From Ayr Racecourse
Just five weeks since the last time it was won, the Scoop6 win pot had already grown to a sizeable £845,283, so the results of the days races were hotly anticipated by those with skin in the game.
Many of those punters will have been celebrating after the first leg too, since the favourite, Vivaldi Collonges priced at 9/4, took the win, sending a huge number of bets through to the next leg.
With 123,582 units making it past the first stage hopes will have been high going into the second leg just over an hour later. This was the 15:00 at Ayr, but an overlooked 8/1 shot called Ch’tibello won the race, dashing those hopes and knocking a whopping 92% of units out of the competition.
With a massive 28 runners in race 3, it’s a wonder that anyone made it any further at all, especially after one of the joint favourites fell at the third, and the other could only manage 5th place.
It was Vicente, one of Paul Nicholls’ horses, that crossed the line first, but at 14/1, only 439 units had back him.
The Scoop6 often sheds units at a rate of 75% or more per leg, so when just 15 bets were left in the running after an unexpected win from Moidore at 11/1 in race 4, another rollover looked to be on the cards.
The favourite, Cymro, came to the rescue in race 5, which was the 16:40 at Thirsk, helping a final 5 units limp into the final leg of the Scoop6.
This final race saw the third favourite of the day do the business, with Two Taffs coming in first much to the relief of the 2 punters who had bet on the horse. Only 3 of the 9 runners had been backed in this race.
This was a Scoop6 that looked sure to be extinguished early on, only to be saved in the final couple of races by hotly fancied horses coming through, and in the end the £845,283 pot was split between two different winners, each claiming a very nice £422,641.50 for their efforts, but choosing to keep their identities private.