How early do you like to get your bets in on the horses?
I bet it’s not as early as the chap who pocketed £100,000 at Cheltenham last Friday, courtesy of William Hill.
What’s amazing about this bet (or should I say ‘bets’) is that not only was it placed 15 months before the event, but it was followed up by another bet placed 3 months later in March 2022.
This one was arguably even more difficult to call because it was a 4 way acca… and they both came in.
The lucky crystal ball owner – I’m assuming that’s how he did it – walked away with £101,242.50 after putting £30 down.
How’s that for a return on investment; and guess what?
He’s done it before.
A Double and a 4-Way Acca
The man in question is Paul Dean, and if I ever find out what he’s betting on in the future, I’m going to pay attention.
The first of the two bets was placed on Christmas Eve in 2021, and it was a £10 each way double on:
- Constitution Hill to win the Champion Hurdle @ 25/1
- Galopin Des Champs to win the Gold Cup @ 33/1
Three months later and our eagle eyed punter was at it again, putting a tenner down on a 4-way acca:
- Desert Crown to win the Derby @ 40/1
- Tuesday to win the Oaks @ 8/1
- Constitution Hill to win the Champion Hurdle @ 2/1
- Galopin Des Champs to win the Gold Cup @ 7/2
So Paul backed Constitution Hill and Galopin Des Champs twice, but you can see how much the odds had shortened just in that 3 months, and with still a year to go before the race would be run.
By getting his first bets in so early the odds were significantly higher than could have been found nearer the time. For example, while Galopin Des Champs was 33/1 at the time of the bet, he was priced at just 7/5 by the time the race began.
Speaking on behalf of William Hill, Lee Phelps said:
“One of our customers has had it right off on Friday with two extraordinary bets both copping netting them over £100k.”
“The first £10 each-way bet won them over £26k, while the second £10 four-fold won them over £74k, so all-in-all it’s been a Friday they’ll remember for a long time to come.”
And probably one to forget for William Hill, since they also had to pay out £220k to another punter, and 40k to another.
Back to our guy though, and I’m not sure what’s more incredible; the fact that this genius actually managed to predict these races so far into the future, or that he has done it before.
Cashing Out for £250k Win
That’s right, sickeningly for the rest of us, Paul Dean was also the man behind the £250k win courtesy of Betfair in 2021.
That means that despite winning a quarter of a million quid at Cheltenham 2021, he punted another £30 the same year on the 2023 festival. Greedy guts.
It was another incredible bet, because he only placed a fiver but it was on a 5-fold acca with combined odds of over 102,000/1.
Four races down and he was looking good, with only his fifth horse left to race, and that was hot favourite Envoi Allen.
Paul had an evening to think about what to do, and decided that, despite potentially leaving £250k on the table (since his full payout was over £500k), he was going to cash out.
He took Betfair’s offer of £250k, and then watched like the rest of us as Envoi Allen unbelievably fell at the fourth fence.
He called it exactly right at every step of the way; the only thing he may have regretted was not sticking a little bit more on.