Who bet millions into Wednesday exotic pools at various tracks?

Big money showed up Wednesday with million-dollar superfecta pools at harness tracks and a $751,000 Super High 5 in race 4 at Churchill Downs.

Track, account-wagering providers and tote managers scrambled to figure where the bets came from and whether they were nefarious in nature. Early hypotheses included a computer-assisted wagering snafu and a problem with account-wagering providers communicating with host tracks.

The motive is unclear, but the wagers came via FanDuel Racing, possibly in the form of liberal use of the "all" button in each position for many multiples of the base wager, according to a racing official familiar with the wagers.

"Earlier today, FanDuel Racing identified technical issues and potential fraud related to wagering pools and took the appropriate steps to stop wagering via its platform," a FanDuel spokesperson said. "This issue is no longer ongoing, and wagering has resumed. The company is undertaking a full review of this matter and will be cooperating with regulatory authorities."

At The Meadows, a Penn National-owned harness racino near Pittsburgh, none of the first three superfecta pools eclipsed $10,000, but the race 4 pool handled $119,682 and race 5 handled $1,082,884. Things returned to normal in races 6, 7 and 8 with pools in the $10,000 to $20,000 range.

Things were even more robust at Monticello, a Resorts World-owned harness racino in the Catskills region of New York, where the first two superfecta pools were at about $10,000 before race 3 took in $66,516 then back to $12k-$23k in races 4 and 5 before an incredible $1,450,600 came in on race 6 and $950,029 in race 7.

"I’m waiting to see the report at the end of the day to see how all these combinations were bet," Monticello director of racing Shawn Wiles said.

No other pools at either harness track had aberrational totals in the 15 races completed as of this writing.

Thoroughbred facilities were not immune either. Because of field sizes, Churchill Downs did not offer a Super High 5 until race 3, handling a meager $1,924 on the pool before doing $751,001 in race 4. Races 3 and 4 both had seven-horse fields. Churchill Downs placed a hold on the race 4 Super High 5 pool, and no payout was listed via Equibase or Churchill Downs Inc.’s TwinSpires.

As a point of reference, the Super High 5 for the 2023 Kentucky Derby handled $967,598 and $118,698 for the Kentucky Oaks.

Finger Lakes also got an apparent bump in its race 5 superfecta pool. Races 1, 2, and 4 handled about $45,000 total in that pool, and race 5 did $359,297 in a seven-horse field with race 6 doing $113,563. That race produced a $77.50 winner keying a $564.50 exacta for a dollar with the superfecta paying only $3,238.

Representatives with Churchill’s United Tote and Finger Lakes did not reply to requests for comment.