A lifetime racing fan from Kuils River in the Cape banked the R710 000 all-or-nothing jackpot prize in the ever popular Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge at Fairview on Friday.
The free-to-play competition requires the entrant to select a horse in each race on local and Hong Kong racemeetings.
A live leaderboard reflects the race-by-race progress of each participant.
Should no player select all the winners on a the designated racemeeting, prizemoney of R10 000 is guaranteed for local fixtures, and is shared in terms of the rules by the top 20 finishers.
According to Vern25, Stallone Naidoo deserves a beer or two after winning on his fancy, the longshot Paris Lass (Pic – Pauline Herman)
A delighted Vern25, whose late Dad was his inspiration, says he has loved racing for the greater part of his 55 years on earth.
He found all eight winners on the Fairview Friday card, and told the Sporting Post – he coyly admitted to sipping a cold beer during our telephone interview – that he really didn’t have that ‘winning feeling’ when he logged his entry on Friday morning, before commencing work at a large Supermarket chain in the area.
“The mindset of the punter is a funny thing. I looked at my selections this morning and thought, ‘nah, not today’. Then after the favourites won the first 5 races, I looked at my 20-1 Paris Lass in the seventh race and regretted not having rather selected the favourite. It’s that punter’s ‘reverse confidence remorse’ thing. You know, big mouth in the morning tipping our fancies, and when the chips are down and there’s a potential windfall on the horizon, we suddenly get nervous! But then I reminded myself what I had read in my regular form publication, Winning Form. They said, ‘won this last year – good last run’. The switch to the poly, and her form return, made me pick her as my value bet on the day. She proved a gamechanger – sorry, actually a lifechanger – and I must thank Stallone Naidoo – and Winning Form,” laughed Vern25.
Vern25 is a single man and resides with his family. His main entertainment is horse racing and he enjoys the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge, the Pick 6 and playing multiples.
Here are Vern25’s selections today – he was allocated the tote favourite when his second race selection Dancing In Winter was scratched.
We asked why he had not exercised the option of spending a minimum of R50 on the programmatically generated Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge betslip, which would have doubled his payout to R1 420 000 on Friday.
“The honest answer is that I didn’t take the betslip option as it’s the 23rd today – a bad time of the month when many of us don’t have the money! I should have made a plan and I’m kicking myself now!’
Vern25 says that he uses Winning Form online, in tandem with Formgrids to study form.
He is also an active member of a 90-strong punters whatsapp group, where they discuss fancies and argue merits of the various runners.
“It’s good to exchange views and I tipped them Paris Lass. There is a wide cross-section of punters on the group and the guys were over the moon after Denis Schwarz rode a great race on Treasure Chest in the last. It’s always a sweat no matter how confident one feels when making the selection!”
Vern25 suggests that Bosum Buddy in the Hollywoodbets Greyville eighth on Saturday is his ‘weekend bet’.
“It’s the time of the season when the top jockeys are dominating. But I feel Richard Fourie is no value as favourite on Sohot Sowhat, so I’m leaning towards Gavin Lerena on Bosum Buddy at around 4-1. She has a good draw and is knocking at the door – she’s ready to win and the jock’s on fire!”
And what is he going to do with his R710 000 windfall?
“I am going to settle my outstanding accounts first thing on Monday morning! And buy myself a small car, maybe. It’s a massive win in my life – my biggest ever – and I am still pinching myself. Thank you to Hollywoodbets for this great competition and all they do for this great game!” he added.
This is how Vern25 ‘sweated’ as State Treasure won the last:
For local racemeetings, the value of the all-or-nothing jackpot prize is determined by the number of runners multiplied by R10 000, for all SA venues.
For example, if there are 71 starters, as there were today, then the all-or-nothing prize will be based on that total multiplied by R10 000 each, giving a value of R710 000 as the prize.
For Hong Kong race-meetings, the jackpot prize is calculated on the number of races carded.
With 8 or 9 races carded and completed, the jackpot is R125 000 (or R250 000 with a betslip minimum of R50) or with 10 or more races carded and completed, R250 000 (or R500 000 with a betslip minimum of R50).
Over and above the premier aim of finding all the winners, daily prize money of R5 000 for each of the scheduled Hong Kong race meetings will be shared by the top 20 players on the points leaderboard at the end of the day.
The Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge has paid out close on R40 million in the past four years and is very easy to understand and to play.
All one needs is a Hollywoodbets account and the choice is yours to either select one horse in each of the races at the designated race-meeting, or opt to make use of one of the ‘quick-pick’ options and take a chance on the universe!
Players receive points depending on where their selection finishes in a race, and how many actual runners there are in a race.
Taking the example of a twelve-horse race, the winner will receive 12 points, second earns 11 points, third 10 points, all the way down to last position with 1 point. In a seven-horse race, the winner will receive 7 points, the runner-up will receive 6 points, and so on.
Bonus points are awarded for winning selections, where the Hollywoodbets Starting Price (SP) for that horse will be added to the points awarded. If the winning horse’s SP is 4/1 for example, then an additional 5 points (4 + 1) will be added to the points earned. In the mentioned twelve-horse race example the winning selection, if starting at 4-1, would have 17 points awarded (12 plus 5 bonus points).
It’s fun to follow your progress with your friends and family on the log throughout the race-meeting by visiting the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge website.
The next chance to join Vern25 and win big is at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday – first off at 11h35.
Get your entry in at least 5 minutes before the carded time of the first!
