There was no shortage of action around the world to get involved in last week, and a stack of TAB punters capitalised on the jam-packed racing and sports calendar to pull off some big wins. Wimbledon and the Euros drew to a close, the All Blacks played an historic Test against Fiji in San Diego, 2024’s State of Origin series was decided in a thriller and plenty of racing around the globe set the platform for some monstrous collects, but none were bigger than what came at Flemington on Saturday.
VRC Members Race Day took place at Flemington, hosting a nine-race card, and chaos ensued in the back half of the card as rain continued to fall in Melbourne as the day went on. Come the start of the Quaddie in Race 6, the track had been downgraded to a Soft 7, and that helped see some long-shots triumph to close out the card, making the Quaddie particularly elusive. And boy, did some TAB punters capitalise.
A trio of that punters got involved with Saturday’s Flemington Quaddie landed big-time wins, with the highlight being a $40 outlay returning $71,203. Other winners included a $20 stake winning $19,419 and a $12 outlay pocketing $16,183 as Saturday’s racing in Melbourne was rounded out with some enormous wins.
Mr Exclusive ($43) kicked off the Quaddie with a swooping win down the Flemington straight, bolting past $3.30 favourite Baraqiel and Home Rule in the final 50m to win the first leg of the Quaddie. That was followed up by Hit The Road Jack ($8.70), who showed good resilience to win in Race 7 from Dashing Duchess and Taramansour, before another track rating downgrade came in Race 8.
After steering Hit The Road Jack to victory, Michael Dee went back-to-back to ride his fourth winner of the day as Horrifying ($54.60) claimed victory in the penultimate race on the card. Clinging on down the inside, the six-year-old emerged victorious as a huge outsider to add to the drama. Moving onto the last, it was a wide-open field, with Beast Mode starting as the $7.50 favourite. Next on the board was Moonhaven ($8.30), and he emerged on top in a 0.75L win. Turning on the afterburners with 200m to go, the three-year-old was too good in the last, with that result securing the win of a trio of Quaddies, combining for an enormous payout of over $106k.
Earlier in the week, it was all eyes on Olympiastadion Berlin as Spain and England locked horns in the Euro 2024 final. It ended in jubilation for the Spaniards, as Mikel Oyarzabal dinked in an 86th-minute winner, and this TAB punter would have been on cloud nine with the team after landing a $2 Same Game Multi that returned $7,590. Focusing on the second half of the match, this punter was banking on Spain emerging victorious in a goal-filled second stanza, and that is exactly what played out. Nailing the Second Half Spain Total Goals, Second Half Correct Score, Highest Scoring Half and Second Half Total Goals Odd/Even markets, this football mastermind had his SGM come together as Oyarzabal found the back of the net, starting their Monday morning with a mammoth $7,590 win.
Between Origin III and seven NRL games, there was plenty of first grade rugby league to get around last week, and one punter capitalised on the opportunity, with a $5 multi winning $3,224. Focusing on the four NRL games across Friday and Saturday, this league fan picked two Anytime Try Scorers from each game to make for a masterful multi. After 70 minutes of play in the Raiders-Warriors game on Friday night, it looked like the multi was going to be over before it even began. However, Xavier Savage and Addin Fonua-Blake answered the call late in the piece, both crossing the chalk in the final 10 minutes of play to get the first two legs home.
Things were similarly nerve-racking in the Knights v Broncos clash, as Greg Marzhew left it until the 75th minute to dot down for what was a consolation try, and that theme carried over to the final game of the multi, as the Storm hosted the Roosters. With 15 minutes to play, Melbourne were in front 18-4 and neither Sualauvi Faalogo nor Dominic Young had scored a four-pointer in the game. Young changed that in the 67th minute, diving over in the corner, and Faalogo could hardly have left it any later to score his try. But he ticked off that box in the 79th minute, getting in the way of a Sam Walker grubber to stroll through untouched, sealing the game for the Storm and sealing a tidy $3,224 win for this punter.
Big Winners – July 15 – July 21
Flemington Quaddie (Sat July 20) – Races 6-9
Selections:
Race 6: 6,7,9,12,13,15
Race 7: 5
Race 8: 1,2,10,12,13
Race 9: 2,3,7,15,16,17
$40 stake = $71,203 return
Other tickets on the Flemington Quaddie:
$20 stake = $19,419 return
$12 stake = $16,183 return
Football Same Game Multi (Mon July 15) – 4 Legs – Spain vs England
Second Half Spain Total Goals – 2
Second Half Correct Score Spain – 2-1
Highest Scoring Half – Second Half
Second Half Total Goals Odd/Even – Odd
$2 stake = $7,590 return
NRL Multi (Fri July 19 – Sat July 20) – 8 Legs
Canberra Raiders vs New Zealand Warriors – Anytime Try Scorer – Xavier Savage
Canberra Raiders vs New Zealand Warriors – Anytime Try Scorer – Addin Fonua-Blake
South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Wests Tigers – Anytime Try Scorer – Alex Johnston
South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Wests Tigers – Anytime Try Scorer – Cody Walker
Newcastle Knights vs Brisbane Broncos – Anytime Try Scorer – Greg Marzhew
Newcastle Knights vs Brisbane Broncos – Anytime Try Scorer – Deine Mariner
Melbourne Storm vs Sydney Roosters – Anytime Try Scorer – Sualauvi Faalogo
Melbourne Storm vs Sydney Roosters – Anytime Try Scorer – Dominic Young
$5 stake = $3,224 return