On an absolutely terrible day to bet on favourites, a Placepot total of £91,403.54 was split between just 1.3 units, with one particularly lucky betting shop punter pocketing £15,397.98 for just a 30p bet.
Not only did none of the favourites on the day win, but only two of them, Optimistic Bias and Orchard Road, could even do enough to get in the places.
The eventual results on the day were:
- Leg 1: Santa’s Secret @ 11/2 / Buck Mulligan @ 7/2
- Leg 2: Midnight Jade @ 7/1 / Arthamint @ 7/2
- Leg 3: Man From Seville @ 25/1 / Nobel Leader @ 12/1 / Windy Writer @ 100/1
- Leg 4: Delgany Demon @ 8/1 / Persian @ 9/2 / Optimistic Bias @ 3/1 FAV
- Leg 5: Goal @ 17/2 / Aaman @ 6/1 / Orchard Road @ 11/4 FAV
- Leg 6: Shinooki @ 10/1 / Mission Complete @ 10/1 / Vodka Island @ 14/1
There were a lot of horses pulled up in the last leg, including the two joint favourites for that race, and in leg 3 the favourite Aqua Dude unseated his rider, which will have been damaging for what was left of the pool.
When it comes to the other races though, it was simply a case of the most backed horses not living up to expectations, which did damage to punters’ chances from leg 1 onwards, and never really let up.
A lovely day if you were the owner of any part of the remaining 1.3 units after the final leg, or if you were an on course bookie we imagine, but not so great for the majority of punters.
At the time, the £51,326.60 dividend per unit was the 3rd biggest in the Placepot’s history.