All Roads Lead To Leopardstown The Christmas Festival at Leopardstown is always one of the highlights of the sporting calendar with seven Grade 1 contests up for grabs over four pulsating days racing. “Four thrilling days with the best that National Hunt racing has to offer” is how it was recently described by Pat Keogh, CEO of Leopardstown Racecourse and it’s hard to argue with that assessment. Last year’s roll of honour reads like a who’s-who of equine stars with winners including the mighty Douvan, Don Poli, Apple’s Jade, A Toi Phil, No More Heroes and Nichols Canyon. With so many top class horses competing during the Festival punters are in for a treat and with Tote Ireland guaranteeing their pool sizes in advance it can also prove to be a lucrative few days for many of their patrons. The Tote are guaranteeing their Pick 6 pools will be a minimum of €100,000 on each of the four days and are also increasing their daily Placepot and Jackpot pool guranantees to €30,000 and €25,000 respectively for the whole Festival. The Pick 6 has really grown in popularity this year with massive pools of €727K (Galway), €863K (Gowran Park) and €2.19m (Curragh) and some life changing dividends along the way. Last Christmas at Leopardstown Pick 6 winners saw dividends of €81,336 on the second day and €34,225 on the final day. Both of these payouts were way in excess of a bookmaker accumulator on the same selections (€15,921 and €11,943 respectively). Picking six straight winners at a race meeting is obviously extremely difficult but the rewards are such that more and more punters are willing to give it a go. Combination bets are the best option and finding one or more ‘bankers’ is imperative for the average stakes punter. Tote have introduced a handy guide to playing their different pool bets called ‘Bet Like A Pro’ which is availbale on their website. The guide advices on various strategies that can be employed when tackling the different multi-leg bets. Tote Ireland also have a ‘Quick Pick’ option that automatically makes the selections for you. Small Stakes — Big Win is what Tote betting is all about so why not give it a try this Christmas and the very best of luck.
