One lucky punter in Australia is on cloud nine after cashing in £84,000 from an outlandish bet worth the equivalent of just 50p.
The Victorian punter had placed a single Australian dollar on four ambitious long-odds winners at the prestigious Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. And he can now count his extraordinary winnings after picking the four correct horses to win races 3-6 of the early quadrella in Melbourne.
Love Tap, High Approach, Renosu and Bartholomeu Dias all came in, meaning the punter was owed a remarkable payout of $154,759 (£84,000) by the Victorian pool. But the punter is not the biggest ever winner at the races in Melbourne. A retired New Zealander claimed a mind-blowing $1million (£560,000) total prize in 2020 from just a $112 (£62) initial stake.
Punters had turned out in their droves for the first day of the huge race date in Melbourne.
And the rainy conditions did not dampen spirits or deter famous faces, as legendary former Manchester United manager and horse racing fan Sir Alex Ferguson was spotted in attendance Down Under.
There was big drama on the racetrack as 20/1 shot Gold Trip claimed the Melbourne Gold Cup, bagging a mammoth £2.5million in the process for jockey Mark Zahra and trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
Zahra was banned from last year's race due to a Covid-19 breach, but was emotional as his five-year-old mount claimed victory at Flemington on his return. The jockey could not contain his reaction and swore during his live TV post-race interview.
“The last 50 I was thinking, ‘f*** me, I’m going to win this here’,” he said. “It just went forever, the last bit"
He continued: "I feel like crying. It’s unbelievable. What a day. He’s a horse that when you go, you don’t give him a chance to think about it. It’s just elation when I crossed the line. What an amazing feeling.”
