Million-to-one moment 3 greyhounds all win by a nose....

Everyone's a winner: The 'millions-to-one moment three greyhounds all won by a nose

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 2:00 PM on 20th January 2011

Neck and neck - and neck! Three dogs race over the line at exactly the same moment to finish in a triple dead heat, beating odds of 'millions to one'.

Killishan Masai, Ayamzagirl and Droopys Djokovic were declared joint winners last night when even the photo finish technology at the Romford track in Essex couldn't split them.

This meant that bookies had to pay out to anyone who put a bet on one of the individual dogs. The odds for which were: in Trap 1, Killishan Masai at 4-1; in Trap 5, Ayamzagirl at 4-1; and Trap 2, Droopys Djokovic, at 12-1.

Bookmakers Coral estimated that 100,000 people placed a bet on the 8.50pm race at Romford Greyhound Stadium with about half of them getting a payout.

Enlarge 

Neck, neck and .. neck: From top, Killishin Masai, Droopys Djokovic and Ayamzagirl hit the finish line together

Made it! Crossing the finishing line, Left to right: Ayamzagirl, Droopys Djokovic and Killishin Masai cross the winning line in unison as they complete the gruelling 3,000ft race in Romford

Enlarge 

Now, where's the hare? The three snouts line up as they cross the line

Although around £500,000 was paid out in total, bookies did not end up paying out any more than usual because the system pays out smaller amounts when there are more winners.

The £500 winner's prize was shared equally between the three dog-owners.

The greyhounds were competing on Coronation Cup Finals Night in the Coralcasino.com stakes over 3,000ft, the maximum length for a greyhound race.

When the remarkable result was announced, a huge cheer went up from the crowd.

A spokesman for bookmaker's Coral said the odds of it happening were 'many millions to one'.

'Nobody at Romford can remember a triple dead heat ever happening in a greyhound race before,' said spokesman Simon Clare.

'The odds on it happening are many millions to one. It would be like winning the national lottery and then getting struck by lightning minutes later.'

Head of racing at William Hill, Kate Miller, said that the odds against a triple tie at this level of dog racing were more than a million to one.

'It does happen at the lower level of greyhound racing about once every five years but that's where the dogs are graded and therefore racing against similar abilities; in the higher levels like this televised race, there are more variables between the dogs and so dead-heats are much more rare.'

Bookmaker Dougie Tyler Junior, who has been watching greyhound racing for 45 years, said: 'I've never been witness to a triple dead heat before, it's amazing.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1348863/3-greyhounds-won-nose-Coronation-Cup-Finals-Night-Coralcasino-com-stakes.html#ixzz1BaO8EmRh