Woodbine Winners is an inside look at how horseplayers and bettors – from novices to pros – strike gold when playing the races at Woodbine. As part of the ongoing Woodbine Winners series, we're going to show you tickets that result in life-changing scores, get insights into how the bets were made and learn more about the people who hit those winning tickets. 

One of the newer exotic bets in horse racing, the Super Hi-5, has grown in popularity in recent years among bettors who adhere to the bedrock maxim of “bet a little, win a lot.” Tracks offer the wager on select races, often in the last race of a day’s card, and may have carryover pools if the bet is not hit. To win, you have to select the first five finishers in a race – in order.

It's a very hard bet to hit, and usually requires a combination of astute betting strategy and more than a bit of luck (the exception would be those who rely purely on luck and just bet numbers as in the lottery). Wheeling several horses in a position is usually advised to add combinations, but that can increase the overall cost of the bet very quickly. Still, the payoff can be very large indeed.

Over the past few month at Woodbine, several bettors netted over $13,000 apiece in a Jackpot Hi-5 on while betting Thoroughbreds and a single bettor betting the Mohawk Standardbred races at Woodbine did even better took down theJackpot Hi-5 for $40,910.19 on a .20-cent wager totaling $14.40.

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On the last race of Woodbine’s Friday Oct. 9 Thoroughbred card, a single bettor turned a larger Jackpot Hi-5 investment into a much, much larger payday. The carryover into Friday was over $184,600, and as noted above, the Jackpot Hi-5 is designed to pay off in full when there’s only one winner.

This gambler placed his or her bet through Ontario’s HPI online wagering platform. The ticket cost $336 on a .20-cent base wager, and was based on a risky but creative strategy: bet the favorites to finish second.

Ten horses lined up for a low-level claiming race going five furlongs on Woodbine’s inner turf course. Two geldings went off at nearly even 2.70-1 odds, #6 Silencium (the slight favorite) and #10 Hey Congrats. Each of them had one win, but they were opposites in form: Silencium had won his debut in 2018 and then had gone winless in 10 subsequent starts, while Hey Congrats entered the Oct. 9 race off of his maiden win, which came in his eighth start on Sept. 25 at Woodbine.

Two other horses - #7 The Reign Man and #9 Free Speech – were also backed at the windows, both getting odds of 4.15-1, and the remaining six horses were above 10-1, including #5 Northern Solution. That gelding had finished out of the money in his first six starts but during the summer checked in third and then won a maiden claiming race at Woodbine on Aug. 1. However, he had reverted to nonthreatening form in his first two starts in the claiming ranks heading into Oct. 9.

The ticket was constructed as follows: ALL/6,10/6,7,9/ALL/ALL, meaning that one of the two post-time favorites #6 and #10 had to finish second and then either #6 or the other medium-priced horses #7 and #9 had to end up third. As the race turned out, luck would have to play a very big role for this ticket to cash – and it did.

#6 Silencium and #7 The Reign Man contested the early pace with #10 Hey Congrats not far behind. Coming out of the turn, #10 Hey Congrats forged ahead of those foes, and in early stretch #6 Silencium fell back while #9 Free Speech made a bid.

As the field made its way through the homestretch, #10 Hey Congrats was still in the lead… and that was a losing combination for this ticket, as either he or out-of-it #6 Silencium needed to finish second. But in the final strides, 26.60-1 #5 Northern Solution rolled into contention on the outside and edged Hey Congrats by a neck.

Crucially, Hey Congrats was able to gamely hold off #7 The Reign Man for second by a head – if he had not, the Jackpot Hi-5 ticket would have been worthless. The Reign Man settled for third, and 13.45-1 and 12.20-1 horses finished fourth and fifth. #9 Free Speech evened out and finished sixth, and #6 Silencium finished last.

This craftily assembled, lucky wager with a $336 investment paid off to the tune of $202,029.72, taking down the entire pool with a 26.20-1 horse on top – a sensational way to end a day’s gambling at Woodbine, to say the least.