January proving hot for TwinSpires horse players

January is proving to be hot for TwinSpires players, with three big scores alone totaling over $1.5 million.

Of the winners on the TwinSpires betting platforms, three players achieved significant buzz worthy bets. Each player has requested anonymity with their succes, but by looking at the player's ticket structure, a few details really shine.

Score 1

This Louisville hometown hero experienced a $122 horse hitting in his Tampa Bay Downs Pick 6 ticket. That finish led to a take home of $151,000. AND THEN factor in that the P6 ticket only cost our horse player $28.80!

This victory first came to light through a post in an unofficial TwinSpires BetShare Facebook group. There are several non-official communities of TwinSpires BetShare fans across various platforms, although this specific hit was not a BetShare. However, with this winner’s plays often among BetShare tickets floating around for $50 or less, you could be opting into one of his future wins!

Scott Shapiro noted with this score, “A seriously awesome job on that budget.”

Shapiro caught up with our winner, who wished to remain anonymous, to ask him about his ticket structure and score.

SHAPIRO: Congratulations on an incredible handicapping job taking down over $151,000 on a $28.80 bet in Tampa Bay Downs’ Pick 6 last Wednesday afternoon. Are you a regular Pick 6 player at Tampa Bay or was this a once in a while type wager you made that day?

TWINSPIRES WINNER: I am not a regular pick 6 player. As a matter of fact I was not planning on playing the pick 6 on Wednesday. When I lost the early pick 5 in race 2, I was mad at myself because I used 4 horses in a 6 horse field. My personal unwritten rule is that if you use more than half the horses in a race you should push the all button. So when I lost I decided to bet a pick 3 in race 3 and a pick 6 in race 4.

SHAPIRO: Assuming you play 20 cent Pick 6’s regularly, is your budget generally somewhere around $20 to $40 or does it vary based on your opinions and the sequence?

TWINSPIRES WINNER: I generally only play pick 6’s when there is a large pool or mandatory payout. If I bet one on my own, I almost never bet more than $100 ticket. If I do it as a BetShare I generally play a $200 - $300 ticket.

SHAPIRO: You singled two horses in the sequence; #2 Fancysoul in the first leg (Race 4) and #8 Firehorn in the third leg (Race 6). Both were second choices on the morning line, but went off as the public choice. What did you like about these runners?

TWINSPIRES WINNER: I do not remember exactly why I singled those 2 horses. My general rule is that if I play the pick 6 I try to find at least 2 singles and preferably not favorites. I try to avoid singling the morning line favorites, because that is what everyone else is doing.

SHAPIRO: The key to the massive payout was the use of #7 Giovanna in Race 5, a $16,000 claimer at one-mile over the turf. The daughter of Two Step Salsa was 15-1 on the morning line and had beaten just one horse over her last three races since returning to the barn of trainer M.C. Reardon who prior to that was 0 for 7 at the meet. What was it that you liked about this 6-year-old mare that ended up returning $122.60 to Win?

TWINSPIRES WINNER: I really liked the 5 & 6 in that race. Whenever I bet a pick 5 or pick 6, if it is not a leg I am singling, I try to find one or two horses that I think have an outside shot that would create a big payoff. I remember the horse showed a few races at the bottom of the form at Tampa that were a lot better than the most recent races. I believe if my memory is correct that the trainer had lost the horse and claimed her back. I was hoping that if she ran back to those and got a few breaks she could find a way. But just remember if she doesn’t win the photo by a nose I would have gotten nothing back. So there is always a lot of luck involved. Winning the photos is the key and that is always lucky.

SHAPIRO: After getting your two singles and Giovanna home, you were able to navigate your way through the next two legs and had four horses to close the sequence (3, 5, 9, 12). Did you think you were sitting on the lone winning ticket or were you surprised that you had a chance for this type of score despite getting a massive price in one of the legs?

TWINSPIRES WINNER: I thought that if the 3 won I might have the only ticket because the pick 5 payout was to 4 of 5. I thought maybe the 5 would be possible as well. I assumed that both the 9 & 12 would be more than one ticket. I hate that Tampa and some of the tracks don’t show will pays on the pick 6 payouts. I would love to hear their reasoning for this. In a game that has trust issues everywhere why does a track need to conceal what the payout will be?

SHAPIRO: Thanks for your time, sir. Congratulations on the big hit to start the year. Hopefully there are more of them to come in the future.

Score 2

TwinSpires had a player bring home the bacon with a $151,000 score in the late Pick 5 at Oaklawn Park on Jan. 9. The outstanding part is this player hit a similar bet about one week prior!

The total wager for his winning ticket was $616, but in that ticket, our multi-leg hero sniffed out three longshots valued at $182, $37 and $50 during the sequence – which led to scooping the whole pool.

The 50-cent Pick 5 ticket structure was: 1-11 / 3, 5, 7, 8 / 2 / 1, 2, 4, 6-9 / 5, 7, 8, 10

Score 3

Our final TwinSpires player is no stranger for his legendary score now. This horse player rang in a $1,080 ticket, but scooped the Rainbow Pick 6 pot at Gulfstream Park for over a cool $1.2 Million! After withholdings, the hit returned a bounty of $912,000.

The 20-cent Pick 6 ticket structure was: 2, 3 / 2-4, 6, 8 / 2, 5, 7-9 / 1-9 / 5, 6, 8 / 1-4

The Paulick Report caught up with the TwinSpires player who explained his story and concluded, "My method for this was very unscientific: I just tried to put together a manageable ticket. There was more luck than anything else, and the stars just aligned for me."