One Too Many (far side) holds on by a whisker to land a Bloemfontein punter a windfall R880,000. (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
Nirvan Nastili has proved the words of Paddy Wynne about his continual improvement correct as he has had five wins already this season despite having lost his 4kg claim and none of those wins were more significant than the one aboard the Kumaran Naidoo-trained six-year-old What A Winter gelding One Too Many at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday as it netted a Bloemfontein punter a cool R880,000.
Had the punter been watching he would have had to endure an agonising half-a-minute or so, because it was impossible to tell in real time whether One Too Many had held on or not.
It was only the slow motion replay that confirmed commentator Sheldon Peters’ opinion that the 9/2 shot had held on to be correct.
One Too Many had opened as 28/10 favourite but had drifted out in the face of money for the Rafeef gelding Rhythm, whom One Too Many had thrashed by 4,80 lengths in their previous meeting on the poly.
However, One Too Many at last proved he was just as good on turf under a fine front-running ride by Nastili.
It was the gelding’s sixth career win, but his first on turf since winning on debut at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on 19 September, 2021.
The successful Hollywoodbets Punters Challenge player had picked all eight winners and as he was the only one of 11,231 Punters Challenge players on the day to do so, he scooped the whole of the R880,000 prize.
He would have collected double that amount had he put R50 or more on the Punters Challenge bet option.
The Jackpot amount is worked out by the number of runners on the day multiplied by R10,000.
The R880,000 prize saw the total Punters Challenge payouts given by Hollywoodbets surpassing the R30 million mark.
“Trip2Cairo” is a retired SANDF military man.
He said he would seriously consider outlaying the minimum R50 bet in the free-to-play challenge going forward.
Asked by the Sporting Post how he generally made his selections, Trip2Cairo conceded that as a fairly novice player – he only found his passion for horseracing in 2023 – he relied on an element of luck and some basic form study.
He said, “I don’t spend a lot of time on it. And I didn’t even follow the racing today. When I got the call, I was stunned. Thanks to Hollywoodbets for giving me this opportunity at a lifechanger,” added the father of two, who declared that he would be using the windfall wisely and buying himself a new car, while also helping his family.
The Punters Challenge has been a wonderful innovation.
Firstly, it can provide an interest in a race meeting free of charge.
Taking all the bets is affordable and can lead to some good payouts even if the punter falls short of winning the Jackpot prize.
For an 8 race meeting taking all of the bets with a R1 unit amount requires an outlay of R172. The bet will consist of eight single wins, eight single places, 28 Doubles, 56 Trebles, 70 Quads, one all to come on wins and one all to come on places.
Over and above the premier aim of finding all the winners, daily prize money of R5 000 for each of the scheduled race meetings will be shared by the top 20 players on the points leaderboard at the end of the day.
The winner will be awarded R2 000, with the runner-up R1 000 and the balance apportioned in terms of the published rules down to the 20th finisher.
These payouts are also doubled if the minimum R50 wager on the bet slip is taken!
The Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge is really easy to understand and to play.
All you need is a Hollywoodbets account and the choice is yours to either select one horse in each of the races at the designated race meeting or opt to make use of one of the ‘quick-pick’ options and take a chance!
For Hong Kong and Singapore racemeetings, the jackpot prize is as follows:
With 8 or 9 races carded and completed R125 000 (or R250 000 with a betslip minimum of R50) or with 10 or more races carded and completed, R250 000 (or R500 000 with a betslip mimum of R50).
