How you can win a slice of the Durban July millions

The Vodacom Durban July is the most valuable and biggest horse race in Africa, and as far as South Africa is concerned, it is the one time of the year even non-racing people want to get involved.

Last year on TAB alone, about R138 million was bet on the race and that does not include what was spent with bookmakers and office pools around the country.

This year, those going into their local tote will discover they have a number of betting options on the race over 2 200m at Greyville Racecourse that carries a stake of R4.25 million.

Of course, there is the normal win and place bet but remember TAB will be paying a place dividend for the first six runners past the post.

Then there are exactas where you have to pick the first two past the post in the exact order, a trifecta that asks you to predict the first three past the post in the correct order and finally you have the quartet, where you have to find the first four runners past the post in the correct order.

This year, R1.2-million will be added to the quartet pool which is expected to reach R16 million. Catch a share of that pool and it will be a big payday.

Remember, in the case of the trifecta and quartet, you are allowed to take a percentage of the bet, which makes it affordable to everybody.

Last year there was a dead heat for fourth place and as a result, there were two dividends. The first paid R9 406 and the second R7 004. Depending on how you took your quartet, there is a possibility you could have caught both.

Then there are other bets like the pick 6, in which you need to find the winners of races four to nine.

That is another massive pool which is expected to reach R13 million and probably a lot more. Once again, one is permitted to take a percentage of the full bet.

There are a number of other bets available such as swingers, where you need to find two horses who finish in the first three. It makes no difference in what order they finish.

If you want to know who is running in this year’s race and get the betting, the best news and stories, read your Racing Express which appears in The Citizen.

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