Punter lays down K117,000

MELBOURNE: One very confident punter might not have slept too well last night after placing a mammoth bet more than 24 hours before today’s Melbourne Cup.
Amid controversy over a ‘ridiculously firm’ Flemington track, Yucatan remains the favourite despite going out from A$5.50 to A$6.
Magic Circle also moved from A$7.50 to A$8 but the next in line has been backed in by a punter’s crazy play.
TAB revealed that yesterday morning, a racing fan laid down A$50,000 (K117,700) on Cross Counter to win at A$10.
That’s despite the English-trained four-year-old — a three-year-old by northern hemisphere time — suffering a major setback with a cut to the leg just over three weeks ago.
But after riding him in a gallop last week, jockey Kerrin McEvoy says the horse seems really well on the back of a good form line — two wins and a second in July and August — and time spent recovering from the wound.
“Charlie wasn’t too worried about the little setback and he was fit before he got here,” McEvoy said.
“Obviously, he had to have a few easy days because of it but he was nice and sharp the other morning and was travelling along well in his work.
“It’s a wide-open race. Obviously the favourite (Yucatan) is the one everyone is talking about but there’s 10 other good chances.
“Luck in running is going to play a huge part but I’ve got a horse there that can put up a bold show and run a great race.”
Time off to deal with the cut isn’t the only issue potentially counting against Cross Counter, who is now into A$9.
He has raced just seven times in a career not 12 months old — with all coming in Great Britain and never beyond 2412m.
McEvoy has history in the 3200m Melbourne Cup, however, and is eyeing off a third victory.
He won for the first time in 2000 on Brew before taking it out again 16 years later on Almandin.
Other big bets placed so far include A$17,000 at A$31 on Finche, A$5000 bets at A$34 and A$31 on Sound Check.
A further A$4500 play at A$9.50 was placed on Cross Counter.
The potential result stemming from the original punter’s A$50,000 bet would be bigger than just about anything the TAB paid out on Rekindling last year.
While one punter did take home A$1 million (K2.36 million) for picking the winner through a TAB promotion, the biggest payout from a bet taken on the day was A$48,000 (K113,678). – 7Sport