Racing: Tote winner pays 915-1

A PUNTER was celebrating an early Christmas present yesterday after backing a horse which paid a Tote win dividend of pounds 916.40 to a pounds 1 stake.

Coralpha beat 29 rivals in the first race at Navan on Saturday at a starting price of 33-1. Racegoers were stunned again when told of the Tote returns. Coralpha, trained in Co. Carlow by Pat Fahy, also paid a place dividend of pounds 118.40.

The five-year-old won by two lengths from Just Two, a 5-1 joint-favourite, with another 33-1 shot, Tisrabraq, back in third. Tisrabraq paid pounds 236.90 for a place. The computer straight forecast paid pounds 213.99.

But the win dividend failed to break the Irish record. A Tote Ireland spokesman said the record is pounds 927.00, from Naas in November last year. In Britain in recent years, the highest win dividend is around pounds 270, the Tote said yesterday.