Successful gambling wins are rare but when they happen, they’re even more satisfying – particularly if they defy the odds. But not all gambles are historic for being successful. These are ten horse racing bets that made the news for being unexpected and outrageous.
The Roscommon Coup
Charles Byrnes is the king of punting trainers and he’s had many successful coups but the greatest of them all was in 2016 when he sent out three different horses to win at overnight odds of 16-1, 12-1 and 14-1. All of them were ridden by Davy Russell and returned at 6-1, 7-4 and 5-4.
D Four Dave
In 2010, a horse called D Four Dave beat his rivals in the Kilbeggan handicap hurdle, backed in to 5-1 from 14s. It emerged afterwards that the horse’s owner had paid 200 people €30 to place single bets at different shops and was given an alarm to place the bet at an exact time so as not to arouse suspicion.
Barney Curley
In 2014, four trainers connected to Barney Curley sent out four horses to win at three different tracks, with accumulated odds of over 9,000-1, you could also use an odds convertor to make it a bit easier for yourself. The morning prices of the horses were quickly snapped up and exceeded £2 million, but all of the horses had been trained to the minute and each one obliged on race day despite being off the track for as much as 700 days.
Fred Craggs’ Million Pound Win
In 2008, Fred Craggs became the first man to place a million-pound bet in a betting shop, but the most astounding fact of this bet was that the bet was just a 50p 8-horse accumulator.
Yellow Sam
In 1975, Barney Curley took to Bellewstown with the goal of changing his life and he achieved just that. He bet on Yellow Sam by instructing his minions to bet all over the country with various sized bets at odds of 20-1. Curley wound up pocketing £1.4 million for his efforts.
Conor Murphy’s Stable Boy Bet
Stable boy Conor Murphy bet $75 on all five of his boss’s horses to win at Cheltenham and despite the sceptics doubting his choice, he wound up winning $1.5 million in an accumulator.
Dettori’s Magic Seven
In 1996, Franki Dettori left a lot of bookies upset when he defied odds of 25,000-1 by winning all seven races at Britain’s Ascot Festival. One lucky gambler bet just £59 on all of the races and left the event with £550,000 in his pocket.
The Big Fella
Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer earned his title The Big Fella for gambling extraordinary amounts, but in 1987, he lost around $7 million in one day, including $2 million on his own horse, when he got unlucky at Sydney’s Golden Slipper Stakes.
Punchestown’s £19 Bet
An anonymous bettor placed a £19 accumulator bet on five horses running at Punchestown in 2017 and changed his life forever in the process, when the bet won and earned him £823,000.
$1.2 Million Kentucky Derby Bet
In 2018, a lucky woman in Texas earned a cool $1.2 million from her $18 bet in the Kentucky Derby when her ‘Pick 5’ bet came through as she’d predicted.