2021 Kentucky Derby Super High Five Payout and Ticket Costs

Historical payout report: May 1, 2021. The five-horse wager discussed here is a Super High Five, not a four-horse superfecta. The race-day payout must also be distinguished from the later change to the official Derby winner.

The Kentucky Derby returned to its traditional first Saturday in May in 2021. The crowds and betting pools were much larger than those in 2020 when the attendance and date of the race were affected by the Covid-19 global health pandemic. The enthusiastic betting was on full display in the main event when the Super High Five $2 wager paid out $593,539.20. The $593,539.20 figure reported in this original recap is a gross dividend for a $2 winning unit, not evidence of one customer’s total net profit. This article explains the bet type and the cost of covering combinations.

What is the Kentucky Derby 2021 Super High Five?

The Super High Five wager is similar to a superfecta. It is newer than the superfecta, having been introduced at many tracks over the last 20 years. The degree of difficulty is taken up a notch in this multi-horse wager.

To collect winnings on the Super High Five, a player needs to correctly select the first five finishers in a race in correct order. In a superfecta it is necessary to select the top four finishers. Adding a fifth finishing position increases the number of possible orders sharply. For a field of n runners, there are n × (n−1) × (n−2) × (n−3) × (n−4) distinct five-horse orders. Some handicappers feel that winning the bet is akin to winning the lottery.

The wager is available only when the host offers it and the particular racebook carries that pool. Verify the meeting and minimum; a recommended account does not guarantee every exotic bet. It is generally a bet that returns a large sum, but on days like the Kentucky Derby the amount that is bet into the pool can be huge. The original 2021 report described more than $800,000 wagered in the Super High Five.

The dividend quoted here uses a $2 reporting unit; that is not a universal minimum. Some race tracks and online racebooks offer the bet for less. Do not assume that a ten-cent Super High Five is offered because a track allows ten-cent superfectas. If a pool accepts a smaller unit, a winning share normally scales with that unit under the rules. A hypothetical $0.10 unit is one twentieth of $2, but that arithmetic is not proof of availability.

Lower minimums reduce the cost per combination, not the number of finishing positions that must be correct. They also do not make all possible orders affordable or establish value. The customer should evaluate the total stake rather than judge the wager by its smallest permitted unit.

Why Did the Super High Five Pay So Much at the 2021 Kentucky Derby?

In order for any bet at the horse racing track to produce a massive payout, several things have to happen. First and foremost there must be a large sum of money bet into the wagering pool. In horse racing bettors compete with themselves by betting with pools. The horse racing track takes a sum out of each pool as its share.

On regular racing days, the pools at a track may not get that large. This is true even at famous horse racing tracks like Churchill Downs. For a Super High Five payout like the one at the 2021 Kentucky Derby to occur, the relevant measures are the distributable pool and the winning units, including any applicable carryover rules. Attendance alone cannot establish the dividend.

The handle, or amount of money that was wagered in 2021 on Derby Day at Churchill Downs, was much larger than it was in 2020. There was a larger crowd, and players also returned to betting online.

Another factor that has to happen for a Super High Five to get so large is the presence of longshot winners. Medina Spirit crossed the wire first and was part of the original race-day settlement, but was later disqualified. Churchill Downs recognized Mandaloun as the winner in February 2022. The historical payout discussion should not describe Medina Spirit as the current official Derby winner. The favorite in the race, Essential Quality, did not even crack the top three. The second and third-place finishers were also offered at substantial odds.

As you can see, the stars must align just right for someone to receive the life-changing payout that the Super High Five can provide.

What the 2021 Super High Five Report Teaches About Ticket Cost

The striking reported payout illustrates the difference between a large dividend and an affordable, worthwhile ticket. A large field creates many possible five-horse orders. Covering more of them can increase the chance of holding a winning combination, but it also increases cost and can include outcomes whose likely returns do not justify the extra stake.

It is not possible to infer the winning customer’s ticket strategy from the dividend alone. A successful wager may have been straight, boxed or part of a larger group of tickets. Unless the accepted ticket is documented, claims that the customer “almost certainly” keyed favourites and spread underneath are conjecture.

For a proposed ticket, write down the base unit and each position’s selections, remove impossible repeated-horse orders, and count the valid combinations. Decide the total budget before submitting. Multiple routes to a winning order can be useful, but paying another $20 or $50 is not automatically an excellent investment because a past race paid well.

Read our superfecta guide for the four-position wager and Super High Five guide for the five-position wager. Keep the bet type attached to the correct payout unit; otherwise comparisons of ticket cost and return become misleading.

Using the historical example for a future Derby

The 2022 Derby mentioned in the original article is also now historical. For any later edition, verify the actual host menu and its current rules rather than treating this recap as an upcoming-event offer. Check whether your racebook carries the five-horse pool, the minimum and the applicable scratch, consolation and carryover provisions.

A longshot can increase a dividend, but selecting longshots simply to chase a headline payout is not a probability assessment. Study which runners can plausibly finish in each position under the projected pace and trip. A favourite can lose; that fact does not make every alternative underpriced or every broad ticket sensible.

A five-horse box has 120 orders. Its cost is $120 at a $1 unit or $240 at a $2 unit, if those structures are available. A limited key or part-wheel can reduce cost by excluding orders, but then those excluded finishes will lose. Write down that trade-off before betting.

A $100 budget is not justified merely by the possibility of a six-figure return. The value question depends on probability, likely dividend and total cost, while affordability depends on your own preset limits. Skipping a wager is reasonable when the required coverage exceeds the budget.

Also See,

• Betting the 2022 Kentucky Derby

Name the five-horse wager correctly

The large payout described above was for a Super High Five: the first five finishers in exact order. A superfecta requires four. Keep that distinction attached to the historical payout and to any new ticket. The $2 unit cited for the 2021 example also should not be assumed to be the current minimum at another track or for a later Derby.

A five-horse exact-order ticket has many more possible combinations than a four-horse ticket. A five-horse box contains 120 orders, so its total cost is the base unit multiplied by 120 when that structure is available. Before submitting any exotic wager, check the host’s rules, minimum, scratches and consolation or carryover provisions. A striking past dividend does not estimate the probability or value of a new ticket.

Historical settlement and later official result

Churchill Downs’ February 21, 2022 statement recognizes Mandaloun as the winner. A later change to the racing record is separate from the race-day ticket settlement being described here. Do not calculate a different historical dividend simply by replacing a horse’s name in the finish.