Admire Rakti features in the 2014 Melbourne Cup tips of plenty of punters right around the world and leading online bookmaker Ladbrokes is holding twice as much money on the Japanese stayer than they are on any other horse in the field.
Caulfield Cup winner Admire Rakti is the worst 2014 Melbourne Cup result for leading online bookmaker Ladbrokes. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Ladbrokes has taken plenty of bets for Admire Rakti to win the Melbourne Cup since connections confirmed that the Heart’s Cry entire would make the trip to Australia and he received even more betting support after he scored an impressive victory in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) on October 18.
Despite their massive hold on Admire Rakti, Ladbrokes have still lengthened the Melbourne Cup odds of the Caulfield Cup winner in the past 24 hours and he is now out to $6 after being available at a quote of $4.80 following the conclusion of the barrier draw on Saturday night.
Another horse in the Melbourne Cup field that has been well-backed with Ladbrokes is Lexus Stakes winner Signoff, who is set to start ‘the race that stops a nation’ on the second line of betting after he was available at a quote of $51 a week ago.
There was an avalanche of support for Signoff in the lead-up to the Lexus Stakes, with the Authorized gelding backed from $51 into $17, and the Melbourne Cup odds of the Darren Weir-trained stayer have continued to shorten in the lead-up to the race; with Ladbrokes taking a bet of $5000 this morning.
Fawkner is one of only two Australian-bred horses in the Group 1 event and a fifth Melbourne Cup victory for leading owner Lloyd Williams, after he previously took out the race with Just A Dash (1981), What A Nuisance (1985), Efficient (2007) and Green Moon (2012), would be a poor result for Ladbrokes.
There has been a sprinkling of support for Fawkner in Melbourne Cup betting throughout the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival and the fact that he was beaten by Adelaide in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) has not stopped punters putting their money on the seven-year-old.
Fawkner was $9.50 into $8 with Ladbrokes this morning after a sizable wager of $10,000 was placed on the two-time Group 1 winner.
A bet of the same amount was placed on Caulfield Cup placegetter Lucia Valentina at odds of $7.50 and she was subsequently wound into $7, while Ladbrokes also took bets of $2000 each-way on Godolphin stayer Cavalryman at $26 and talented mare My Ambivalent at $41.
Araldo has been the best backed Melbourne Cup outsider with Ladbrokes, while there has been little interest in the big odds on offer for the likes of Royal Diamond ($91), Brambles ($61), Mr O’Ceirin ($201), Au Revoir ($81), Opinion ($61) and Unchain My Heart ($201).
Let’s Elope (1991), Might And Power (1997), Jezabeel (1998), Makybe Diva (2004 and 2005) and Fiorente (2013) are the only favourites to have won the Melbourne Cup in the past 30 years.
