There have been 14 Breeders’ Cup races run on Nov. 1-2, 2024, with purses of $1 million or extra apiece, however these weren’t the one occasions held at Del Mar that provided seven-figure purses. Whereas the horses have been battling it out on the monitor in 14 World Championship races, handicappers have been concurrently competing off the monitor in what was the Breeders’ Cup weekend’s 15th million-dollar-plus occasion – the Breeders’ Cup Betting Problem (BCBC).
The 2024 Breeders’ Cup’s unofficial fifteenth champion was BCBC winner Steven Wells, a 51-year-old completed match participant from Arizona who now resides in Fordville, N.D., the place he owns and operates a bar in a small city of 200 folks. Wells scored a large payday by accumulating a remaining profitable bankroll of $152,000 to high a discipline of 585 entries. He gained the BCBC’s first prize of $421,250, which along with his bankroll netted him a complete match payoff of $573,250.
Wells is not any stranger to handicapping match success. He has performed the BCBC for the final 10 straight years and has completed as excessive as eighth in 2020. Wells can also be a multi-year Nationwide Horseplayers Championship (NHC) qualifier who made waves on the 2023 NHC finals when he superior two entries to the Closing Desk and completed seventh and ninth for complete earnings of $150,000.
The BCBC affords deep-pocketed entrants an opportunity to win huge cash by betting massive sums into the large Breeders’ Cup Day pari-mutuel wagering swimming pools. The match yearly attracts fields of huge bettors and handicapping match aces from across the nation who goal some of these handicapping contests all year long. Gamers pay $10,000 to enter, of which $7,500 is the dwell match betting bankroll. The opposite $2,500 goes to the purse fund that will get returned to the highest 20 finishers within the type of prize cash.
The format is simple. Entrants should guess a minimal of $600 per race (no most) on not less than three races on the Friday Breeders’ Cup card, and not less than $600 per race on seven races on the Saturday Breeders’ Cup card. Permitted wager varieties are Win, Place, Present, Exacta, Trifecta, and Day by day Doubles.
Wells beat a discipline of handicapping match excessive rollers to earn his BCBC crown. He did it by sticking to the identical gameplan that has been employed by different current winners of the BCBC. He made principally minimal bets all weekend in an effort to save nearly all of his bankroll for a couple of huge wagers on his finest bets.
“If in case you have an actual robust opinion, you attempt to hold some bankroll collectively so that you’re placing your cash in on what you are feeling finest about,” Wells defined in an interview on “On the Races with Steve Byk.”
Horseplayers may be shocked to seek out out that Wells’ profitable performs weren’t big longshots or large bombs within the exotics. His technique revolved round getting the most important guess down that he might on his high collection of the weekend, Extra Than Appears to be like within the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile introduced by PDJF.
“I used to be on Extra Than Appears to be like all the best way again in August,” Wells stated. “I watched him run within the Breeders’ Cup final yr and each time he resurfaced, I used to be like ‘They’re going to place two runs into him they usually’re gonna level to the Mile.’”
With a purpose to get a large enough guess down on Extra Than Appears to be like to win the competition, Wells needed to get to work rising his unique $7,500 bankroll.
“I believed $200,000 could be the profitable rating, so I used to be at all times attempting to focus to the place I might make a guess in that race to get to $200,000.”
Wells misplaced his three minimal bets on Friday and entered Saturday with a $5,700 bankroll. He then misplaced $700 on his first guess Saturday to drop all the way down to $5,000. His first huge transfer of the match got here within the Bayakoa Stakes on the Breeders’ Cup undercard at Del Mar when he guess a straight $5,000 exacta on Hope Street and Alpha Bella. The exacta got here in, and though it solely paid $2.80 for a $1 guess, Wells’ $5,000 exacta was sufficient to return him $14,000.
“It’s a must to be keen to let your cash trip if you will get there,” Wells stated.
