Horse racing: Auckland punter sweating on miracle 100,000-1 collect in Melbourne Cup

The 12-leg multi-bet that only needs one more correct result to pay an Auckland punter $732,216.21.

An Auckland punter is sweating on one of the biggest wins in New Zealand betting history with a wild bet that could net him over $730,000 in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.

The punter, who wants to remain anonymous, invested just $7.41 in a 12-leg multi-bet with the New Zealand TAB in January – and so far, 11 of the legs have come in.

If Buckaroo, trained by ex-pat Kiwi champion trainer Chris Waller, can run in the first three in the Cup on Tuesday, the punter will get a $732,216.21 return for a bet that costs about the same as a cup of coffee.

The punter placed the bet on his TAB account on January 31 with the first nine legs racing the next day, February 1 and all either winning or running in high-enough placings for the ticket to remain live.

He then had to wait until two weeks ago for the next leg, which was former New Zealand galloper Ka Ying Rising winning The Everest in Sydney and then another week for his 11th-leg selection, Via Sistina to win the Cox Plate.

With his miracle bet still alive, the punter then had to sweat on whether trainer Waller would actually start Buckaroo in the Cup or a different race this Saturday, a decision Waller described as 50-50 just last week.

But Buckaroo is confirmed in Tuesday’s field, perfectly drawn in barrier 12 and has superstar jockey Craig Williams on his back.

He is rated a $9 win chance but, more importantly, just $3.50 to run in the top-three slot that the Auckland punter needs to secure his mammoth collect.

With the final three legs of the extraordinary bet being in Futures markets, there is no “cash-out” option for the punter to take a lower return before the race – so his bet has to ride.

The punter told TAB officials he has a very good reason for wanting to stay anonymous.

“I am buying enough beers if this wins without anybody else knowing,” he said.

He admitted he was nervous when it was suggested Waller may choose to bypass the Cup with Buckaroo but has remained remarkably philosophical about the fun bet that has turned into a life-changer.

“Yeah, I was convinced Waller was going to scratch it, but I think the owners ... they must have twisted his arm,” he said.

“But, you know, the whole thing’s a lottery, eh?

“This is like a lottery ticket.”

Multi-betting has become increasingly popular with punters who want to chase big-money wins for small outlays but 12-leg winning tickets are incredibly rare as only one leg needs to lose for the bet to fail.

Nick Conway, the general nanager of trading for Entain Australia and New Zealand, the operators of the TAB, said: “We’re bookies, we never like paying out this sort of money but if someone can turn $7 into more than $700,000 then all we can do is pay him his dues – and the $700,000!

“No matter which way the bet goes for our punter, I hope he enjoys the best three minutes in Australasian sport.”

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.