OT Emirates Stakes Flemington

donks1,

I think you could get $100 but you know, that doesn't necessarily mean it was good for the bookies. Apparently it was backed in from $150 to $100 via some off course punter who backed it with the Darwin betting place and then also along the rails at Flemington.

Just do the maths. If an odds on favourite wins then usually the punter puts more on to win less ie...if it's $1.50 the punter gets fifty cents for every dollar he puts on. At $100 he gets a hundred for every dollar invested. It's ok if no one backs the long shots and they don't win...but you only need a few to get in with big bets and you do a heap.

Quite a few times the bookies actually want the favourite to win because the price is too short and people don't back them...the normal punting public that is. The everyday punter just wants to get a reasonable price for their bet.

As for rigging races....well.... Sure it happens occasionally but they get caught and banned for life. There are always smarties trying to fix things but that's as often from the big punter side, the connections side, as it is from the bookies.

Don't believe stereotypes about bookies. If they were such "big crooks" there would be more of them but they're a dying race....each year sees less and less. If it was such a "sure way" of getting money that wouldn't be the case. They are just like any business they provide a service, try to make a living, and value their professional honour.

I do know a bit about this...my Dad is 81 and until last year worked as a country Victorian Bookie for fifty years. He is one of the fairest, most honourable men you could ever meet. My brother is down at Flemington working today.....there are so few bookies that they call in the country ones for the big carnivals.

Sorry to go on..
Viv

It took me back to the good old days when a horse born on a dairy farm, raised by the farmer, and trained by a young country lad, and ridden by an unknown kid with skills learnt in the bush, can go to the city and stick it to the multi millionaires. Has a movie flavour about it doesn't it.

That's exactly right. It restores your faith that the battler from the bush can still make his dream come true. It was so good to see that raw emotion, the excitement and the humility shown by all concerned. There is a movie there for sure!!

Oh, and Fred...you're welcome to come and meet my Dad...he's got a lot of good racing stories to tell after over fifty years on the track as a bookie and as a racehorse owner.

In 1973, our horse Deakin Street....failed on the flat...put out for a spell, taken as a hack for a while by a young bloke and put over a few jumps....won the Grand National Hurdle at Flemington by so far that the headlines said "Deakin by a Street". That was a wonderful day!!

All the best

Viv

shows I'm getting alzheimer's!! that was Grand National Steeple, not hurdle!

Viv

Viv I remember the horse, and I probably backed it. So sad to see the demise of the old fashion bookies, and the TAB (make that Govt.) having all these exotic forms of taking money off the punters. That's why I only spectate these days. Many cheers and happy and safe future travels. Love your photo gallery.