Wells’ subsequent try to extend his bankroll additionally was profitable when he cashed a $12,800 win guess on Thorpedo Anna within the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The ensuing payoff gave Wells $17,920 and put him in place to make his subsequent bets within the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Within the Turf, Wells guess a pair of $500 exacta bins with Insurgent’s Romance and the 2 Japanese invaders within the race, Rousham Park and Shahryar. One exacta got here in as Insurgent’s Romance completed first and Rousham Park second. It paid $53.90 on a $2 guess for an additional $13,475 addition to Wells’ complete.
Wells made a pair bets after the Turf to satisfy the minimums which introduced him to the Breeders’ Cup Mile that he had been ready for. The leaders at that time within the match had greater than $140,000 of their bankroll and Wells knew he needed to guess sufficient to move that quantity along with his guess on Extra Than Appears to be like, whose put up time odds have been 6.90-1.
Wells’ guess was $20,000 to win on Extra Than Appears to be like within the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and Extra Than Appears to be like delivered with a last-to-first rally to win the race by three-quarters of a size. Extra Than Appears to be like paid $15.80 to win, and the earnings raised Wells’ complete into first place with $158,000. He didn’t money his remaining bets within the final race of the competition and his bankroll fell wanting his $200,000 aim, however Wells’ remaining complete of $152,000 nonetheless proved to be sufficient to carry on for the victory.
Wells’ complete ended up $21,400 forward of the second-place participant, Tyler Sprague, who nonetheless had an opportunity to win within the final race of the match however misplaced his $4,700 guess within the Massive Ass Followers Breeders’ Cup Grime Mile. Sprague settled for second with a bankroll of $130,600 and took house purse cash in extra of $250,000 along with his bankroll. Sprague has been on an incredible roll on the BCBC after ending fifth final yr with a $90,350 bankroll that earned him $79,950 extra in prize cash.
Ty Hoffman, 31, from San Gabriel, Calif., ended the match in third place with a remaining complete of $115,500, because of a giant rating within the final race, the Grime Mile, when he hit a $2,000 exacta on Full Serrano and Publish Time that returned $103,000. He added these money earnings to his roughly $140,000 in third-place purse cash to finish a giant payday. Kevan Strom ($109,384 remaining complete) and Ken McMahan ($78,620) rounded out the highest 5. Prize cash was paid down to twentyth place.
Others within the discipline included 2023 BCBC winner Sean Boarman from Lexington, Ky., 2022 champion Drew Coatney, 2021 champion Matt Miller, 2020 champion Marshall Gramm, 2019 champion Brad Anderson, 2018 champion Chuck Grubbs, 2017 champion Nisan Gabbay, 2014 champion Robert Traynor, and the one 2-time champion from 2011 and 2012, Patrick McGoey.
The 2024 BCBC attracted a record-breaking discipline of 585 entries leading to a record-high purse of $1,462,500. BCBC annual development continues. The match had 571 entries in 2023 and 549 entries in 2022. A very good proportion of the BCBC gamers participated from the Breeders’ Cup host website at Del Mar. Others performed at Santa Anita Park or participated on-line at TVG, Xpressbet, NYRA Bets, or TwinSpires. Wells performed the competition remotely on TVG.
Wells attributes his success to handicapping with Day by day Racing Type, watching replays, journey handicapping, and enjoying principally win bets. He has been watching horse racing for greater than 40 years since going to the monitor along with his dad and grandfather when he was little.
“The advantage of (handicapping) is it’s one thing you are able to do till you don’t dwell anymore,” Wells quipped.
The highest 15 BCBC finishers additionally all earned qualifying berths into the following finals of the Nationwide Horseplayers Championship, which is scheduled for March 14-16, 2025, at Horseshoe Las Vegas. This extra perk was not misplaced on Steven Wells.
“Once you’re on the NHC, I can’t emphasize sufficient how enjoyable that match is as a result of that room is crammed with those who love horse racing and are good at it,” Wells stated. “It’s a great way of being round those who have the identical curiosity as you.”
