An unemployed Johannesburg-based racing fan enjoyed the most memorable Mother’s Day of his life when he found all eight winners on the Turffontein Sunday card to scoop the R720 000 all-or-nothing Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge jackpot.
The 26 year old Isaiah Samuels, who competes under the banner of Zai97, has been playing the free-to-enter competition for some two years now and told the Sporting Post that his prayers ‘had literally been answered’.
“Our Grandmother passed two years ago. She was the mainstay of our family and Mother’s Day brings plenty of sadness. But I think she is smiling down on me after this lifechanging windfall,” said the man who can’t find a job, has bills to pay, and smooth tyres on his car.
Trainer Tony Peter and his team proudly lead Tipsy Tarragon (Denis Schwarz) in after her runaway feature win (Pic – JC Photos)
Isaiah can thank Denis Schwarz for three terrific winning rides on the afternoon.
Schwarz replaced Gavin Lerena in the final race on Global Impact and basically rode his colleagues to sleep.
“I am speechless. I got up at 03h00 on Sunday morning and studied the form and went through the card. I have been following the Matchett stable so went with Global Impact in the last. I was worried about the riderless horse – and Keagan de Melo was flying on Millahue. I think I aged another 26 years! But all’s well that ends well. I can go and get my tyres on Monday. It has to be a good year I think,” he joked.
The Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge requires the player to select a horse in each race of the designated local racemeeting, as well as the Hong Kong and Singapore racemeetings.
The new Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge prize payouts formula means that besides the R5 000 daily must-be-won prize, which is allocated to the top 20 finishers on the leaderboard for every challenge race meeting, the all-or-nothing 100% clean sheet jackpot prize is determined by the number of runners at the race meeting, multiplied by R10 000 per unit, for all venues.
For example, there were 72 starters at the Turffontein meeting. So the basic prize was R720 000.
But importantly, the Bet Slip, which is generated on entry to the competition, gives the player an option to spend a minimum of R50 to double the potential prize.
We asked Isaiah why he didn’t take the chance of doubling his payout for the sake of just a R50 wager.
“I would have gladly taken the opportunity of doubling the payout. But I must admit that only had R1 in my account. It’s not easy being unemployed!” he said.
Other winners on the day were Clocking The Gallop’s Gqeberha expert Nino Podesta and Turf Talk Editor David Thiselton who won the Racing Stars section of the competition.
Podesta won the R3000 weekly prize for topping the log and for selecting the most winners, while Thiselton won the Daily prize of R500.
The Racing Stars is a new fun competition hosted within the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge platform with South Africa’s racing presenters, personalities, commentators and journalists competing.
The competition pits the faces and voices of racing against each other, competing on every South African race meeting, covering KZN, Western Cape, Gauteng, and Eastern Cape.
Have a look at the leaderboard and the progressive standings.
For regular players the Racing Stars are also in position on the daily leaderboard – so it’s a chance for every punter countrywide to pit their individual skills against the professionals!
The Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge is run again on the Hollywoodbets Greyville racemeeting which commences at 12h20 on Monday.
If you are busy travelling, or pressured for time, you can also utilise the ‘quick pick’ option and there is scope on the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge platform to also capture your selections in advance for future race meetings. Your selections can be changed up to five minutes before the off of the first race.
The Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge is by far and away the most popular horseracing competition in South Africa. It has created a host of big winners and will continue to do so.
Ask Isaiah, it’s a no-brainer! Click here to find out more.
