellers have posted items on eBay such as programs, tickets to races and unclaimed betting slips from the Preakness and Kentucky Derby, as well as manufactured keepsakes such as T-shirts, glasses and even stuffed horses.
A similar excitement stirred in 2004, when Smarty Jones won the first two legs of the Triple Crown, according to Mike Gathagan, spokesman for the Maryland Jockey Club.
"Smarty Jones mania ran wild," he wrote in an e-mail. "It seemed crazier than this year."
He suspects that some people buy tickets for all the top horses at the derby, assuming that one of them might also win Preakness. "If all goes well, it's only another $2 investment in New York," Gathagan said.
There definitely is a market for these items, said T.S. O'Connell, editor of Sports Collectors Digest. For years, people have hung on to betting slips rather than cash them in.
"A lot of people have determined that such things may have greater artifact or - at the very least - sentimental value than getting your 20 cents return. ... I'm sure the New York State Racing Commission doesn't mind that foible one bit," he said.
But betting tickets and programs are not necessarily investments, he said.
