Marv Teixeira groaned as a 2-year-old colt named in his honor crossed the finish line third on Wednesday at the Saratoga Race Track.
"What when wrong, Mike?" he said turning away from a television at Bodines Casino to Mike Pegram, owner of the thoroughbred horse, Mayor Marv.
But Pegram reminded the 73-year-old mayor of Carson City that this race in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was the horse's first and that he had a strong finish and bright future.
Teixeira had lost $100 on the horse, though. He had also had to put up with jokes that day about how friends had been able to convince him for a time that Mayor Marv was castrated.
Though Mayor Marv did come in third out of seven, he did do well enough to make money for some who didn't pick him as the winner.
The horse also comes from good parents with Miss Wineshine being also the mother of Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide and Distorted Humor being a top-rated stud.
The horses trainer, Bob Baffert, has managed horses such as Kentucky Derby winner Real Quiet and the horse's jockey, Edgar Prado, rode Barbaro to a 2006 Kentucky Derby win.
Mayor Marv lost to Charlott Humor and Majestic Blue in the race today. He beat Cabaret Cowboy, Daimon's Glory, Madison Heights and The Big Dunkin.