Study groups and hours of analysis and pulling the form apart.
Last year Dinell Pillay selected 9 winners and 2 places on Met Day to come within a proverbial short-head of winning the R10 million Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge.
On Saturday, he plans to go all the way and bank the massive prize in the free-to-enter competition.
The Sporting Post spoke to the 39 year old Durban-based Sales Manager on the eve of the 2022 WSB Met – and it is clear that he has put in the hard yards of study and analysis for Saturday’s twelve-race programme.
“I have a beautiful wife and two boys and one has to balance family time versus form study – that’s why I have knuckled down for the last three evenings, sitting from 22h00 to 02h00, while the family sleeps. I know it sounds like hard work, but I am a stats and numbers man, and I simply love it,” says the punter who banked a R100 000 bonus after his near miss in the 2021 Hollywoodbets Punters Change run on last year’s Met.
Dinell, or ‘Terdin’ as he is known on the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge leaderboards, has not yet decided on his final choices for Saturday as he finds changes – like jockeys, for instance – are paramount to his assessment.
“Let’s say Anton Marcus is stood down, it wouldn’t impact Double Superlative too much as Richard Fourie would probably be the ‘super sub’ in the Met. But Real Gone Kid and Marcus are a mean combination and it could impact on the outstanding son of Snitzel in the Cape Flying Championship.”
Dinell is a lucky man and fortunate punter, as he and his wife both have Hollywoodbets accounts. That’s quite handy, we thought…
“Ironically, I only started playing the horses when I got married. My wife is from a family that enjoyed racing and my introduction to the sport was via my father-in-law who tells a lovely story. He won R300 000 on a Pick 6 back in 1983. That was a lot of money then. It gave him and my Mom-in -law the chance to realise a lifelong dream to travel to India. It was there that they prayed for a child – that child, my future wife, was born and today I am proud to be a part of this wonderful family!” says Dinell.
Having a natural bent for numbers, stats and analysis, Dinell is a Pick 6 and Place Accumulator fan and has won his ‘fair share’ over the years.
“One has to realise that you are not going to be a winner every day and only spend what you can afford to lose. I love it and there is such camaraderie – we have a study group who meet to exchange ideas and discuss the cards. It’s a hobby, a challenge and a wonderful distraction from life’s stresses.”
Dinell says that while form is a yardstick, selections are often a combination of gut feelings and sentimentality.
These are his choices for the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge:
- Race 1 -6
- Race 2 -1/8
- Race 3-6
- Race 4-1/8
- Race 5-13
- Race 6-6
- Race 7-1, but watch 2 & 11
- Race 8 – 1/8/10
- Race 9 -11/5
- Race 10 -9
- Race 11 -1
- Race 12-4/7
Is your Punters’ Challenge entry in?
On Saturday, players have the chance to win their share of over R10 Million in prize money in South African horseracing’s most popular free-to-enter competition.
The R10 million will be shared by the player/s who select the winner of all twelves races on the bumper card.
There is a must-be-won total of R200 000 to be won, with the winner receiving R100 000, and a further R100 000 shared amongst the rest of the top 50 finishers on the day’s leaderboard.
Read more – click on the image below
