Trump outraged again … and again

Riots broke out at Churchill Downs and off-track betting venues around the country as gamblers who had bet on Mandaloun to win the 2021 Kentucky Derby demanded to be paid after Medina Spirit was disqualified.

“This is an outrage,” former president Donald Trump said. “I personally placed a $700,000 bet on Mandaloun’s nose and at 15-1 odds I would’ve won $10-million. I plan to go to the track today to protest this theft, and I urge everyone who has Mandaloun-to-win tickets to join me. I say, ‘Stop the steal’.”

Mandaloun finished one-quarter length behind Medina Spirit in the Derby last May 1, but the Bob Baffert-trained 3-year-old horse was disqualified by the Kentucky Horse Racing Association 10 months later after post-race tests showed the presence of an anti-inflammatory. Medina Spirit died unexpectedly in December.

The bettors’ rampage wasn’t limited to the Louisville, Ky., racetrack. Thousands of people, many of them carrying Mandaloun First flags, Don’t Tread On My Horse signs, and MAGAloun banners as well as Hang Baffert placards, and posters supporting Trump, stormed dozens of off-track betting venues in more than a dozen states.

“It’s been pretty wild,” said Michael McGuire, owner of Trinity Restaurant and Bar, an OTB site in Floral Park, N.Y. “I mean, they trampled a bunch of greenery and overturned tables – but we served more liquor and beer today than we do in two weeks, so thank you Mr. President.”

In Las Vegas, Matt Anderson, spokesman for The Blackstone Group, owner of the Bellagio resort, said the casino honored the Mandaloun tickets brandished by angry tinhorns who descended on the Strip demanding payouts.

“But we paid off the winnings in casino tokens,” Anderson said. “In other words, chips. And most of the guys took them, headed for the tables and slots and bars and, um, paid us back what they’d collected and more. Just another day in Sin City.”

While most of the disturbances centered around the outcome of the Kentucky Derby, melees also occurred at Florida and Arizona spring training sites after Trump blasted Major League Baseball for the latest development in the lockout.

An owners’ statement said the start of spring training, scheduled to begin Feb. 26, was being delayed to March 5, canceling about eight of each team’s 28-32 games.

“This is an outrage,” Trump said. “I can not believe Commissioner Bowie Kuhn is allowing this. I was planning to take Don Jr. and Ivanka and Eric – well, maybe not Eric – to spring games in Palm Beach to see the Washington Senators and the Miami Sharks … or Swordfish … or Sturgeon … What the hell is that team called? I’m sure my kids are crushed and I’m just as certain many other fans are furious because they won’t be able to cheer me in the ballpark.

“Right after my stop in Kentucky I’m going to fly up to New York, to Trump Tower, to address thousands of patriotic fans,” the former president added, “and then I’ll join them as we head to Major League Baseball’s headquarters at 1271 Make Avenue of the Americas Great Again, marching there peacefully, just like last time.”