The highly controversial finish to this year’s 145th Kentucky Derby on Saturday has cost punters a small fortune.
Arguments are still raging about the historic, first-ever disqualification of Maximum Security in this legendary horse race. Some have been severely critical of those who decided that an on-track misdemeanor warranted the disqualification. Others have strenuously defended it.
The fact of the matter is that Maximum Security, a top-five favorite at 8-1, was disqualified after crossing the line first. Wild celebrations by jockey Luis Saez, quickly turned to shock, however, when rank outsider Country House was declared the winner. At 30-1, Country House was ranked among the bottom-five of the 20 horses in the brace
ESPN has reported that the decision “cost bettors who backed Maximum Security to win, place or show approximately $9 million,”
Because much illegal betting on the Kentucky Derby still occurs, this staggering amount might only be the top of an iceberg.
New Jersey 14 sportsbooks per se don’t offer horse race betting, and would not have been winners or losers. But the Garden State’s race tracks do and they may also have suffered.
Good-sized win turned into a good-sized loss
ESPN reported that Las Vegas’ SuperBook went from an initial “good-sized win to a good-sized loss”. That’s not too surprising when one dollar bets were costing them $30 and $100 wagers $3000
The full global impact would be nigh impossible to estimate. However, a two-part assumption can be made about what was One is that the small body of punters who won are going to celebrating big wins, The other is that much larger numbers of punters are going to be more than unhappy about the disqualification.
This could include the bookmakers who will surely see the 145th Kentucky Derby as their most disastrous of all. Let’s not forget Saturday’s disqualification followed the shock scratching in mid-week of the firm favorite Omaha Beach.
That setback meant a reset to the odds and more than half the post positions. It also meant having to frantically pay back all wagers affected by the changes and to take new bets.
