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Texas Hill Country Woman Hits a Huge Win With a Pick 5 & the Kentucky Derby

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Tony Maples Photography

 

A woman from the Texas Hill Country has turned an $18 bet at the Kentucky Derby into a $1.2-million windfall! On Saturday, May 5, the Austin woman, identified as Margaret Reid, went to the Retama Park Race Track in Selma, Texas, and picked the top five horses in the order that they would finish. The Racing Director at Retama Park Race Track, located approximately 20 miles northeast of San Antonio, stated that her bet was considered the “unicorn of wagers.”

She won $1.2 million via her $18 “Pick 5” wager – which means she selected five consecutive winners in Races 8-12 at Churchhill Downs (with the Kentucky Derby being the last race of her wager). Her gamble was risky at best. When Justify, the winning horse from the Derby itself, came across the line, she had hit the jackpot.

Kentucky Derby, Justify the winning horse

Photo: Facebook/Kentucky Derby

Known as the largest payout in the Retama Park Race Track history, Margaret’s bet is the stuff that people generally only hear as an urban legend or betting myth. Her horse selections for all five of the races went as follows: “Limousine Liberal in the Churchill Downs Stakes, Maraud in the American Turf Stakes, longshot Funny Duck in the Pat Day Mile Stakes, Yoshida in the Old Forester Turf Classic Stakes, then Justify in the Derby.”