A high-rolling Christchurch punter who reportedly had a successful Cup Week experienced the vagaries of betting when he made New Zealand’s biggest wager on greyhounds this year at Addington.
The $40,000 outlay on a three-dog win multi to scoop $260,000 last month came unstuck when the first of his trio of favourites, Uthor Bale, finished second.
In the next race Archie John Hill placed third so Starburst George’s victory in race 11 was immaterial.
“It is certainly up there, there are some bets that go very, very high,” said the head of public affairs for TAB New Zealand Ian Long.
He said the wager was the fourth-equal highest punt on greyhounds since 2015; the three bigger bets were worth $50,00 and made on races at Manukau (2015), Cambridge (2016) and Wanganui’s Hatrick Raceway last November.
Christchurch Greyhound Racing Club secretary Tony Music was aware of the bet, made by one of a handful of professional punters familiar with the greyhound industry.
“Yes it’s unusual but for some of these bigger guys it’s not that unusual. It’s pretty scary, some of the figures,” he said.
“A lot of those multi bets start off at two or three or five grand and stand to win a fair bit … this was 40 on three hot favourites.
“When it’s a two-horse contest in terms of a sporting bet (like the All Blacks) it’s a lot more common, we’ve probably got three or four guys within Canterbury that bet like that.
“I’ve got a fair idea who it was but I can’t really tell you. Put it this way he had a great Cup Week, hence something of that magnitude.”
- Chris Barclay
