Record volumes bet into World Pool on the Cazoo Oaks and Derby

The two-day Cazoo Derby saw volumes of £48.6 million bet into World Pool.

Across the spectacular two-day meeting, which offered £3.36 million in prize money and was one of the centre pieces of the Platinum Jubilee, World Pool saw net pools of £48.6 million, with just under £24 million bet on Cazoo Oaks Day, followed by nearly £24.7 million on Cazoo Derby Day.

The biggest pools were on the two feature races, with just under £5 million bet on the Cazoo Oaks and over £5.2 million on the Cazoo Derby.

As a collaboration of global Totes, World Pool enables racing fans from all over the globe to bet into a single pool. This creates huge liquidity and excellent value for racing fans. In 2021, £363 million was bet into the pools across 17 World Pool days with a 15% higher return to a £1 bet for online customers of the Tote, compared to the industry Starting Price (SP).

Racing fans saw Tuesday land the Cazoo Oaks on the first day, and Desert Crown victorious in the Cazoo Derby, run in memory of Lester Piggott.

The Tote offered customers exceptional value across the 14 races at the Cazoo Derby:

• Tote+ Win beat SP in 11 of the 14 races (and matched on the remaining 3 races with Tote Guarantee in place, which is available online and at all britbet racecourses)

• Tote+ Win overround was 105% vs SP overround of 116%

• Tote+ Exacta beat forecast on 11 out of 14 races

• Tote+ Trifecta beat Tricast on 6 out of 9 races

At each World Pool event there is a “Moment of the Day” which will be awarded by an industry representative, with the moment decided by a standout performance. This could include a wide-margin winner; a winner from an unlikely position; an extraordinary turn of foot at any point in the race; an above expectation performance by an outsider; or a human or equine interest story.

Racing staff who look after the winning horse for each World Pool “Moment of the Day” receive £1,000 and a bottle of champagne. For Cazoo Oaks Day, the “World Pool Moment of the Day” was awarded to Cydney Williams who looks after Bowman, a popular local winner for trainer Laura Mongan and winner of the final race at 80/1. On Cazoo Derby Day, Ravi Parmar was awarded the World Pool” Moment of the Day” for his crucial role in looking after Desert Crown.

At the end of the World Pool season, the 16 winners of “Moment of the Day” at World Pool events will compete for the overall World Pool “Moment of the Year”, which will be presented on British Champions Day. The overall winner will be determined by a combination of scores derived from a public vote and an industry panel. The winning yard who looks after the horse will be awarded the World Pool “Moment of the Year” and receive £34,000.

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: “It is most encouraging to see World Pool once again perform incredibly well over the two days at Epsom with record turnover on the Cazoo Oaks and then the Cazoo Derby. The top-class racing appealed to racing fans around the globe as awareness of the value offered by World Pool continues to grow. I would like to thank The Jockey Club, Racecourse Media Group, UK Tote and all of those involved in making the collaboration a huge success. We now look forward to Royal Ascot, which is of course where it all started for World Pool back in 2019.”

Alex Frost, Chief Executive of the UK Tote Group and Epsom Downs Racecourse Committee member, said: “It was a very special weekend at Epsom Downs and it was fantastic to be on-course to see such thrilling racing action across both days. It was particularly encouraging to see both Cazoo Oaks and Derby Days perform so strongly as UK World Pool days go from strength to strength and awareness about the value available in global pools grows amongst racing fans. I would like to thank the Hong Kong Jockey Club for their inspirational vision for World Pool, which we share, as well as The Jockey Club and Racecourse Media Group for their continued partnership and support in growing World Pool to the benefit of British racing.”

Nevin Truesdale, Chief Executive of The Jockey Club, said: “The whole team at The Jockey Club are delighted to have overseen a hugely successful Cazoo Derby as part of the Platinum Jubilee weekend, celebrating the historic reign of Her Majesty The Queen. The racing was first class, and it is great news that record volumes have been bet into World Pool for both racedays, helping to internationalise our sport and boost media rights revenues which will be reinvested back into British racing.”

The next World Pool event will take place at Royal Ascot from 14th to 18th June with all five days included in the World Pool. Last year saw total liquidity of £129 million across the 35 races and this is likely to grow this year with more bet types available and greater awareness of World Pool with racing fans.

Alastair Warwick, Managing Director at Ascot Racecourse, said: "We launched World Pool at Royal Ascot three years ago and are delighted it has continued to go from strength to strength. This year we are looking forward to welcoming racegoers back in full for five spectacular days of racing with record prize money on offer and Bet with Ascot will be available throughout the racecourse in order to bet into World Pool.”

Please visit worldpool.hkjc.com for full details about World Pool and follow @WorldPool on Twitter for all the latest news.