New Zealand will have a record gambling spree over the next two days in what is effectively the luck of the draw - even the horse race.
That's the way it is with the Melbourne Cup, the race that still stops two nations despite the New Zealand influence disappearing fast as Northern Hemisphere horses swoop on the $6.6 million at stake, this year making up 11 of the 24 horses in the race which starts at 5pm tomorrow.
By then, the TAB expects New Zealanders will go close to matching last year's record figure of over one million bets and wagers totalling well over $10m, with probably much more spent on the Powerball and Lotto draws 27 hours later, given that Kiwis average over $14m a week in normal circumstances.
When it comes to Kiwis it was yesterday just one of them that was behind the explanation of one Hawke's Bay racing authority as to why the country goes ape over a race full of horses most have never heard of until they pick up the morning paper a few hours ahead of the 3min 20sec gallop at Flemington.
Hawke's Bay Racing general manager Andrew Castles says Waverley farm horse Kiwi's race from last to first over the last 600m at almost twice the speed of anything else in the field was his first vivid memory of the Cup.