Punters pursue perfect six to scoop £5m pot

Published on Wednesday 19 November 2008 21:52

FORGET the Lottery, anyone wanting to win big bucks this weekend should invest a few quid on the Totescoop6.

An estimated 5 million, the biggest prize ever on offer in the nine-year history of the bet, will be up for grabs on Saturday and all punters have to do to collect that huge sum is to come up with the winners of a half-dozen races.

Which may sound a tall order, basically because it is, but there is at least a level of skill involved in the process which is more than can be said for the National Lottery alternative.

Such is the huge interest in this weekend's Scoop6 that the sponsors are even offering 'off-shoot' bets on the chances of it being won, or not, and exactly how much cash a pot that has been building up for the last 11 weeks will eventually contain.

The final make-up of the races that will constitute Saturday's conundrum has yet to be decided but early indications are that three races from Lingfield, two from Huntingdon and one from Haydock will provide the six pieces of the jigsaw.

"We saw 2,098,546 bet on the Scoop6 last week, following on from just over 1 million the week before, and we are reasonably confident of getting at least another 2 million this week," said Totesport spokesman Damian Walker.

"The exact running order has yet to be decided but we think the Scoop6 will be easier to win this week than it was which is why we're going 1-4 that someone will hit the jackpot."

Howard Johnson did just that at Hexham yesterday when Pemberton, Letterpress, Companero and Calin Royal combined to give the County Durham handler a 1,079-1 four timer.

Johnson, who preferred to stay at home rather than travel to the Northumberland track, had the winner of all four races he had runners in with another two representatives finishing third and fifth.

Stable jockey Denis O'Regan must have his mixed feelings as he watched Pemberton taking the opener as he opted to ride Johnson's other runner in the race, Abbaleen, who finished unplaced.

"I picked the wrong one, but there wasn't much to tell between them at home," said O'Regan who at least had the consolation of getting the leg up on his yard's other three winners.

While Tina Jackson didn't have the luxury of a treble, the success of Boris The Blade must have given the Saltburn trainer almost as much satisfaction as a hat-trick would have done as it was her first success since March.

"He jumps well and gets the trip but we were worried how fit he was. My horses haven't been running that well but they are not very good so it's hard to gauge," admitted Jackson candidly.

Yesterday's Scotsman nap Joe's A Boy turned out to be not very good either when the best bet managed to get himself pulled up despite being having been backed into 1-2 favourite at Hexham.

There's no chance of today's banker Farmer's Lad being sent off at such skimpy odds, indeed Robert Walford's mount should start at a working man's price.

He ran well for a long way last time out before tiring in the closing stages and this afternoon's drop back in trip should suit him admirably.