TAB offers $10 million prize

[Murray Fish]

TAB offers $10 million prize for picking result of Australasia’s richest horse race, The Everest

Stuff sports reporters

October 01, 2024 • 05:00am

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I Wish I Win, seen here winning the Kingsford Smith Cup in Brisbane in June, will line up again in the Trackside Media slot in this year’s A$20m edition of The Everest, after running a close second to Think About It at Randwick last year.
Grant Peters

New Zealand’s richest, but also most complicated, pick the result competition is returning for a second year.

When the TAB offered a $10 million prize for anyone who could correctly predict the finishing order of the 12 runners in the 2023 edition of Australia’s richest race, The Everest, few people gave the jackpot pool a chance of being struck.

But one lucky Auckland punter nailed it, selecting all 12 horses in the exact finishing order to become $10m better off in what was the New Zealand TAB’s largest ever payout.

Entain New Zealand (TAB) managing director Cameron Rodger was surprised when the inaugural edition of the Mega Millions, as the TAB has dubbed it, was struck.

 

 

With more than 400 million possible results in a 12-horse field, the chances of success in the competition, free to enter for TAB account holders, were seemingly nigh on impossible.

“I was pretty blown away to get the call last year that someone had won, but we’re prepared to put up the $10 million to test Kiwis’ ability to conjure up a moment of genius for the second year in a row,” Rodger said.

 

New Zealand’s TAB announced on Tuesday the competition will return for a second year, for the 2024 edition of the A$20 million The Everest.

This time around, entries open on October 16, ahead of the A$20 million race at Randwick in Sydney, that features the fastest horse in Australasia racing over 1200m, on Saturday October 19.

 

The TAB (managed by Entain Australia and New Zealand), who is responsible for running the competition and funding the $10m prize pool, have a runner in in the race themselves under the Trackside Media banner with I Wish I Win. Last year the combination finished second behind Think About It.

“The presence of I Wish I Win – racing for us in the Trackside Media slot - and Joliestar is already making this edition of the A$20 million The Everest pretty amazing for Kiwis, but imagine if lightning struck twice in two years with this competition?”

The Everest Mega Millions competition is free to enter for anyone with a NZ TAB account. If more than one entry correctly picks all 12 horses in finishing order, the life-changing prize will be shared.

Horses for The Everest are nominated by slot owners who have paid A$600,000 to secure a slot (starting position) in the race.

The slot owner has the right to nominate their own horse for the race, sell their slot or do a deal with the owner of another horse to share the prizemoney.

Entries for the competition close 15 minutes before the race jumps on October 19 and will be available here from October 16 when the final field for the race is confirmed.