Saratoga Pays out Pick 5 Tickets Every Race Day, But Seldom Does One Single Gamble Win without Sharing
A New Jersey horse bettor won nearly $500,000 on a 50-cent ticket this weekend in what one handicapper called a “race occurrence”. The gambler, who requested anonymity, won $471,124.50 on a Pick 5 ticket at the Saratoga Race Course in New York state.
The gambler wagered on the winner of the first five races of the day. For him to win, he had to pick all five winners. Two of those winners had odds at 21:1, meaning a single bet on that horse would have paid $21 for ever $1 wagered. The odds on all five horses winning were astronomical.
The Winning Horses
The five horses which won were Realm (11-1) in the first race, English Minister (3-1) in the second race, Site Read (21-1) in the third race, Hey Bro (24-1) in the fourth race, and Saratoga Mischief (6-1) in the fifth race.
The horse gambler won the entire pooled payout based on a $0.50 bet, though the gambler bet $675 on a 1,350 different 0.50¢ horse combinations. The player would make 1350 separate 0.50¢, in which each wager had a different combination of five horses. Each of the 0.50¢ wagers would be printed out separately.
Saratoga Handicapper Discusses Prizes
Andy Serling is the handicapper for the New York Racing Association, which organizes races at the Saratoga, Aquaduct, and Belmont. It was his company which had to pay the prize amount, though paying out such a prize pool is an everyday occurrence. Serling said that it is a rare occurrence to have someone win such a wager, but that is only because no one else collected any of the prize pool alongside the anonymous gambler.
Pick 5 Tickets
Winning the Pick 5 is not that rare. In fact, Andy Serling said that a single winner has been picked every single day since the Pick 5 went on sale in 2013. This is only the second time a single player won the Pick 5. When multiple players select the winning combination, they must share the payout, much like they would in a lottery drawing.
The $471,124.50 prize is the most won by a single player since $595,502 since August 29, 2014, when a single player won a Pick Five at the Saratoga Race Course. Because of the ability to have a bunch of auto-picks at Saratoga, many gamblers wager on dozens, if not hundreds, of horse combinations on the Pick 5 wager each day. That is how each day has multiple people winning the Pick 5 bet.
Saratoga Posts Record Numbers
The opening weekend of Saratoga’s 2015 season is being viewed as a big success. More than 65,000 racing fans and bettors came to the race course on Friday and Saturday. Roughly $40 million was wagered at the complex and off-track venues.
Lynn LaRocca, the NYRA Chief Experience Officer, said Saratoga had a record-setting weekend.
LaRocca said, “We had a huge opening crowd opening day; we had another great crowd yesterday. There was a lot of noise beforehand, so I wasn’t totally surprised [by the record betting numbers].”
Saratoga’s racing schedule continues in the next 6 full weeks. The NYRA hopes a record-setting weekend turns into a record season.
The Next Generation of Race Enthusiasts
Not only has the betting been good, but the vending stalls outside the racetrack have reported record numbers. Revenues generated at the market outside the complex is a sign of mass market appeal, not confined to the hardcore gamblers only.
On example is Lily Olsen, an 11-year old who spoke to Time Warner Cable News about her horse racing experiences. Lily has been visiting Saratoga Race Course since 2009 and says she’s learned the history of the track.
The young Ms. Olsen, who was brought to the track on Sunday by her father, Erik Olsen, told the news Matt Hunter of TWC News, “It’s always fun. There’s always some sort of big victory and some sort of big event that takes place you can always look back to from that year.”
American Pharoah News
One thing certain to help the gate numbers at Saratoga would be the appearance of the sport’s biggest star before the end of the race season. That could be a possibility in 2015.
The only living Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah, is set to run at the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on August 2 at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park. If all goes well at the Haskell Invitational, then Bob Baffert has suggested he might run American Pharoah at the prestigious Travers Stakes on August 29 at Saratoga.
American Pharoah became the first thoroughbred in 37 years to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The feat makes American Pharoah a superstar attraction anytime he races. Trainer Bob Baffert and owner Ahmed Zayat are likely to be extremely careful with their horse’s health, given the large stud fees he is likely to fetch in the coming years.
