8-22 pick 5 at the Spa

[wild barry]

A friend of mine hit the pick 5 at Saratoga yesterday on a 45 dollar ticket. Not sure how the ticket was structured but he was alive to 3 horses in the anchor leg. The BCS happened and he won 7K for 50 cents. Later that evening I looked at the charts for what the winners paid and the field sizes. The winners paid 8.70,8.80,5.70,9.50 and 31.20. The field sizes were 6,7,8,8,7 horses. All winners went off close to their morning line. The pick 4 paid about 740 for 50 cents and when you add the first race winner at 8.70 the pick 5 paid almost 10 times more. I know the take out is lower on the pick 5, but was this the perfect storm on a paramutual payoff. What would a parlay have paid?