Rich Strike won the Kentucky Derby. There is a time and a place for it.
The biggest long shot in the field won the Kentucky Derby.
A record $179.0 million was bet on the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, a 17% increase over last year and 8% greater than the previous record set in 2019. Rich Strike was the lowest paid horse in the win pool, with only $501,135 of the total amount wagered on him.
The second-largest upset in the history of the race was achieved by Rich Strike, who sprinted past Epicenter and Zandon in the final moments to win.
Rich Strike was a long shot in Nevada, where sportsbooks had offered odds on the Kentucky Derby winner since early in the year. Rich Strike could be found as long as 300-1 in March and 200-1 on Saturday. The big win for most Nevada bookmakers was turned into a small loss by the late bets on Rich Strike.
Paul Zilm, a risk supervisor who oversees Circa's horse racing offerings, said that people love the longest shots on the board, so they took a lot of little bets on Rich Strike.
Rich Strike was scratched from the Derby field on Friday. The colt was added to the pool on Friday morning. Many of the bets he took on Rich Strike were placed in the last 15 minutes prior to the race and were almost double what the track odds were.
If I did it all over again, I probably wouldn't change much.
McIngvale, the Houston furniture store owner known to make big bets, wasn't as lucky. McIngvale told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he lost over $2 million on the Derby and over $1 million on a straight bet on Epicenter to win. McIngvale used his big bets on the Derby to mitigate a promotion at his furniture store, Gallery Furniture, that offered to refund purchases of at least $3,000 if the favorite won the Kentucky Derby.
Other Las Vegas sportsbooks did well on Rich Strike's upset. The SuperBook at Las Vegas said it took at least 10 bets to win the Derby.
Ed Salmons, vice president of risk management at the SuperBook, said that they held almost the whole pool.
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