The big money has flown at the annual call of the card for the Melbourne Cup – lead by a massive $500,000 bet.
There was a full house of around 900 guests crammed into Crown Palladium for the event, many with eyes on the four bookies who were fielding the bets: Natalie Hinkley (Swiftbet), Chris Lester, Robbie Waterhouse and Lyndon Cleary.
Highly rated international raider Al Riffa was the centre of the mayhem – with the $500,000 bet thought to be a Call of the Card record – led by a company backed by a Melbourne billionaire.
Easygo, the technology company co-founded by Stake founder Ed Craven, bet $500,000 at $8 on Al Riffa to win $4 million.
“Al Riffa – good form, Frankie Dettori’s tip, the GOAT. We’re here to win $4 million. We’ve got half a million on it. Easygo was born in Melbourne, just like the Cup, and now we’re taking on the world,” an Easygo spokesperson said on Monday.
Chris Lester took the entire $500,000 bet.
The boys from Wolfden were busy, at one stage wanting to bet $500,000 on River of Stars at $18. Only $15,000 was accepted. They also placed a bet of $40,000 at $10 on Presage Nocturne.
They also stand to win a cool $1 million on Al Riffa, at odds of $7.50. Australian Bloodstock’s Jamie Lovett, who have Al Riffa in the race, had $50,000 on his star at $8 and another $150,000 at odds of $7.50.
Al Riffa was clearly the best backed runner of the card and by the end of betting all bookies had wound him in to $7.
Sam Swanell, who amassed a fortune through his Pointsbet empire, was busy at the call of the card, trying to back multiple runners to win a seven-figure sum.
At one point Swanell tried to back Onesmoothoperator to win $1m with Robbie Waterhouse at 30/1, but Waterhouse would only take a quarter of the bet. Waterhouse was certainly the least active of the four bookmakers, drawing some frustrations from the crowd as the afternoon went on.
Swanell also had significant bets on Royal Supremacy, More Felons and Meydaan (to win $1.4 mil), amongst others.
$16,666 on Furthur at $30
