Racing: Outspoken bookie places himself under odds pressure
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By MIKE DILLON
It's the biggest call by a bookmaker in decades - that Sunline can't run a place.
That's going to make Mark Read very rich or make it very difficult for him to pay his golf-club fees.
The prominent Australian bookmaker has never been publicity shy, but this is
one right out of left field.
No one's saying this will be easy for Sunline.
No one's saying it may not prove to be her greatest test, tougher even than when she faced top guns Jim And Tonic and Fairy King Prawn in Dubai.
No one's saying she's a good thing.
But Read says she will miss the 1-2-3 and is offering odds that will attract every punter in Australasia not yet set.
His reasoning is that Sunline will face waves of pressure in a staggered attack on the mare's momentum.
You almost never see one bookie stand alone in risking a horse at almost double the odds of every other bagman.
Read is giving $3 to everyone else's $2.25, although a couple of bookmakers have given $2.50 as a favour to their best customers.
Read's boldness is staggering. This sort of thing can change a bookmaker's life.
The bets Read has taken since his declaration have been huge.
He has "taken on" horses before, but none as good as Sunline.
The main difference between the New Zealand TAB fixed odds and Australian bookmakers centres around Universal Prince and Germany's Silvano.
Our TAB has Silvano at $6.50 ($8 in Australia) and Universal Prince at $6.50 is considerably shorter than the $5 on offer with bookmakers.
The New Zealand TAB odds: $2.25 Sunline; $3.10 Northerly; $6.50 Universal Prince, Silvano; $15 Viscount; $25 King Keitel; $35 Caitano; $40 Referral.
