Dave Smith, 50, a monetary planner from Lexington, Kentucky, received the record-setting version of the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Betting Problem, successful the ultimate two Breeders’ Cup races with day by day doubles and incomes $607,800 for his victory.
Thoroughbred horse racing’s largest stay cash match, the seventeenth Annual Breeders’ Cup Betting Problem, was held from October thirty first to November thirty first. Attendance was up 10% from 2024 with a file 643 entries as prime horse athletes positioned bets on the two-day Breeders’ Cup program at Del Mar. A complete of 336 horses had been entered at Del Mar, only one horse shy of final 12 months’s entry file at Seaside Racetrack.
Match contributors generated a file $8,902,863 in betting handles. Wagering for the Breeders’ Cup match at Del Mar amounted to 22% of the entire deal with on the monitor.
In 2025, BCBC required every participant to contribute a $2,500 buy-in and a $7,500 wagering fund, for a complete of $10,000. All buy-in funds had been utilized to the prize pool, bringing the entire prize pool to a file $1,607,500.
Gamers used their $7,500 bankroll to position actual bets corresponding to Win, Place, Present, Ecsta, Trifecta, Each day Double, and so on. over two days of twenty-two races and saved all the cash they earned on their bets.
Smith completed with a complete of 144,800 factors, which mixed along with his first-place prize of $463,000, for a complete of $607,800. Ken McMahan of La Quinta, California, took second place with 139,930 factors, and along with his second-place prize of $308,600, his complete earnings had been $448,530. McMahan additionally performed in his second entry and completed eighth with 82,950 factors, including in a complete prize pool of $51,400 for a second entry complete of $134,350 and complete match earnings of $582,880. Michael Martinelli took third place with 105,000 factors. Including within the third-place prize of $167,200, his complete got here to $272,200.
Along with wagering in Del Mar, gamers joined BCBC from an official satellite tv for pc venue at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Gamers additionally participated on-line.
Fixing the Breeders’ Cup puzzle
Smith and his spouse, Kelly, have 5 sons, and whereas celebrating his birthday this summer season at a race in Saratoga, he occurred to enter a Horseplayers.com match and received, incomes him a free spot within the BCBC. “It was kismet,” he stated.
Mr. Smith leveraged a little bit of his enterprise strategy at BCBC. “As a monetary planner, I put the puzzle collectively,” he stated.
On BCBC, Smith solved the Breeders’ Cup thriller late in Saturday’s recreation.
“I actually beloved Eternally Younger,” he recalled of the eventual Breeders’ Cup Basic winner. “He had tactical velocity and was prepared to fireside at any time.” Along with betting fully on Eternally Younger, Smith additionally invested closely in Eternally Younger and Sierra Leone’s Ekuta Field, netting him $17,150.
However a fair larger prize awaited. Smith, who was scoreless within the tenth race of the Breeders’ Cup Mile, positioned an $8,000 double guess on Nysos within the Breeders’ Cup Filth Mile and was paired with the filly Gezora within the twelfth and last race, the Breeders’ Cup Mares & Mares Turf.
This day by day double guess elevated his complete rating to $144,800 and made Smith the 2025 BCBC Champion.
“As a handicapper, this was the joys of a lifetime and a dream come true. The primary time my grandmother took me to Keeneland to take pleasure in a day with associates, I by no means imagined I’d win the BCBC,” Smith stated. “Having the ability to carry out stay at Del Mar is a second I’ll always remember. I like the horse racing trade and try to assist future generations take pleasure in it much more, each as a participant and as a fan.”
