Punters zero in on sprinters
The Age
Saturday February 26, 2011
DESPITE being one of the most difficult betting races on the Australian racing calendar, today's group 1 Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield has featured major punters embracing two sprinters from stables that are expected to make the most impact on the meeting.Mark Kavanagh, who is in the enviable position of having the two equal favourites for the sprint, has seen his second-string entry, Undeniably, backed for a small fortune, with the speedster firming from $8.50 to $5.50 equal favourite with stablemate Catapulted.Bookmaking firm Betstar confirmed that support had flowed constantly for Undeniably since betting opened. "They kept taking every quote that came up," Betstar principal Alan Eskander said yesterday. "It's a bit unexpected considering the depth of the race."And while Undeniably has been well supported, he hasn't been the centre of all the attention for the 1100-metre dash.The Peter Moody-trained Reward For Effort has also been backed, with the stallion's quote tumbling from $16 to $11."It's the same with Reward For Effort. It's a very tough race but punters have got it down to two," Eskander said. "I suppose they are coming from high-profile stables which always have a solid following at most times."Undeniably and Reward For Effort have dominated our sheets. Sometimes you expect when the market is this wide that you would get interest coming from a number of horses across the board, but not this time."With the volume of money for the two favourites Catapulted and Undeniably one-time favourite Star Witness, who today is returning to sprinting after Australian Guineas plans were shelved, has drifted from $5 to $7."We were pretty guarded with him from the start, but with the real interest for the two equal favourites, Star Witness has gone out. Perhaps those positions may change once betting starts on course, I'm not sure," Eskander said.
© 2011 The Age