Kissing your sister in a $1-million race

August 25, 2012 8:17 PM

For the first time since 1874, the Travers Stakes ended in a dead heat (tie) when Golden Ticket and Alpha finished together. Unlike 138 years ago, however, there was no run-off following the races, and both horses got a turn in the winner's circle this year. Video of the race (SLYT)

Dead heats are rare in horse racing, but there have been some interesting ones through the years, including the $2-million Breeders' Cup Turf in 2003, and more recently a tie in a two-horse race! In 1996 this triple dead heat made Sportscenter's top ten plays of the day.

posted by EJXD2 (5 comments total)

Finally, something that hasn't happened in 138 years that isn't related to global warming
posted by wheelieman at 8:57 PM on August 25, 2012

Alough the fact it was a dead heat may be a sign
posted by wheelieman at 9:01 PM on August 25, 2012 [7 favorites]

Anyone know what happens to bets in that situation? If you bet on either horse to win, do you get paid? What about multi-horse bets like trifecta or superfecta bets? Crazy.
posted by slide at 4:19 AM on August 26, 2012

Anyone know what happens to bets in that situation?

I had the same question. From Wikipedia:

"If there is a dead heat, wagers are paid on all winning horses, but against half the original stake (or one-third if there were three tied horses, and so on)."
posted by Midnight Rambler at 7:10 AM on August 26, 2012

Neat post. I never realized that there was a triple dead heat. One for the record books fer shure.

Now, if there were only some way to use this time machine and capitalize on this...
posted by BlueHorse at 8:03 PM on August 28, 2012