Following up: Steel Balls

By PATRICK GOWER

Steel Balls is dead. So says Graham Bruton, the man once known as New Zealand's best punter.

He earned the nickname through a fearless betting style that took him on a five-year winning streak. That streak came to an end almost a year ago when, flat broke, he reneged on a $20,000 bet and took off.

Now Bruton is back into racing - but swears he has given up betting.

"Steel Balls died and was buried in January 2002. It was a passage of my life where they branded me with a name I had to carry and I hated it. But he died."

Bruton has started driving trotters again; he has had two wins among his 11 outings since August, the latest with Paradise Beach at Monday's Rotorua races.

"It replaced the adrenalin buzz of the punt. It's the next best thing, driving a winner."

The Christchurch TAB where Bruton placed the bet on credit ended up losing its licence.

Bruton says he paid the debt back a month later.

He signed an affidavit to say that there were at least 20 TABs in New Zealand that put big bets on credit, which has helped the outlet get its licence back.

The $20,000 he lost when South Africa beat Australia in a one-day cricket match on January 13 was not even a big loss.

"It was the last bet I ever had - I couldn't even pay for that one, so it would be hard to have another one."

But the 51-year-old is financially solvent again thanks to his horse Lyell Creek, which had a big year on the racetrack in the United States. The debts were money "I just couldn't find at the time".

Bruton is now building a six-bedroom house in Christchurch - "only a nine iron from Addington raceway" - which he hopes to rent out as a homestay for Asian students.

Bruton split from his Thai wife, Meysan, at the time of the fiasco although they remain "best friends".



He spends about an hour a day in the gym and is enjoying "taking a different path in life".

"If you wanted to sum me up, you could say I've come right, I'm doing the things I like doing without having a bet."



Bruton once described his betting addiction as like being on heroin. He now describes gambling as "just as easy to knock on the head as anything else".

But has Steel Balls really been gelded?

"Well, mate, you can tell [the doubters] that I spent the whole day at the races today. I went to the bar afterwards with the boys and I never went anywhere near the tote. It didn't worry me one iota.

"At the moment I'm happy and I'm not changing. But you can never say never."