For an investment of $12,500, Mambo Meister already has produced more thrills and profits than five South Floridians and two other friends expected.

Those members of Quantum Racing Team paid that amount in 2005 for the majority share in the then 4-month-old horse who has since won five stakes races and $296,505. Now, a spot in a Breeders' Cup race is an added bonus.

On Saturday in Arcadia, Calif., they will watch their long shot Mambo Meister in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (Grade 1). That race, on Santa Anita Park's synthetic surface, is part of the Breeders' Cup program that begins Friday.

``We feel we have a diamond in the rough,'' part-owner Chris Pallas of Fort Lauderdale said Thursday. ``We are not here for a vacation.''

Mambo Meister, a 4-year-old gelding, earned a Breeders' Cup spot by winning the Spend A Buck Handicap (Grade 3) on Oct. 17. That race was 1 1/16 miles on dirt at Calder Race Course.

He is listed at 30-1, the longest shot in Saturday's 10-horse field. Several entrants have more impressive records, and the race will be Mambo Meister's first on a synthetic track.

``He has won on turf and dirt, and we feel he can handle the synthetic,'' said Phil Gleaves, Mambo Meister's trainer. ``He is improving, and we would not have brought him here if we didn't think he has a chance to hit the board [third or better].''

Manoel Cruz, Calder's leading jockey this year, will ride Mambo Meister.

Original owner J.R. Cavanaugh of Ocala still has a stake in the horse.

Early in 2005, he bought Bleu'slittlesecret, a mare in foal, for $5,200. That March, she delivered the horse who would be named Mambo Meister.

Cavanaugh asked his friend Ray Juliano of Fort Lauderdale to help find investors in the young horse.

Juliano recruited Pallas. They brought in Alan and Dianne Collins of Sunny Isles, Doug McCraw of Fort Lauderdale and two friends outside South Florida. They combined to invest $12,500.

Pallas said other potential buyers had questions about Bleu'slittlesecret's pedigree. That enabled Cavanaugh to buy her at price that has proven to be a bargain.

King Cugat, Mambo Meister's sire, had career earnings of $1,293,782.

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