SC Rewind: Big Mutuel Payoffs

In this week's Rewind Robert Smith recalls some record-breaking mutuel payoffs and a few of the facts and figures surrounding them. These old stories illustrate why people love to bet on horses; always with the hope of landing that one "big one" despite the overwhelming odds. This is the first of a two-part story with the second to appear in an upcoming edition of Rewind.

Anyone who has spent much time around the racing game has probably seen and heard about a lot of big payoffs at the mutuel windows. The "almost" won bets could undoubtedly fill a pretty big book as well; these stories will not be told here.

Listed below are accounts of a number of rather large payoffs spanning several years and tracks. This short summary is not intended to be an exhaustive list or a list of all-time records, just a number of hopefully entertaining events that should be of interest.

Richelieu Park's Largest Daily Double - $3,235.20

Driver Bill Habkirk pauses in the Richelieu Park winner's circle following a surprising win with the eight-year-old trotting mare Vera Riddell. This win in the evening's second race set up the largest daily double payoff in the track's history to that point in time.

Back on May 16, 1959 a huge roar went up following the conclusion of the evening's second race at Richelieu Park. For the second race in a row, numbers seldom seen on the track's toteboard lit up the infield. The eight-year-old trotting mare Vera Riddell was in an unfamiliar spot; the winner's circle. It was her first lifetime win which perhaps contributed to her odds being at better than 24-1. A two-dollar win ticket was worth $51.50, but a much bigger payday would soon be added to the board.

It was a great win for her new owner Sadie Habkirk and her husband and driver Bill. They had purchased her recently for a reported $1,000 so the winner's share of the $500 purse would go partway toward covering that expense. Vera had to be a study in patience for at least a few previous owners, most recently Jack Gordon of Cold Springs, Ont., who sold her to the Habkirks not long before this time. Coming into the 1959 season she had started just eight times lifetime with earnings of a measly $51.00!

The crowd had barely calmed down after the first race was won by the 10-year-old gelding Patrol Guy driven by Willard Niles at odds of almost 33-1. This was his first win of that season for the Ohio owner. The chances of a nice-sized daily double was looming large as the win price of $67.30 was posted. This longshot combined with any kind of odds at all in the second was sure to make at least a few in the big Saturday night crowd pretty happy.

As it turned out, just five winning tickets were sold on the unimaginable Daily Double combination which paid a whopping $3,235.20. As a matter of interest that figure converted to today's dollars would amount to approximately $27,382.90. Not a bad return on a $2.00 bill. It was recorded in the local paper as "The largest daily double in Montreal racing history."

This was Vera Riddell's first lifetime win; did she ever enter the charmed circle again? YES, she did go on to a fairly productive career despite the late start. In 1959 alone she won a total of seven races out of 23 starts, earning $3,875 and trotting to a record of 2:07 1/5.

Windsor Records Huge Win Payout

On the evening of Sunday October 30, 1983 an unusually large crowd was on hand at Windsor to watch the track's premiere event of the season, the Provincial Cup. Several races prior to the big race another happening at least temporarily upstaged the evening's headline event. In the fifth race, an event for three-year-olds, the youngster Justa Vince was overlooked by virtually everyone in the crowd of over 5,800 people. Despite having already won four of his 19 lifetime starts, he was allowed to go postward at odds of 319-1.

The resulting payoff for a $2.00 win ticket amounted to $629.20. It was the largest win return in the Windsor track's history which was then in its 19th season. The winner was driven by Wm. Kirkpatrick for owners Lynn Lypps and Nelson Shay both residents of the nearby Town of Harrow, Ont. His victory in 1:58.3 was by a scant nose over heavily favoured Governor George, driven by Bill Gale. A total of just $38 was wagered to win, meaning that perhaps only 19 people were celebrating the outcome. With exactor wagering on this event as well, several more in the crowd cashed their 6-5 winning tickets for a slightly larger reward of $ 826.40. The previous high payout for a win ticket was just a fraction of the new record and occurred back on March 7 ,1979 when Andy Moore of Sarnia steered Thoughtful Eagle to the winner's circle and paid $ 380.40.

(Note: Co-owner of Justa Vince, Nelson Shay was the father of current horseman Tom Shay who I believe is still active in training around The Meadowlands area.)

Oh, and what about the Provincial Cup? That year's winner was Quebec invader Boomer Drummond, driven by part owner Jean Paul Charron to edge out local favourite Savvy Almahurst by about three-quarters of a length. The victory deprived trainer Bob McIntosh of his first ever Provincial Cup win as Savvy Almahurst led until the final strides before yielding the lead to the winner. This event also featured a king-sized payoff as Boomer Drummond was the longest shot in the field at 23-1, returning $48.30 to the few who saw his potential as the winner of the big $103,000 event. This was the largest win payout in Cup history at least to that point.

Driver Jean Paul Charron accepts the Provincial Cup from Windsor P.R. man Ken Quinn following a victory by Boomer Drummond. Just behind the Cup is Hon. Eugene Whelan, area Liberal M.P. and Frank Bezaire, Race Secretary for Windsor Raceway (Windsor Star)

Northville Downs Records Unusual Payoff

In 1944 when Northville Downs just outside of Detroit opened their track for racing under the lights, it was a major step in the growth of harness racing for many including a large group of Canadians who raced there in the early years.

In that first year of racing at Northville my father and his then partner Russell Miller of Dutton, Ont. raced a horse called Argot Dillon and they were quite successful. Their trainer and driver was Alfred Moore of Sarnia, a man who raced a lot in Michigan in those early days. Many people had never experienced pari-mutuel betting previous to this time and when a big payoff lit up the tote board, the crowd invariably went wild!

In what turned out to be a strange happening, Argot Dillon was involved in a rather bizarre payoff that was recorded in the following day's Detroit paper. Going off at odds of 24-1 he paid $5.70 more to place than to win. The odd numbers were $50.00 to win; $55.70 to place and $32.20 to show. My father often recalled the story that someone from the Northville management team told him that this event was one of the key items that helped to get night racing underway in a successful direction. (I wonder how many other people they told that tale to!) The badly yellowed copy is shown here and I hope it can still be read. If you can't, it says that one patron had 18 $5 tickets on Argot Dillon, cashing in $2,250!!! An obvious question...was my father a recipient of any of the nice payout? To quote a saying he often used, "The story didn't tell." He was definitely NOT the person who had the 18 big winners.