Churchill Downs finds a way to lose twice on the $15K it overpaid Wes Welker

Churchill Downs today might just be the poster-facepalm for an entire racing industry that is foundering for lack of better marketing and public relations.

Here's the scenario:

1. Wes Welker, darned-good football player and pretty widely recognized as an all-right guy, dresses up to attend the track's biggest racing day. (Glamorous!)

2. Welker wins big, and who doesn't like a winner? (#Winning!)

3. Welker celebrates his score by handing out $100 bills to numerous utter strangers. (Populist!)

4. Churchill Downs realizes it made an error in the payout and demands Welker repay almost $15,000. (Buzzkill!)

For the record, Churchill Downs, Welker's score and impromptu philanthropy was good publicity worth perhaps a hundred times what you lost in overpaying on his winning tickets. Asking for some of that money back -- less than 15 large on a day that your own betting service, TwinSpires.com, by itself handled a record $21.5 million -- is CD management face-planting in the souvenirs left after the post parade.

Are you trying to disprove the adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity?