Record plunge on Darwin Cup

Thu, August 05 2010

THE 2010 Darwin Cup attracted the attention of more punters than ever before with the national totes recording huge increases in off-course betting.

And Cup organisers have the weather to thank.

Both the Echuca meeting in Victoria and the Forbes Cup meeting in NSW were abandoned because of bad weather conditions, leaving the nine-race meeting at Fannie Bay the sole focus of punters around the country.

Almost $2 million was outlayed on the race, won by Shout Out Loud, across the three TABs in Australia.

Betting turnover in NSW increased by more than 40 per cent from the 2009 event, SuperTAB was up by 11.7 per cent while UNiTAB held $866,795, the biggest of the three totes.

"I'd be very surprised if that's not a record," Darwin Turf Club Business Manager Andrew O'Toole said yesterday.

"Not competing against any other meetings certainly helped us from an off-course point of view, but it was surprising that our on-course turnover also increased.

"We believe that went up around five per cent, which was also very pleasing."

Racing returns to Fannie Bay on Saturday followed by meeting at Alice Springs on Sunday

Story Courtesy Todd Biddington - NT News