TODD Buckingham is a knockabout bloke from Tamworth who studied PE teaching at Newcastle University, played local footy and loves having a punt.
He ditched teaching to become a player agent and in 2009 came up with an idea to help fellow punters with the 12Follow blackbook service using mobile phones.
That snowballed into TopBetta, which became Betmakers Technology Group - a software and data provider for global wagering services that is worth $250 million, employs 500 people and operates in 35 countries.
Now he is Melbourne Cup winner.
Buckingham and his sister Nicole Green are part-owners of Gold Trip which stormed home to win the race that stops the nation at Flemington on Tuesday.
The siblings dancing and hugging and Buckingham throwing wife Jo into the air after Gold Trip saluted were flashed across television screens around the nation.
That's Bucko!
"It was ridiculous," Buckingham said Wednesday. "Just raw emotion. You cheer them home when you are at the pub. This was unbelievable."
Buckingham and Green purchased a share in Gold Trip through Hunter syndicators Australian Bloodstock after the sudden death of his mum and race-lover Brenda in May 2020.
"Mum loved the races," Buckingham said. "She would be down at the pub on a Saturday afternoon, cheering them on. Melbourne Cup was her day. She would get dressed up and just loved it.
"All mum wanted was to have a horse in the Melbourne Cup. My sister and I said we would buy a horse and we obviously needed a good one. I spoke to Jamie Lovett [Australian Bloodstock] and he suggested Gold Trip. He cost a bit but he would be running in the cups and Cox Plate.
"He was injured last year and we had to put him on ice for 12 months. When that happens, you think he is not going to get there. He won't reach his full ability.
"The team has done a fantastic job with him."
Gold Trip earned connections, which included fellow Novocastrian Tony Price, $4.4 million in prize money and was a $19 chance with bookmakers.
It was an equally successful day for Betmakers Technology Group and one of its high profile clients Betr, which was founded by Matt Tripp and is 33 per cent owned by News Corporation.
"We signed a big deal with News Limited and Matt Tripp," Buckingham said. "They wanted to start a bookmaking website. We built it for them and launched it on Caulfield Cup day. It has been live three weeks and has had 300,000 clients."
"We went from being a consumer facing bookie to the back-end software four years ago. It has just grown and grown."
Buckingham, always looking for the next project, has already started planning for next year.
"Nic and I have Le Villi which is with Kris Lees and was third in the Queensland Oaks earlier this year," Buckingham said. "We just got another one named Lyrical Lady, which Australian Bloodstock just bought over from the UK. It will be aimed at the Sydney autumn."
First he has 1000 messages from well-wishers to return.
"There were so many people I knew who backed it," Buckingham said. "That was the good thing. Everyone was piling on to it. It was unreal."
Unreal indeed.
