Chef's Mate (No 4) narrowly wins the second-to-last race, showing how close the punter came to getting nothing. Photo / Supplied
Chef's Mate (No 4) narrowly wins the second-to-last race, showing how close the punter came to getting nothing. Photo / Supplied
An Auckland punter was left shaking after the perfect bet at a greyhound meeting yesterday turned $30 into $776,315.80.
The punter placed the cash bet at The Prospect Of Howick and then returned home to watch all seven dogs win at the Whanganui meeting at combined odds of 25,877.19.
Sohis return was 30 times that dividend for the mammoth return.
The longest odds of the seven straight winners was Chef’s Mate in Race 8 which paid $13 and only just got up to win.
Had it been beaten in the photo finish the punter would have won nothing.
When the lucky punter returned to cash in the ticket he was shaking.
Barry O’Shaughnessy, the proprietor of The Prospect Of Howick said the customer usually came into the bar a couple of times a week to place some bets.
“When the customer handed over the bet slip before the straight track meeting at Whanganui, the staff member processing the bet told them ‘if that comes in, that’d be outstanding’,” O’Shaughnessy said.
About 20 people were in the bar when the winning ticket was processed and word spread quickly around about his good fortune.
The bet, placed at The Prospect Of Howick, saw all seven dogs win at combined odds of 25,877.19. Photo / Supplied
While the punter was still getting to grips with his massive win, “he said he would come back and put a round on”, O’Shaughnessy said.
Multi bets like yesterday’s stunner are popular with punters because they can generate enormous returns for moderate investments, but of course, everything has to go right in all seven races to collect.
Yesterday was that day, the one punters all over the world dream of.
Winning legs – all final field win:
Race 3: #8 Runaway Blue @ $2.40
Race 4: #3 Bow Anna @ $9
Race 5: #8 Loveable Rogue @ $2.30
Race 6: #7 Flying Moa @ $5.50
Race 7: #4 Kookaburra Rob @ $2.35
Race 8: #4 Chef’s Mate @ $13
Race 9: #6 Indecisive @ $3.10
$30 at odds of $25,877.19 returned $776,315.80.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
