PokerStars Pro Spraggy Lands Huge 150/1 Horse Racing Longshot
PokerStars ambassador Benjamin "Spraggy" Spragg proved he doesn't just run good at the poker tables today as the streaming star took to X to reveal an impressive 150/1 (+15,000) horse racing win on outsider Poniros at the prestigious Cheltenham Festival.
Poniros, who won Friday's curtain-raiser, the Triumph Hurdle, was the rank outsider of the field, available at odds as large as 200/1 in some places just before the off.
Despite never having jumped a hurdle in competition before, the 4-year-old—trained by legendary Irish handler Willie Mullins—stormed up the Cheltenham hill to take the win under a determined ride from jockey Jonjo O'Neill Jr.
Adding to the poker connection, Poniros is owned by Tony Bloom, the high-stakes gambler and Brighton & Hove Albion chairman, who currently ranks 29th on England's All-Time Money List, according to The Hendon Mob.
The annual Cheltenham Festival stands as the world's premier jumps horse racing event and dominates the UK and Irish bookmaking scene for four days each March.
Spraggy, who hails from Stroud in Gloucestershire, comes from mere miles from Cheltenham Racecourse, widely regarded as the jumps capital of the world.
A Day to Remember
In a series of posts to his 60,000 followers on X, Spragg revealed the win on Poniros netted him $1,820 from a $20 stake.
In one of the most thrilling victories of the 4-day festival—appearing beaten approaching the final hurdle, the outsider powered up the stiff Cheltenham hill under a masterful drive from jockey Jonjo O'Neill Jr to beat hot favorite Lulamba by a neck.
Spragg, who regularly streams to over 100,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, didn't stop there. He picked up two more winners with Jasmin De Vaux, also trained by Mullins, returning $600 at odds of 5/1 (+500), and mare Dinoblue returning $516.16 at more modest odds of 11/8 (+137).
In total, the poker star accumulated well over $2,000 in profit heading toward the meeting's showpiece race, the Gold Cup.
However, his luck didn’t last. He tipped odds-on favorite Galopin Des Champs for a historic third consecutive Gold Cup win—only for the horse to be beaten into second. The result prompted a tongue-in-cheek tweet from Spragg: "Horse racing's a joke."
Sticking to Poker
Despite his success at Cheltenham, Spragg won’t be making a career switch to horse racing anytime soon. Responding to a follower, he admitted he “bets horses once a year”.
Still, he’s far more at home in familiar territory. Fresh off winning back-to-back Best Streamer Awards at the GPI Awards in Las Vegas, Spragg is back at the virtual tables, currently competing in the PokerStars Sunday Million Season, which boasts a $6 million guaranteed prize pool for its 19th anniversary.
That said, a 150/1 winner isn’t a bad way to cover a few buy-ins.
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