What are the bookmakers offering?
Pre-race betting had Benbatl @ 7-2, Rhodedendron @ 7-2, Recoletos @ 6-1, Lightning Spear @ 12-1, Limato @14-1 and Yoshida @ 14-1. Only five horses were priced higher than Accidental Agent’s 33-1. These were Beat The Bank @ 33-1, Suedois @ 33-1, Zonderland @ 40-1, Oh This Is Us @100-1 and So Beloved @125-1.
If 33-1 sounds good then how about double that? That’s exactly what you would have received if you had placed a bet on Billesdon Brook in the second Flat racing Classic of the season, the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket. In winning the race the filly became the biggest-priced winner at the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket since the race began in 1814.
Jockey Sean Levey beat Laurens by one and three-quarter lengths with favourite Happily finishing in third. Although odds on Billesdon Brook will have plummeted for future events, it’s worth keeping a close eye on her as the performance was no fluke. She looked commanding throughout the race and posted a respectable time. Billesdon Brook’s ownership is a bit different from the norm in horseracing. Rather than being owned by a rich Irish magnate or an oil-rich baron, the filly is owned by 23 friends calling themselves the Pall Mall Partners.
The luckiest punter of 2018 award must go to a Texas woman who managed to scoop a cool $1.2 million (£910,000) after picking the winners in five races. Margaret Reid bought a “Pick 5” ticket which works in the same way as a five-fold accumulator. As the odds were huge, she was able to turn an $18 stake into over a million dollars. The incredibly fortunate lady didn’t put the win down to luck, however, saying she had done her homework and the wager was a carefully placed one.
Margaret Reid’s win comes a year after UK online bookmaker Coral paid out £823,000 from a £19 bet which was the biggest in the company’s history. The anonymous punter laid a £19 accumulator bet on five horses running at Punchestown on Friday afternoon and wasn’t even aware he had won until he returned home after a night-out and checked the racing results.
His winning bet was 10/1 Das Mooser (3.40 Punchestown), 9/2 Woodland Opera (4.20 Punchestown), 7/1 Definite Ruby (4.55 Punchestown), 10/1 Bacardys (6.05 Punchestown), 33/1 Canardier (7.45 Punchestown). The 33/1 pick was the icing on the cake. His bet consisted of 5 x £3 Fourfold Accumulators and 1 x £4 Fivefold Accumulator.
