Melbourne Cup 2020: Punters win huge on race that stops the nation
A Melbourne Cup punter has landed a ridiculous win of more than $60,000 after he came up big on a bookmaker’s nightmare result.
The 2020 Melbourne Cup has delivered another series of freakish bets that were pulled off at astronomical odds.
Jockey Jye McNeil’s brave run on winner Twilight Payment set up some staggering results for punters — in a nightmare result for at least one corporate bookmaker.
One TAB customer pulled off the craziest bet of all on Tuesday when the punter landed a ridiculous First 4 bet which paid out more than $64,000.
The NSW-based punter wagered just $24 on the long-shot bet with odds of more than 2684-1.
The punter successfully tipped Twilight Payment to take out the Cup with odds off $29.10 to win and $8.90 to place. The punter finished off their First 4 flexi bet by selecting Prince Of Arran, The Chosen One and Tiger Moth to place in a boxed First 4.
The punter collected $64,418.50 on the crazy bet.
The TAB also had another customer collect $130,000 on Twilight Payment with a bet of $5000 at $26 as an outright winner.
Another punter collected $85,000 on the back of a $2500 bet when Twilight Payment was out to $34.
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A clever punter also struck earlier in Cup week when Twilight Payment was out to odds of $51, placing a $1000 bet for a return of $51,000.
Sportsbet also held a miracle multi-bet from one punter with odds of 1622-1.
The punter had a huge return of $40,497 on a four-leg bet of just $24.96.
The punter successfully tipped Twilight Payment to win and then rolled it into Tiger Moth to finish top two, Prince of Arran to finish top three and The Chosen One to finish top four.
It came as corporate bookmaker Ladbrokes recorded a nightmare result on the back of Twilight Payment’s surprise win.
Ladbrokes had a major plunge on Twilight payment to win the race on Monday, seeing the Joseph O’Brien-trained eight-year-old gelding charge into $21 after starting the day at $41.
Ladbrokes said early on Cup day Twilight Payment was its worst result as the most-heavily-backed runner in the field.
There were also plenty of huge bets in the hours leading up to the Cup that fell flat.
Aussie hope Surprise Baby made a dramatic move in betting markets across the country to move into equal favouritism with Tiger Moth in the minutes before the Cup jumped at Flemington.
The TAB and Sportsbet both announced Surprise Baby moved into $6.50 alongside Tiger Moth in a dramatic late change.
The TAB announced a monster bet of $49,000 on the six-year-old gelding to place.
It comes after the Paul Preusker trained horse also received two bets totalling $10,000 on Surprise Baby to win in the final two hours before the race starts at 3pm (AEDT).
There was also a late plunge on Aidan O’Brien’s Anthony Van Dyck.
The international raider moved into $11 with Sportsbet after the bookmaker received a bet of $35,000 on Tuesday afternoon. Anthony Van Dyck was tragically euthanised on Tuesday after pulling up lame on the Flemington straight. The Hugh Bowman-ridden horse was loaded into an ambulance after failing to finish the race.
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