The line between winning and losing a bet is often times as thin as a dragonfly’s tail, and such was the case on Saturday at Churchill Downs when a reversal of the original outcome of the race went down in controversial fashion.
An objection filed against Maximum Security for interfering with the path of other horses during the race gave Country House, at an incredible 65-1 odds, the victory and had bettors everywhere put into a state of hysteria.
TwinSpires.com, which runs the betting operations at Churchill Downs, reported that the decision to nix Maximum Security’s victory cost bettors approximately $9 million. TwinSpires and several sportsbooks across the country are in the process of offering partial refunds for those who bet on Maximum Security.
According to Yahoo Sports, the largest win bet on Country House at Churchill Downs was $2,500 – which paid out a net of $162,500. Conversely, the largest win bet on Maximum Security that was all for not was $8,000 – which would have paid out a net of $32,000.
Derby nuggets
One bettor named Rick Broth, who boxed Country House and Code of Honor, won the “Kentucky Derby Betting Championship,” which was worth $147,000. Broth had actually left Churchill Downs but quickly turned around when he received a phone call from a friend, alerting him of the controversy surrounding the finish.
“I went from being the biggest loser that ever lived to a great story,” Broth told Yahoo. “I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I’ve been taken down 100 times at the track for big money, so to be put up is just unbelievable.”
– Legal sports betting predictably gave Derby day a boost as a new betting record was set. Betting on the race was up 10 percent as $165.5 million was wagered just on the big race, not even including the undercard races.
– Rocket Mortgage ran a Derby contest where they had 20 finalists, each assigned to one horse. “Allen from Chicago” wound up winning $250,000 to go toward paying off his mortgage.
