Melbourne Cup betting records broken by 2015 winner Prince of Penzance

HOW do you turn a $9 bet into a windfall of more than $100,000? With this sort of freakishly prescient prediction, at hopelessly long odds.

Luckiest bugger of the Melbourne Cup

A PUNTER has turned a $9 bet into a $125,000 windfall when he did the seemingly impossible: successfully predicting the first four horses past the post in the Melbourne Cup.

While punters are able to protect themselves and select more than four runners in the betting option, the Sportsbet client successfully predicted Prince of Penzance, Max Dynamite, Criterion and Trip To Paris would fight it out for the $3.6 million winner’s purse.

The punter wagered $9.84 on the long shot at odds of more than 12,000-1 to collect more than $125,903.

Prince of Penzance paid a record $101 with TAB fixed odds and was barely mentioned in the lead-up to the race.

That didn’t stop one TAB client from outlaying $2000 at the stunning price of $126 to collect $252,000, after placing his bet inside a Victorian TAB less than 30 minutes before the race.

The six-year-old bay horse was the longest odds to win a Melbourne Cup since 1940 and the equal longest in the history of the race.

The TAB said the Michelle Payne-ridden horse was the biggest outsider in the 24-horse field.

Prince of Penzance was $86.70 to win and $21.60 to place with the NSW Tote when the race jumped.

Michelle Payne made a couple punters very pleased.

He was $65.90 to win and $16.20 to place with the Victorian Tote.

The TAB’s pool for the win was $15,071,400.

Runner-up Max Dynamite was paying $4.50 to place while third-placed Criterion was $5 to place.

The TAB wasn’t the only bookmaker to be hit by a lucky punter.

A Sportsbet.com.au customer scored big in the first four market, turning $60 into $153,540 when he picked five horses in the first four betting option, including the top four finishers.

A William Hill Australia punter also had a six-figure payday after wagering a series of bets on Prince of Penzance to collect $169,000.

Sportsbet.com.au listed its top bets on the record-breaking horse:

● $1000 at $101 — $101,000

● $500 at $81 — $40,500

● $250 at $101 — $25,250

● $1000 at $26 place — $26,000

● $1000 at $26 place — $26,000.

Originally published as Melbourne Cup betting records broken by 2015 winner Prince of Penzance