Credit: Brent Moore Flickr
A lucky occasional bettor had a brilliant day at Retama Park in Austin, Texas, when her $18 Pick 5 acca turned her into a millionaire.
Described as ‘not exactly a regular’ by staff at the race track where the bet was made, Margaret Reid was in the Sports Bar when her bet came in, and everyone else in the building knew she stood to win big if her final horse won.
That final horse was Justify who was about to run the 144th Kentucky Derby.
The Pick 5 bet is an America wager similar to a Scoop 6 over here, whereby the bettor must pick 5 winners in consecutive races at a single track, and Margaret had gone for races 8-12 at Churchill Downs.
As word got around that she stood to win a record amount for the venue, all the attention was on her and what that final win would mean, and the whole bar went crazy when Justify passed the post first.
Margaret Reid bagged $1.2 million in that moment, and to put that into context it works out as (a rather spooky) 66,666/1. The owners of the horse only won $1.4 million!
Rachel Bagnetto, who spoke on behalf of Retama Park, said:
“To bet that little amount of money and win $1.2 million is unheard of. In fact, it’s the first time it’s happened at Retama.”
The win might have occurred 1,100 miles to the South West of where the race was being run, but it was a day that no one who was there will ever forget.
How the Bet Was Won
Before the big moment came, Margaret Reid had 4 other horses who performed just as she had predicted.
These were:
- Race 8 – Limousine Liberal at 4/1
- Race 9 – Maraud at 8/1
- Race 10 – Funny Duck at 40/1
- Race 11 – Yoshida at 10/1
Of course, the finally horse was Justify who was the 3/1 favourite to win the Kentucky Derby.
Limousine Liberal was defending his title but was not the favourite to win the 8th race of the day, and only managed to do so by a head, but that was all Margaret Reid needed to keep her bet alive.
Congratulations to our biggest winner! Her $18 wager won her 1.2 million! pic.twitter.com/jVYXLCIs4g
— Retama Park (@RetamaPark) May 5, 2018
The American Turf was race 9 and even though he was running on ground not best suited to him, Maraud managed to clinch it, but it was another tight one.
The biggest test on Reid’s card was arguably Funny Duck at 40/1 in the Pat Day Mile for race 10, and after a stumble out of the gates she would have been forgiven for thinking her bet was over.
After hanging around at the back of the 14 strong field, Funny Duck eventually made his way to the front on the inside, before crossing behind and overtaking the leader on the outside then storming to victory.
Next up was the Old Forester Turf which ended up being a two horse race between Beach Patrol and Yoshida, with the latter just getting the better of the former, and then of course, it was the Kentucky Derby.
Justify ran at the front of the pack for practically the whole race, and finished comfortably by 2 to 3 lengths for a win that many predicted.
Only one of those people won $1.2 million though, and that was Margaret Reid.