THE ordinary punters on the street were responsible for the most massive quinella roll-up ever seen when the Golden Emperor-Sea Of Jasper forecast in Wednesday's final event at Happy Valley was crushed to 2-1 shortly after betting opened on the race.
Jockey Club Director of Betting Henry Chan confirmed yesterday more than $20 million in roll-up money from the successful quinellas in races one (22-1), three (34-1) and five (10-1) had been responsible for the odds contraction.
'But it was no one punter or a few working together,' said Chan. 'Rather it seems that there were some 140 tickets all taking the same quinellas in five races after they had followed one of these telephone hotline tipsters.
'The most common bet was a $10 stake which led to winnings of around $61,000 per ticket though we also had 36 other bets which staked $20, $30 or $40.
'When these are all combined it leads to over $20 million rolling on to the last quinella.' Those punters who took the Golden Emperor-Sea Of Jasper quinella had plenty of cause for excitement on the top bend with both their selections travelling well.
But Sea Of Jasper couldn't go on in the straight while Golden Emperor finished a close third to Feodor and Team Valour.
