Breaking the Bank: Derby Edition Huge Payouts
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Breaking the Bank - featuring data courtesy of Equibase - highlights the biggest scores of the past week in racing. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
Part of the lure of watching and betting on the Kentucky Derby is that with 19 or 20 horses you never know what might happen. Just look back to 2009 and 2005 for examples of 50-to-1 longshots winning U.S. racing’s marquee event.
Although this year’s edition went according to form with 5-to-2 favorite California Chrome prevailing, a 37.80-to-1 longshot rallied to finish second and livened up the payouts for exotics bets like exactas and trifectas.
In fact, Commanding Curve was the key horse for this week’s biggest payout. The $1 Super High 5, which requires bettors to correctly string together the first five finishers in order, returned a whopping $149,764.70.
This is probably one of the most challenging bets in horse racing. Many avid bettors prefer multi-race wagers because they require the gambler to string together winners rather than try to judge who might finish a distant fourth to round out a superfecta. To them, there is far more certainty and logic involved in identifying probable winners than third- or fourth-place finishers.
It’s far more difficult to predict the first five finishers in a race as competitive and deep as the Kentucky Derby, but if you like Commanding Curve the rest of the top five was fairly true to form. The winner was the overwhelming favorite and, after Commanding Curve, the next two home were 8.70-to-1 third betting choice Danza and 6.50-to-1 third betting choice Wicked Strong. Samraat, who has five wins and one second in six previous races, rounded out the Derby top five at 16.70-to-1. In order, you had the Santa Anita Derby winner, followed by the Louisiana Derby third-place finisher, the Arkansas Derby winner, the Wood Memorial Stakes winner and the Wood Memorial runner-up. If you liked Commanding Curve, the rest of the top five was actually pretty formful.
Perhaps Denver Broncos wide receiver Wes Welker was one of the winners of this bet as he was reportedly passing out hundred-dollar bills from massive stacks of cash on Kentucky Derby day.
Wes Welker had fun at Kentucky Derby. He reportedly handed out $100 bills after winning. (photo via @Jeff_Novak) » pic.twitter.com/lDuITxuLzi
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 5, 2014
Top Payouts for the Week Ended May 4
Wager
Wager Amount
Payoff
Track
Date
Race#
Win
$2.00
$123.20
PRM
5/1/14
9
Place
$2.00
$54.60
LAD
5/2/14
4
Show
$2.00
$30.60
LAD
5/2/14
4
Exacta
$1.00
$267.30
SA
5/4/14
8
Exacta
$2.00
$657.80
SRP
4/29/14
3
Quinella
$1.00
$47.60
TUP
5/2/14
8
Quinella
$2.00
$410.60
WRD
4/29/14
5
Trifecta
$1.00
$3,154.90
GG
5/2/14
8
Trifecta
$2.00
$11,540.00
SUD
5/3/14
8
Superfecta
$0.10
$7,854.80
EVD
5/2/14
8
Superfecta
$1.00
$25,997.70
WRD
5/3/14
3
Superfecta
$2.00
$68,662.40
CT
5/2/14
2
Daily Double
$1.00
$150.50
TUP
4/28/14
9
Daily Double
$2.00
$727.60
SA
5/3/14
7
Pick 3
$0.50
$110.30
PIM
5/3/14
6
Pick 3
$1.00
$2,289.30
AP
5/4/14
3
Pick 3
$2.00
$3,891.00
BEL
5/3/14
12
Pick 4
$0.50
$1,504.55
TUP
4/28/14
9
Pick 4
$1.00
$3,470.00
WO
5/4/14
9
Pick 4
$2.00
$51,040.00
BEL
5/3/14
10
Pick 5
$0.50
$11,048.85
PRM
5/2/14
9
Pick 5
$1.00
$2,807.90
TAM
5/4/14
10
Pick 5
$2.00
$31,048.00
BEL
5/4/14
5
Pick 5 Jackpot
$0.50
$1,015.90
LAD
5/4/14
9
Pick 6
$1.00
$1,346.20
TUP
4/29/14
9
Pick 6
$2.00
$25,147.20
SA
5/1/14
8
Pick 6 Jackpot
$0.10
$407.81
CRC
5/3/14
8
Pick 6 Jackpot
$0.20
$4,258.42
GP
5/2/14
8
Pick 6 Jackpot
$1.00
$1,187.00
CRC
5/2/14
8
Super High Five
$1.00
$149,764.70
CD
5/3/14
11
Super High Five
$2.00
$20,454.20
MNR
5/4/14
9