What Are The Chances?

We all dream of picking a mammoth odds outsider that we see promise in when others overlook it - the type of bet that you tell your mates about in the pub, and that becomes one of your favourite sporting moments. It certainly doesn't hurt if it leaves you with a healthy profit in the process either!

Of course, with the number of near misses you can experience along the way, it can seem to be almost an impossibility until it actually happens, like a lottery win kind of scenario. But indeed it does happen, hopefully you've experienced the thrill of such a win. There are plenty of newspaper and online stories demonstrating them too, frequently with football bets and just as often with horse racing wagers, and so we're in the right business at least!

A very recent example of someone winning big was an Austin, Texas woman who bet on a horse named Funny Duck in the Pat Day Mile at the the Kentucky Derby. She placed the small $18 bet while at the Retama Park racecourse in Selma, Texas and her selection romped home at 39-1. "That's impressive" I hear you say, but what's more impressive, and shows what is possible when your luck's in, is the fact that the bet was part of a 'Pick 5', essentially an accumulator. And the odds of other four horses were not exactly small either for the most part, and the bet aptly finished with Justify's win in the Kentucky Derby.

Here are horses, races and odds:

Limousine Liberal – Churchill Downs Stakes – 4/1

Maraud – American Turf Stakes – 8/1

Funny Duck – Pat Day Mile –  39/1

Yoshida – Old Forester Turf Classic – 9/1

Justify – Kentucky Derby – 3/1

The lucky woman's stake was just $18, I've had a free bet offer or two significantly bigger than that from UK bookmakers! And her winnings - a staggering $1.2 million. Not a bad day's work, right? A   life changing win at a day at the races. Wins of this level are few and far between, but they do happen as this very recent win attests to!