Close to record turnover on Melbourne Cup

Media Release

4 November 2008

Close to record turnover on Melbourne Cup

Kiwis got right behind the excitement of the Melbourne Cup with close to a record amount of money being bet on the race through the New Zealand TAB.

New Zealand Racing Board General Manager Racing and Wagering Bill Colgan says turnover on the New Zealand TAB tote was $7.6 million for the Melbourne Cup alone.

“This is the third highest turnover on record and it was up nearly 10 per cent on last year, which suffered a negative impact due to an outbreak of equine influenza in Australia,” Mr Colgan says.

The previous highest record turnover years were 2005 when $8.1 million was spent and 2006 when $7.9m was put through the New Zealand TAB tote.

“This is literally the race that stops the nation on both sides of the Tasman,” he adds.

The 2008 Melbourne Cup was won by the Bart Cummings trained Viewed (Win: $46.50 and Place $14) with Bauer coming in second ($6.50) and the New Zealand bred Cest L’Guerre coming in third (paying $7.80).

It was the 12th Melbourne Cup victory for Australian trainer Bart Cummings.

The Quinella dividend was worth $553.20 and the Trifecta dividend was worth $28,994.90.

One of the biggest New Zealand bets on Viewed was $500 meaning that lucky punter collected $20,500.

The best of the New Zealand trained horses was Nom du Jeu, which finished eighth. The other two New Zealand trained horses in the race – Boundless and Prize Lady –finished well out of the running. The last horse home was Honolulu.

“There was a real international flavour to the result with an Australian trained horse finishing first, an English trained horse finishing second and two New Zealand bred horses finishing third and fourth,” Mr Colgan says.

Ends

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