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.

Awoman 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.