A MAN AND A HORSE – DREAMS ARE GOOD FRIENDS

A lifetime punter who won a ‘lifechanging’ R1,5 million jackpot bonus in the popular free-to-enter Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge in January this year, realised another lifelong dream when he led in his first winner at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Monday.

“This is a great game and the people are wonderful. For me the greatest thing is to be able to buy drinks for the punter mates who included me when I didn’t have the money. Life is full of cycles – we all have our turn and the wheel spins quickly. I even had a call from my old buddy Duncan McKenzie in Gqeberha,” he enthused as he told the Sporting Post about the journey that started 45 years ago and reached a high when he won the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge.

The 61 year old Pietermaritzburg retiree Alan Barkhuizen had his whole family on course to enjoy the Willow Magic mare Magicallee register her sixth career victory in the sixth race under Winning Form rider Keagan de Melo at the Monday polytrack meeting.

Alan, who tipped all eight winners on the Hollywoodbets Greyville polytrack card on 8 January, bought into the mare, who was purchased for R22 500 by Gary Rich out of the Kom Naidoo stable on the BSA April Online Sale.

It was the Rich stable’s second winner since their relocation from Ashburton to Summerveld and it was an occasion to remember for the delighted Alan, whose son Travis designed the natty blue and white silks, with the black anchor emblem.

“The anchor comes from my merchant navy days. I have always thought of myself as a sailor,” he smiles.

Alan, who still plays the daily Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge, was quick to acknowledge his wife Samantha – as he did on that happy January day when we called to advise him of his lifechanging win.

“From the age of 15 I have wanted to get involved in racing. I just never had the money. Thank you to Hollywoodbets for giving me the chance,” he told Warren Lenferna in the emotional post-race interview.

While the cash prize has been a lifechanger, Alan has been careful.

”We are in the process of purchasing our home in which we are currently tenants. I have set my son Travis up in my transport business as he was unemployed. We went on a cruise holiday – the same one we went on before I won the great prize!” he laughed.

Alan used to be a runner and worked at Hollywoodbets Scottsville many, many years back. He has known Gary Rich, whom he called a Magician, since 1980.

Alan also told the Sporting Post in January that he had been married ‘forever’ to his wife Samantha, but had told her at their wedding that horseracing was always going to be a part of his life and that if she didn’t like that fact, there could be an issue with the ‘I do’ part of the ceremony.

South Africa’s most popular horseracing competition, the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge is available to play on all local race meetings, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore.

The free-to-enter challenge has created a multitude of winners over the past 3-years, with the top 20 players on the leaderboard sharing the designated must-be-won daily prize.

While Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge players pit their wits, skill, and racing knowledge against fellow competitors, the ultimate aim for that dream payday, is to select all of the winners on a card.

The value of the all-or-nothing jackpot prize is determined by the number of runners at the race meeting multiplied by R10 000, for all venues.

For example, if there are 88 carded runners and 5 scratchings, then the all-or-nothing prize will be based on 83 runners at R10 000 each, giving a value of R830 000 as the prize!

Over and above the premier aim of finding all the winners, daily prize money of R5 000 for each of the scheduled race meetings will be shared by the top 20 players on the points leaderboard at the end of the day.

As an added incentive to players, to top this, the all-or-nothing prize and the daily must-bewon prize will be doubled for those players who have had a bet on the Punters’ Challenge Bet Slip, to the value of R50 or more, prior to the running of the first race.

The Bet Slip is programmatically generated and all you have to do is indicate an amount of R50 or more that you wish to wager.

The Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge is really easy to understand and to play.

All you need is a Hollywoodbets account and the choice is yours to either select one horse in each of the races at the designated race meeting or opt to make use of the ‘quick-pick’ option and take a chance!

Players receive points depending on where their selection finishes in a race, and how many actual runners there are in that race.

Points are awarded in accordance with the horses’ finishing positions i.e. in a 10-horse field, the winner will be awarded ten (10) points, 2nd place is nine (9) points and so on, with the last horse being awarded one (1) point. Points are also awarded according to the price of the winner only. The winning selection receives a bonus of the Hollywoodbets starting price.

Entries must be in at least five minutes prior to the off of the first race. If you intend using the Bet Slip to enhance your payout potential, we would suggest you allow yourself some galloping room in terms of time!

Visit www.punters.hollywoodbets.net to get your entry in!