Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned the Australian public that economic times are about to get "ugly," but that is not expected to prevent a betting splurge today on the country's great horse race, the Melbourne Cup.
People are expected to ignore the financial gloom and celebrate the Cup, even though the favourites come from Europe.
Rudd though has chosen his pick for the horse race with a view to the hard times ahead, selecting Zipping "because it is time to zip it," he said yesterday.
Veteran Melbourne bookmaker Michael Eskander says his turnover on Cup betting so far is 35 percent up on the same time last year, while Sportsbet chief executive Matthew Tripp is expecting to take A$15 million tomorrow, up slightly on last year.
"Economic crises produce a couple of things and that is that people tend to drink more and they tend to bet more," he told The Age newspaper.
The big punters were out in force for the Call of the Card function for the Melbourne Cup yesterday and the Irish mare Profound Beauty was clearly the best backed, with a $A3.4 million splurge bringing her into a clear third favourite at $7.50. She was $17 only a week ago.
The favourites stayed steady, with Mad Rush at $5 and Septimus $5.50. Mad Rush is from England but ridden by one of Australia's top jockeys in Damien Oliver, while the Irish visitor, Septimus, is trained by Aidan O'Brien, considered by many the best trainer in the world.
New Zealander Nom Du Jeu is an $8.50 fourth favourite. He has been the country's best performed four-year-old this season, winning friends in Australia with his strong finish for second in the Caulfield Cup just over two weeks ago.
Zipping is the best backed Australian runner, but is out at $16. One bookmaking firm, Luxbet, has gone as far as introducing an Anzac betting option for first Australasian horse home, with Nom Du Jeu the obvious favourite at $3.30.
The horse, trained by father and son combination Murray and Bjorn Baker, has drawn barrier one. That could mean trouble, with the possibility of him getting snookered on the rails, but his Sydney-based South African jockey Jeff Lloyd was looking at the positives yesterday.
"He is a horse who reacts to you very quickly whereas a lot of stayers do not," he said.
Boundless and Prize Lady, both mares, are the other New Zealand runners and both seem over the odds at $101 in Australia, though Prize Lady has been backed in from $151.
There are New Zealand ownership interests in Gallopin, Bauer and C'Est La Guerre, the New Zealand Derby winner, who transferred to the Melbourne stable of John Sadler earlier this year.
The field has been reduced by two to 22, with Zarita scratched yesterday because of a virus and Yellowstone withdrawn because of a hip injury.
The English raider Yellowstone was subject to numerous vet tests, causing his jockey John Egan to refer in a television interview to "tinpot Hitlers". That resulted in him being fined a whopping $A8000 by Australian racing officials yesterday.
