Punt Drunk: Bring on the Melbourne Cup Carnival!
It is here! The Melbourne Cup Carnival is finally upon us and the team at Punt Drunk are ready to descend onto Flemington.
We take a look at one of the most bizarre barrier draw malfunctions known to man, a known protestor being given the flick nice and early and a particular bookie shaking in their boots ahead of the Cup!
Buckle up punters, it is a week-long battle. It’s a marathon remember.
VRC drop the ball….literally
We are all for the cringeworthy barrier draws ahead of Group 1 races, but the barrier draw for the 2022 Empire Rose Stakes took the absolute pee eye double five.
With two bingo-like rollers in hand, former Australian test quick Simon O’Donnell and a couple of the Victorian Racing Club’s key officials conducted a full barrier draw with bingo balls that had numbers replicating runners and then barriers.
However, someone clearly does not know how to count to 20.
When the Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes-trained Yearning was the last horse drawn out of the first barrel, it was quickly evident that there was not a subsequent barrier ball to be drawn out of barrel #2.
RV advises that an electronic re-draw of the barriers for this Saturday’s Group 1 TAB Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) will be undertaken at approximately 4.30pm this afternoon by RV Racing Operations in accordance with the standard barrier draw process. https://t.co/5xsFs71fNx
— Racing Victoria (@RacingVictoria) October 26, 2022
Now, we are not saying we are the best bingo ball counters going around, but we sure know how to count to 20!
The draw had to be done again, this time electronically to avoid further egg on the VRC officials face.
To think we thought we had seen it all…the great game delivers once again!
Topless Vegan activist banned from Melbourne Cup Carnival
A vegan activist, notorious for her topless stunts, could be banned from attending the Melbourne Cup.
In a preemptive bid to avoid carnival day ruckus on Tuesday, November 1, Victoria Police intend to issue a “race course exclusion notice” to 28-year-old Tash Peterson.
Ms Peterson, originally from Bicton, WA, is an extreme animal rights activist who has marched through shopping centres smeared in her menstrual blood and performed acts of public nudity to draw attention to animal cruelty.
Sounds lovely doesn’t she?
“If you’re not vegan, you’re an animal abuser,” is the activist’s social media slogan.
She sounds like a hoot!
In June this year, WA police banned Ms Petereson from all licensed premises in the state, prompting the activist to move to Melbourne.
Betr struggling to keep up
Betr is still offering $101 about any horse in the Melbourne Cup until 5pm on October 29 (max bet $10).
It is believed Betr is standing to lose several million dollars if current favourite Deauville Legend wins the big race on the first Tuesday in November.
The start-up bookie is also offering $101 on any team to win the 2023 AFL premiership, 2023 NRL premiership, 2023 NBA championship and the 2022 Football World Cup (max bet $10).
However, on Thursday afternoon the new kid on the block opted to cut their losses and withdraw their $101 quote on imports Deauville Legend and Loft.
The two internationals are expected to be hard to beat and Betr have opted to cut the price for both of the runners to $10.
Now those odds are still much better than what most online bookmakers are advertising, but based on the fact they reportedly lost $30 million on Anamoe’s Cox Plate win last week, they want to avoid a similar situation this week.
To those of you who got the $101, good luck!
Greyhound trainer issues horse racing a warning
A leading greyhound trainer has declared horse racing will be next, if the anti-racing types are successful in their crusade to ban the dogs.
“They (horse-racing fans and participants) don’t realise it. I tell everyone if you don’t think horse racing isn’t in trouble, just Google ‘horse racing Florida’,” Robert Britton, who trained the all-time leading prizewinner in greyhound racing Fanta Bale, told Australian Racing Greyhound.
“Since greyhound racing has died in Florida, they’ve started going after the horses. They’ll go after one thing and then another.”
Britton did say that the demise of greyhound racing in the USA was not entirely because of activists, with many casinos no longer supporting the sport because it relies on a real crowd to bet, unlike here where we can watch and bet via online bookmakers.
About Punt Drunk
Welcome to Punt Drunk – our daily column covering all the latest horse racing and punting controversies, dramas and headline news. Have a story or gripe or issue that just grinds your gears? Just hit us up in the comments or contact us page and our jaded, punt hardened Punt Drunk staff will give it the Punt Drunk treatment it deserves. Don’t expect pleasantries or typical racing media fanboy gloss from Punt Drunk – we’re on the punt and we don’t have time to bullshit; the next is about to jump…
