Having the courage of your convictions is a vital trait for gamblers. A meek and timid player can never summon up sufficient confidence to bet heavily enough and make a life changing score. Mabel Read is a model example of a fearless plunger, who made sure that she got amply rewarded when her selections were vindicated.
Read, an Australian woman, was active in the betting rings back in the 60’s. One of her favourite ploys was to back a horse on the drift. Once she had made her choice, she would never be deterred by any perceived weakness in the market and she would have on a few grand more each time it got pushed out. If a horse shortened, she would still follow through with fervour, and could never conceive of her fancy getting beat. A very bold approach, indeed.
Her biggest splurge came on Galilee, who she punted in same-horse doubles to win both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in 1966. Long before the advent of exotic bets and preponderance of Tote wagering, betting in Oz was dominated by bookies, many of whom accepted massive wagers. Albert Smith was one of those big layers and it was he who laid the original Galilee double to Read. After Galilee won the Caulfield Cup and duly shortened for the iconic Melbourne contest, Smith contacted her to try reduce his liability.
“Mabel, I was wondering if you could bet me 8/1 or 10/1 on Galilee to win the Melbourne Cup, because of your huge investment…” he proposed. ‘What price is Galilee currently to win the Cup?” was Read’s reply. Upon being told her beast was now a 5/1 fancy, Read answered, ‘Well, Albert, give me another 10 000 on him!”
As Patrick Bartley relates in his wonderful book, “On the Punt”, it is unclear how much Read collected when Galilee won the Melbourne Cup, but it was plenty. Close confidants revealed that she astutely purchased huge tracts of land near Cranbourne (situated 40km’s out of Melbourne, and subsequently developed into a housing estate suburb) with her windfall. As an aside her son, Mark Read inherited her passion for wagering and became one of Australia’s foremost punters/ bookies before selling his International All Sports business for hundreds of millions of dollars about ten years ago.
Johana Taks a.k.a. ‘The Woman in Black” was another extraordinary player from Australia’s rich gambling past. She was basically clueless about the subtleties of form analysis yet had total faith in the 1940’s champion, Bernborough, playing up her profits whilst backing him in escalating sums every time during a fourteen- race winning streak.
Taks, an Estonian immigrant, resided in rough College Street, part of Sydney’s seedy underbelly, but her final wager on Bernborough would have netted enough to purchase a harbour front mansion. Unfortunately, for the stylishly dressed “Woman in Black,” the champ suffered a terrible passage in the race when carrying 68kg’s and clocked in an unlucky fifth. Taks, who claimed she was ‘not a reckless punter,” never returned to the track.
Here in South Africa, bettors landed a few body- blows to the books. Master Magic (28/10 – 16/10) at Turffontein, On That Boulevard (12/1 – 7/2) and Lickerio (6/1 – 7/2) at Greyville were highly traded horses that successfully completed the job. The latter, by Master of My Fate, has now won three of his last four starts for Yogas Govender and sports a merit rating of just above 90.
Dread the Dragon (25/1 into 10’s) was a key long shot strike for the week under review as this shrewd “find” denied Verdi and heavily backed, Blanco, highest traded runner for the day at the Vaal’s 13th December meeting. Dread the Dragon has uninspiring form but was trying something new (going over a mile first time) and had the benefit of a claim 4kg’s appy – Nathan Klink.
Basadi Faith was another outsider to provide nourishing returns. This juvenile, also by Master of My Fate, and trained by Paul Matchett, got punted from 25/1 down to 6’s and duly justified stable confidence when making a winning debut in the 800m scuttle.
The Cape Guineas was an intriguing betting race. Unbeaten, One World was always pretty short at slightly better than evens to remain perfect, but the serious money was on high-class Joburg invader, Soqrat – from 6/1 to just about half that original quote. Mike de Kock has an exemplary record when contesting G1’s in the Cape and Soqrat shot through a 34.8 come home sectional from the 600m to outduel cleverly ridden Twist of Fate, with One World somewhat below best in third.
Clouds Unfold found sustained support in multiple bets hence was clipped from 3/1 to 17/10 in the Fillies Guineas. She failed to really get a true run mile and could only manage third place behind pace-setter Silvano’s Pride and emerging star, the Dynasty filly, Front and Centre. There could be similarities between the winner and outstanding race-mare, Beach Beauty as both daughters of Dynasty were not much to look at as physical specimens yet could run like the wind and knew how to win.
Interbet are in the midst of their 12 days of Xmas promotion. Be sure to check out the tempting offers of bonus bets and additional loyalty points that can be scored on each day over the Festive Season. If Mabel Read’s ghost returns to sign on with typically strong wagering opinions, she’ll be accorded extra special respect!