Texas woman’s pick earns her $1.2M

Justify’s ownership team took home $1.24 million after the favourite won Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, the $500,000 they shelled out for the colt in 2016 looking like money well spent.

A woman from Austin, Texas, scored nearly the same payday after Justify’s victory on Saturday. She only had to put down

$18.

Placing a Pick 5 bet at Retama Park in Selma, Texas, the woman correctly predicted the winners of Races 8 to 12 Saturday at Churchill Downs: Limousine Liberal, 4-1 in the eighth; Maraud, 8-1 in the ninth; Funny Duck, a 40-1 long shot in the 10th; and Yoshida, 10-1 in the 11th.

And when Justify crossed the finish line first in the Kentucky Derby, the 12th race on the card, the woman was $1.2 million richer. She asked not to be identified.

“It’s extremely rare,” Retama Park spokesperson Rachel Bagnetto told ABC News. “To bet that little amount of money and win $1.2 million is unheard of. In fact, it’s the first time it’s happened at Retama.”

Pick 5 or Pick 6 winners can take home large jackpots considering how difficult it is to select that many first-place finishers over a string of races.

In another big Kentucky Derby win, a Las Vegas gambler placed a 300-to-1 futures bet on Justify winning the Kentucky Derby at the Wynn sports-book in February, before the colt even was guaranteed a spot in the race.

The $500 bet paid out $150,000.