A UNIQUE clause meant a horse who finished seventh in a race earned almost double the runner who came third – thanks to her female owner.
Big favourite Coolangatta won just over £625,000 with victory in the Magic Millions 2yo Classic last weekend.
But it was 200-1 outsider Sneaky Starter who proved arguably the biggest winner of all with their massive bonus payment.
A lucrative Racing Women’s Bonus was set up for the premier race in Australia, with a total of £264,000 up for grabs in all.
The bonus was to be shared between connections of the first four all-female owned horses to pass the post.
Sneaky Starter – ridden by Tiffani Brooker, a drug addict who is now two years clean after turning her life around – finished seventh, but first of the female-owned runners.
She pocketed a £171,354 bonus for being the first, a £1,500 trophy and £10,753 for dead-heating for seventh.
All in all that equated to a £183,607 payday for Sneaky Starter, who is owned by the wife of trainer Mick Mair.
The massive windfall was almost double what third-place finisher 25-1 Snitcat got at £96,774.
That despite Snitcat finishing more than four lengths ahead of Sneaky Starter.
The other female-owned horses Stupendo and Cusack came ninth and last respectively.
But Stupendo’s owners landed just over £50,000 while Cusack’s connections got £26,500 for being dead last.
For context, that’s only about £4,000 less than Tiger Roll got for winning the Glenfarclas Chase at Cheltenham Festival last year.
Punters were absolutely loving the bonus scheme for rewarding women ownership.
So was Mair, who had to watch the race from hospital due to illness.
He said: “I have everything at the moment, I’m in hospital so it has been a bit of a struggle, my temperature is really high.
“I was here cheering on from hospital.
“My wife owns half of the filly so I am pretty sure the money will go to a good home.”
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