Most of us can only dream of winning a large-priced horse racing accumulator, as many have made an attempt and failed. When it comes to horse racing, the number of possibilities makes picking a single victory nearly impossible, let alone getting several wins on the same wager. As we take a look at the 10 highest horse racing accumulator winners ever, a few lucky bettors have defied the trend and won gold.
£212,000
Dave Smith, a 60-year-old from Loughborough, had grown tired of playing regularly on betting sites trying to hit the big time. But at last, he had nabbed the horse racing win of a lifetime in 2019, however, the gambling gods had other plans. At the Loughborough bookmaker, Smith had made an error while filling up his ticket, and he selected Bailarico, who placed third, rather than Bialco, who was the winner of the six-fold thoroughbred racing accumulator.
All five of the other picks in the bet were winners: But Betfred refused to honor the £212,000 winning stake since Smith had identified the correct race and odds of Bialco on his slip.
To make ends meet, Smith had no choice but to accept a settlement of £23,000, which was £189,000 below his expectations. One that got away…
£250,000
In 2021, Paul Dean became a household name in the world of horse racing as when he scored £250,000 in a five-fold wager at the Cheltenham Festival after losing the final leg of his gamble!
An ante-post £5 aggregate bet by a 40-year-old man from Stockton, Teesside was really on track for a jackpot of £511,000 after the first four legs came in.
He had two options: stick to his bet and lose the gamble, jeopardizing everything, or take the money and walk away with £250,000.
Because he took Betfair’s £250,000 cash-output offer, Britain made one of the most astute moves in Cheltenham Festival betting history.
£823,000
During the Punchestown Festival’s Championship Hurdle day in 2017, Coral bookies paid out a record-breaking horse racing payment.
Unknown to the public, one astute Leicester-based horse racing bettor made six aggregate bets totaling £4, including a £4 fivefold and five £3 fourfold bets, at odds of 181,015/1.
Upon coming home from a night out on the town, the anonymous bettor discovered that he had won a whopping £822,972.75 when he examined the results the next morning.
£986,807
When a savvy horse racing player won £986,807 with only a £10 stake in 2013, Paddy Power suffered a significant blow. Each race in the six-race took place over 90 minutes at either Naas or Galway. Due to one of the savviest bets ever in Irish racing, Paddy Power had to pay out their greatest single horse racing payment of the decade.
£1 million
It had not slipped Nicky Henderson’s stable boy Conor Murphy that he had collected his strongest-ever team for the 2012 Cheltenham Festival, which was the sport’s largest meeting.
Murphy placed a £50 bet on 5 horses managed by his boss, Nicky Henderson, in November 2011, 4 months before the Festival.
It’s all history from here on out. Bet365’s maximum payment rule was triggered by Murphy’s stake, and a check for a cool £1 million was won by the Irish man. The betting behemoth was able to keep $2 million thanks to the maximum payment limit.
While the 31-year-old had just won a life-changing victory the day before, Murphy was back at work the next morning and riding out at 5.30 am. However, he decided to go to Kentucky, USA, because he had always wanted to be his own boss as a trainer.
£1 million
It was on the night of his 60th birthday in 2008 that Fred Craggs became the first millionaire on the high street. His local William Hill betting shop offered him 2,000,000/1 odds on a 50p accumulator that included bets on jumps, all-weather, and even as far away as Nad Al Sheba. The humble North Yorkshire fertilizer salesman was shocked by the outcome.
To his surprise, Craggs didn’t discover that all of his bets had won until he went to another betting shop the next day near his house in Bedale, near Leeds. This is when the Yorkshireman learned he was a millionaire thanks to his bet.
A spokeswoman for William Hill later said, “This is the most incredible wager yet made since bookies were legalized in 1961.”
Oh, and don’t forget the cherry on top! One of Craggs’ eight choices in the big race was a horse named “Isn’t That Lucky,” with his eighth and final option, “A Dream Come True,” being titled “A Wish Come True.”
£1.45 million
The largest-ever horse racing betting victories, only one region should be considered: the south coast of Britain.
After placing a bet of only £2, Steve Whitely walked away with a staggering $1.45 million. This is a fantastic illustration of how Tote payouts aren’t always better than the fixed odds counterpart. For instance, instead of placing a £2 bet on those horses at industry SP for £300, Whitely would have won almost £300,000.
