Combining long odds selections in a cover bet, such as a Lucky 15, can be an intriguing way to wager.
It provides opportunities to cover your stake with a single winner or even a couple of placers… while offering the tantalising possibility of a sizable payout should more than one oblige.
And that’s exactly where one Coral punter found himself on Sunday as three of his four selections won – at ginormous odds of 20/1, 28/1 and 80/1.
Having placed two Lucky 15 tickets, with one win only and the other each way, they were able to turn their £90 stake into a payout of a cool £208,480.
Now that’s a Sunday funday…
Go Victor Go
It was a steady day of summer racing on Sunday with meetings at Uttoxeter and Pontefract in glorious conditions.
Our punter, who placed his bet in a Coral shop in Scunthorpe, backed three at the former and one at the latter… getting off the mark in stunning style at Uttoxeter.
| Time | Course | Horse | Position | Odds (SP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2:12 | Uttoxeter | Hello Garda | 1st | 80/1 (40/1) |
| 3:42 | Uttoxeter | Hold Your Fort | 1st | 20/1 (16/1) |
| 4:12 | Uttoxeter | Pike Road | 7th | 28/1 (11/1) |
| 5:00 | Pontefract | Go Victor | 1st | 28/1 (28/1) |
An 80/1 winner is always welcome, of course, but especially so when it kicks off a multiple. Hello Garda was considered a no-hoper by the odds compilers in the opener, a two-mile juvenile hurdle. And with good reason, perhaps, as Shark Hanlon’s three-year-old has shown plenty of inexperience so far.
But punters were keen to get the Irish raider on board, backing him from 80/1 to an SP of 40/1 on the soundest of ground.
Paddy Hanlon let his mount run in the early furlongs, chasing the leaders hard from an outside line. Rachel O’Neill’s horse barely left the frame throughout, but with red-hot 8/11 fancy Vietnorm also prominent, there was an air of inevitability about proceedings.
But the anticipated charge to the line never materialised from the odds-on jolly, with Hello Garda going clear three from home.
Hanlon kicked on and his charge responded, completing an outstanding – albeit unexpected – three-length victory.
The Scunthorpe based punter now had an hour-and-a-half wait before his second runner: Hold Your Fort, who was also competing at Uttoxeter.
Backed at 20/1 but running from an SP of 16/1, the ten-year-old did things the hard way – frontrunning all the way round the three-mile circuit on fast ground.
The Debra Hamer trainer chaser had won a veteran’s chase in March and has clearly retained his appetite for racing – the 7/2 second favourite, Grand Clermont, was given no chance on the flat as Hold Your Fort stayed on comfortably.
Perhaps anticipating the possibility of something extraordinary, the Coral customer only had half-an-hour to wait for his next pick to run at Uttoxeter.
Sadly, Pike Road – despite leading early on – was never in the hunt at the business end. Had he prevailed, our punter would have broken through the £1 million mark… although his winnings would have been capped at the seven-figure mark by Coral’s maximum payout ceiling.
But better news was still to come. Go Victor, backed at 28/1 and sent off at the same price, made light of a winless run stretching back almost a year to the day to July 2025.
The three-year-old had finished last-but-one or dead last in each of his five prior starts, but sometimes there’s no rhyme nor reason to racing and Go Victor lived up to his name in the closing stretch, asserting control to win by half-a-length.
Now that’s the kind of Sunday we can get behind…
Amazing Journey
Mind you, the Scunthorpe backer wasn’t the only one to plunder a big win at the races over the weekend.
One Sky Bet punter turned a £1 each way acca into more than £52,000 as each of their selections obliged.
Andrew Balding’s Moonrise won as an 11/2 chance in the Princess Margaret at Ascot, before Stratusnine landed a huge 21-horse handicap at York.
Kon Tiki took down the Group 3 Valiant Stakes at Ascot, before the exciting Frankel colt Item landed a second Group 2 title in the York Stakes.
Four down, three to go: Amazing Journey continued his fine season with victory at Ascot, before Dwindling Funds clung on to win by less-than-a-length at York.
And dwindling funds is not something the customer has to worry about as his final acca pick, Kalpana, landed a classy King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes renewal from an SP of 13/2.
| Time | Course | Horse | Position | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:45 | Ascot | Moonrise | 1st | 11/2 |
| 2:00 | York | Stratusnine | 1st | 10/3 |
| 2:20 | Ascot | Kon Tiki | 1st | 7/2 |
| 2:35 | York | Item | 1st | 3/1 |
| 2:55 | Ascot | Amazing Journey | 1st | 4/1 |
| 3:05 | York | Dwindling Funds | 1st | 5/1 |
| 3:35 | Ascot | Kalpana | 1st | 13/2 |