Racebook fans love the sport because it provides a fun, exciting way to make some money. On top of being entertaining, the revenue can also come in pretty quickly. Charles Byrnes is an example of someone making a hefty amount of money in just one night. Byrnes was able to put together a bet at Roscommon on Tuesday that shook all the racebooks around the world. Byrnes treble (a bet consisting of three selections) was one for the record books, and when it landed Byrnes walked away with more than six figures. In fact one insider even went as far as to say that his bet yielded results that went ‘well into seven figures’. No doubt this gamble is raising eyebrows all across the sport and Turf Club (Ireland’s racing regulator) has decided to conduct an investigation to see how Byrnes was able to execute such an auspicious gamble.
“We will look into it further,” chief executive of Turf Club Denis Egan stated regarding the wager. “But the stewards on the night did conduct two improvements in form inquiries and examined videos of those horses’ previous runs and were happy with the action they took.”
The decision on whether Byrnes treble was legal or not has yet to be made. As it stands now Byrnes is not in any sort of trouble. While some racebook fans may believe that the bookies who are forced to pay out are the only ones hurt by this sort of activity that is simply not true. Those who were really robbed are racebook users who backed any other horses in those races, as well as those who backed Byrne’s winners in any of their most recent events.
Byrnes treble consisted of backing War Anthem, Mr. Smith, and Top of the Town. All three of these horses had been performing poorly as of late, so poorly that they each faced double digit odds on Tuesday morning. War Anthem started the day off at 16 – 1 odds but before the event began those odds were backed down to 6 – 1. Mr. Smith also had a tremendous drop in his odds, starting at 12 – 1 before dropping to 7 – 4 despite being defeated last month in a handicap hurdle. Top of the town ended up being at the top of the odds, he started the day at 14 – 1 odds before they dropped to 5 – 4.
War Anthem was competing in the Paul Byron Shoes Maiden Hurdle and was able to place in first, despite having poor performances in his two previous starts. Mr. Smith was next in line and he competed in the two-mile, four-furlong handicap hurdle. Despite making a mistake early in the event he was still able to come out on top. Lastly, Top of the Town won the staying handicap hurdle by a surprising five length lead.
“It’s just the way it happened. I wouldn’t say I planned it.” Byrnes said in response to certain accusations. “I had a bunch of horses come into form and I put them in together. It was the last couple of weeks I was able to put it together. Long-term it would be impossible to plan.”
The problem, even though it has been part of horse betting’s storied past, is that insider knowledge can lead to humongous gains for some users, and terrific losses for other. Byrnes insider knowledge allowed him to pick the treble in the morning when the odds were at 3,314 – 1, compared to the 42 – 1 starting price that most punters ended up taking. Ultimately Byrnes’ access to information not readily available led to him walking away with some pretty heavy pockets.
