Since they crossed the line in The Everest last October, Nature Strip has been favourite to win the race again this year, with punters making him a multi-million-dollar liability for bookmakers across the country.
In just a few years, The Everest has become the biggest betting race in NSW and one of the biggest in the country – partly because, as in the AFL and NRL premiership markets, punters are backing their fancies for the following year as soon as the race finishes.
James McDonald punches the air after returning a winner again on Nature Strip.Credit:Getty
After Nature Strip held off Masked Crusader in a thrilling finish to last year’s race, the pair were immediately installed as $8 equal favourites by bookmakers for 2022.
Nature Strip is now a $1.90 favourite, a long way from $8 he opened 51 weeks ago, while Masked Crusader is out $13 as punters follow the winning form of their favourite
“There are punters that have been waiting for the TAB Everest for 51 weeks after backing Nature Strip at $8 last year,” TAB’s Glenn Munsie said. “It is always one of those markets, like the AFL and NRL, that our punters are keen to bet into straight away.
“Nature Strip has become like their favourite football team, and people are prepared to follow him wherever he goes, and all the way through they have been taking multis with him.
“He is close enough to a $1 million liability for us in the pre-post book and that’s only a fraction of what will be bet in the next couple of days once the field is finally known.”
It is the same with the big betting houses around Australia, which are all preparing for an onslaught as they head into Saturday’s $15 million race, with only one horse on punters’ minds – Nature Strip.
“There is one punter who had a $2000 bet at $10 about Nature Strip last November,” Ladbrokes’ Adam Hamilton said. “There has been plenty of money for him after his win at Royal Ascot. He has become a horse punters depend on.
“After he won The Shorts last month, we wrote bets of $11,000 at $2.30, $9000 and $5000 at $2.10. It has just been relentless and it won’t change right up until The Everest jumps.”
The Everest has become big business in betting circles and is clearly the biggest race in NSW in terms of turnover. But the biggest wins on Saturday will come from cross-sports multibets, in which punters can multiply their odds by picking any number of winners across racing and other sports.
“We wouldn’t have gone a day in the past six months where Nature Strip isn’t anchoring a multi,” Bluebet’s Michael Sullivan said. “He is a horse they all know and they all want to be on in The Everest.
“The two favourites winning the AFL and NRL didn’t help because punters just took them in Nature Strip as well.”
The TAB is facing a similar series of bets, with Munsie saying: “There haven’t been that many big bets straight out on him – the biggest was $2000 at $7 in April, but he is a constant in terms of people having multis with him.
“He is much worse because of bets through Penrith and Geelong because punters see it as a good way to get value about a good thing.
“The week of the AFL grand final we had a punter take the treble, Geelong, Penrith and Nature Strip at $10.62 for $10,000, which will return $106,200 should he win on Saturday.
“He is a horse that they love, and add [trainer] Chris Waller and [jockey] James McDonald to the equation, and they just get more confident about him winning.”
