HK punter waves goodbye to $28m

A Hong Kong punter lost A$5 million (HK$28.5 million) in a single bet when Australian champion Lonhro was beaten at his farewell appearance at Randwick yesterday.

The punter, identified only as an Australian expatriate working in Hong Kong, was set by Darwin-based bookmaking company Sportingbet at odds of 1-5. In other words, he bet A$5 million in the hope of making a A$1 million profit if Lonhro won.

But this fairytale had a sad ending for Lonhro and a costly one for the intrepid punter. Lonhro was run off his feet by the Gai Waterhouse-trained front-runner Grand Armee, who had finished second to the champion at Rosehill two weeks ago in the Group One George Ryder Stakes.

Sportingbet Australia spokesman Michael Sullivan said the bet was by far the biggest ever taken by the firm. And he confirmed the punter was the same person who had A$1 million on his idol to win A$550,000 in the Australian Cup last month, and then had A$2 million on him to win A$1.4 million at Rosehill two weeks ago.

The A$800,000 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Randwick is becoming a graveyard for racing's biggest names. Six years ago, Lonhro's famous sire Octagonal was beaten in almost identical circumstances, with Sydney putting on a premature celebration to send him off a winner.

The Australian Jockey Club and the racegoers of the harbour city lined up to make amends yesterday but met the same result. And just on 30 years ago, an equally famous thoroughbred icon, Gunsynd, met his waterloo in this very same race, at the hands of a tough New Zealand visitor called Apollo Eleven.