‘Average Guy In A Rich Man’s Game’ Relishes First Win As Owner

The Sport of Kings is not without its foibles, but its sense of beauty and grandeur can override them, capturing both the faith and fancy of even the most mundane man.

Such is the case of Cody Polansky, a workaday guy who makes his bones operating Polansky Plumbing out of West Los Angeles.

Cody got hooked on racing as a little boy, when his mom and dad took him to the races.

“I was five years old and playing in the fountain in my underwear,” Polansky remembered.

Now 47, he got the thrill of a lifetime when a horse of which he owns a share, Munny Spunt, won the eighth race at Santa Anita on March 23. It was Polansky's first win as an owner, a span of just under two years.

It was just a $30,000 claiming race for maidens, but it might as well have been the Kentucky Derby for Polansky. Munny Spunt, a three-year-old Hard Spun filly trained by Jeff Mullins and ridden by Jamie Theriot, won the 6 ½ furlong race on dirt by nearly three lengths as the 9-5 favorite.

“My wife, Stephanie and our two-year-old daughter, Sophie, were with me when the horse won,” Polansky said. “Obviously, we were thrilled.

“I'm just an average guy in a rich man's game. I always dreamed of owning a horse and winning a race.”

Munny Spunt's win was worth only $12,600, but Polansky kept things in perspective.

“It sure beats putting plungers into toilets all day,” he said.