Alright on the Knight as No 13 grabs it for lucky punters

Wellington soccer mates (from left) Jason Gray, Mark Bloomfield and Aaron Hayne after regasining the Bay Ford NZ Punter of the Year tile in Hastings on Saturday. Photo / Warren Buckland

A trio of lucky Wellington gamblers who banked on the unlucky No 13 won the 29th Punter of the Year contest on the last day of Hawke's Bay Racing's Bostock New Zealand Spring Racing Carnival in Hastings on Saturday.

But it was the form, not the numbers, that mattered for accountant Aaron Hayne and fellow Arskin Jimmy syndicate mates Jason Gray and Mark Bloomfield whose big sting came just three races into the 10-race card with $40 on a $161.30 quinella of 10th-favourite and No 13 Opera Knight with 9th-favourite El Luchador for a single collect of $6452.

Having not had a single collect in the opening race and just modest success in the second, they hadn't been on the Top 10 leaderboard but suddenly bolted to the top. They stayed there for the remainder of the day, despite going three other races also without collects, including the big race of the day, the Livamol Classic.

The third race drove them towards their second win in the competition, having previously won in 2013, and blocked any hope of a third consecutive success for the defending champions, race commentator George Simon and Havelock North man Tony Clark, who this time were never seriously in the running for the major prize.

The winners turned their starting pool of $1500 into $10,629 - almost twice as much as the runners up. They ended the day with a a profit of $9129 on top of the $20,000 prize they claimed for winning the title.

The trio were drawn together firstly through soccer at Upper Hutt City club, where they realised they had a common interest in the horses, Messrs Gray and Bloomfield now being veterans of almost 20 of the early-October pilgrimages to the Hastings racecourse where more than 100 punters faced a four-and-a-half hours contest for nationwide punting bragging rights.

Mr Hayne said the trio's preparation was mainly studying in isolation before getting together on Friday to work out the strategy for a day which was a a challenge to most - a wet track on which only two of the 10 races were won by the first or second favourite.

Opera Knight, a five-year-old which had come over 400km with Waiuku trainer Sean Cameron, wasn't everyone's cup of tea, chasing a $25,000 first place purse - about half as much again as its career earnings of just over $50,000 from 27 starts and just two wins.

While one of them needed to be convinced, their interest in the roughie was based on its lust for early speed in the 2100-metres, and they accurately picked it would go to the front, and stay there. As luck would have it, they collectively favoured the second horse, and claimed the money with a $20 quinella on the two, and the other $20 included in another bet covering more options.

That success mean a change in strategy, although they were still betting up to $500 on most races and did have another collect of over $2000. "As soon as you hit the lead it's more about protecting it than increasing it," said Mr Hayne.