A bumper look back at some of the biggest winners with Sky Bet since Santa returned to wherever he lives for another year.
He came, he saw, he conquered
You don't need to be able to match my French GCSE grade (A*, seeing as you asked) to know that Erick Le Rouge, when translated to English, means Eric the Red.
Nor do you need an in-depth understanding of Norse explorers to know that Eric the Red, born circa 950, died circa 1003, was a Norwegian-born adventurer who founded the first settlement in Greenland. Sure.
What's clear to all with a working knowledge of Wikipedia is that Eric, whose nom de guerre reflects his wild red hair, knew how to get the job done. He came, he saw, he conquered.
And now, Allan from Liverpool can make a similar claim when next heading to a Sigur Ros gig with his pals after scooping £2,594.38 when Erick Le Rouge held on to land a hat-trick at Kempton.
That victory, combined with Verdana Blue in the Christmas Hurdle and Clan Des Obeaux in the King George, made up a spectacular treble from Allan, who says he's going to spend the money on a trip to visit the estate of Brattahlíð, where our Eric held the title 'paramount chieftain of Greenland'.
That is, until he died in an epidemic that swept the island. Make sure you get your jabs before you travel, Al.
Five winners in five minutes
Every edition of Weekend Winners features the sort of remarkable, blink-of-an-eye wager that most of us would not even dare to try, let alone presume to win.
This week's hero is Claire from Derby, who greedily banged in five winners whose respective off times were 2.50 twice and 2.55 thrice.
General Bux (7/2) and Pactolus (4/1) got the bet off and away and before Claire had time to ponder cashing out, Sickyl Papa (6/1), Tisamystery (6/1) and Let's Get At It (8/1) all crossed the line in front to return the best part of £5,000 from just a 50p each-way roll-up.
Let's get at it indeed. Certainly, you'd hope Claire isn't among the angry mob who think £10 to get into MooMoo's masquerade ball on New Year's Eve is a tad on the steep side for a venue one reviewer said 'never has a proper vibe of a club ever'.
Go to Mosh instead, Claire. It's a fiver in advance so you'll have plenty left for the hard stuff.
Ian The Judge
If you're the sort of punter who occasionally has a go at the forecast, you'll know the score.
It's very difficult to predict the winner of a horse race and to manage the second, too, well that's exceptionally tricky. Typically your strongest fancy will win doing handsprings only for your idea of the runner-up to either a) fade to third or b) trail home in last.
Unless, that is, you're Ian from St Helens, who collected £6,684.99 from a 30p forecast double at Kempton, first thanks to Beat The Judge beating Chaparral Prince before Culture De Sivola got the better of Molly Childers.
I know what you're thinking - difficult, yes, but the thick end of £7,000 seems like a lot for 30 English pennies. Consider this: the winners were priced up at 25/1 and 8/1, with their respective runners-up 16/1 and 6/1.
Solid effort and watching the replays back, neither result ever appeared in doubt.
They don't know we know they know we know
You'll have to bear with us for this one because one punter, based in Gloucester, has managed to win over £22,500 from a £4 stake by running riot in the 'both score no draw' market. You know the one.
So, both score no draw is exactly what it says on the tin: you need both teams to score, but the game to end in anything but a draw. In other words, Manchester United's 4-1 win over Bournemouth, or Manchester City's 3-1 victory at Southampton. Perfect.
The trouble is, Paul has gone and thrown in the 'no' option for 17 (seventeen) of his 20 (twenty) selections. Presumably, that means both teams can score, one team can score or neither can score, but if both score it has to be a draw. Right. Understood.
For the record, Paul's 'yes' votes went to Liverpool v Arsenal, which we suspect went to plan, Spurs v Wolves, which we suspect went absolutely not to plan, and Norwich v Derby, which begs the question: Paul, where were you when the lights went out at Carrow Road?
Probably watching his favourite episode of Vicar of Dibley perhaps...
Yes, that's good!
US racing expert Paul, from Sutton Coldfield, produced 10 minutes of exhibition punting to turn £6 into £2,440.35.
Starting at Gulfstream, where Si Que Es Buena won at 8/1 (translation: yes, that's good!), Paul then trotted off to Aqueduct for Eddie Boy's 10/1 success before Big Ceas did the business at Golden Gate Fields having been sent off a 7/1 chance.
Those three pearls of wisdom made up Paul's each-way treble and he now has a serious war chest for the closing down sales at HMV.
Rock out with your cash out
And finally to a couple of cash out classics.
First, Scott from Ealing placed a £3 each-way six-fold but got cold feet after the first five had won, deciding not to let it ride on Folsom Blue in the Welsh National for mega money.
Instead, he settled for a paltry £3,614.40 before sitting down to watch the Gordon Elliott runner perform poorly at Chepstow. Timing is everything.
It was a similarly impressive moment of prescience which overcame Daniel from Keighley, who cut and run from his seven-fold at precisely the right moment.
Winners at 7/1, 6/4, 12/1, 5/4 and 11/8 on Saturday had Daniel looking at upwards of £30,000 had his final two gone in, but instead he elected to take £2,844.58 before Enniscoffey Oscar and Wenyerreadyfreddie both disappointed backers.
