By Michael Guerin
A new racing hero was born yesterday.
A hero with a special gift, a freak that real racing people can hold in awe.
At the height of racing's summer madness we can all get a bit carried away.
Hype, excessive sunlight, too much drink and that yearning to make a very big statement because everybody else seems to be, can see us labelling poor horses good, good horses great and great horses champions.
A jockey you thought was a gormless monkey when he cost you $10 last week can become Lester Piggott if he does the right thing by you on a 5-1 chance on Cup day.
But yesterday's hero is different. He is not a gleaming thoroughbred who we can admire but never understand.
This hero - or heroine - is one of us. A punter.
Because when Irish Chance slingshotted past Shan's Beau to win an Auckland Cup that was as memorable as your average episode of Coronation Street, near-perfection punting was achieved.
Everybody who loves a punt dreams of pulling off their own little coup.
Being the one who knows, the guru atop a mountain of other people's discarded TAB tickets.
This punter knew who was going to win the Auckland Cup.
The experts said it was the most open Cup in years but our hero knew better.
He knew it was a two-horse race and he knew over two weeks ago.
On December 15 our hero placed only two fixed odds bets through his TAB phone account.
One was $1000 on Irish Chance to win the Cup at $15. The other was $1000 on runner-up Shan's Beau at $18.
Two bets, 17 days before the richest race in New Zealand, on two horses nobody was talking about at a time when Crimson, Dannevegas, Mulqueen and Scud were being touted as the Cup hotshots.
Forget horses breaking down or losing form, forget wet tracks or bad luck in the running. Forget the opinion of others or the countless media yarns.
Our hero knew exactly what he wanted to do and was exactly right.
Which makes me think he could be a time-traveller. Or one of those crystal ball-owning gypsies, although recent studies indicate not many gypsies have TAB phone accounts.
Or perhaps our hero is the greatest race rigger of all time. Or just incredibly lucky.
Regardless of who or what our hero is, the magnitude of the effort was not lost on the TAB bookies.
"That is unbelievable isn't it," said a TAB bookie after the race.
"For one person to only have two bets that far out from a major race and nail it like that .... I don't think I have ever heard one as good as that.
"The really weird thing is they were the only two bets placed on that account that day."
This was not the infamous Steel Balls hitting a favourite with big money for a bigger return. This was scarily surgical.
In our annual summer rush to put horses and their human helpers on pedestals we can forget who makes racing work.
Punters. Us.
Punters put up the most serious money in racing. Nearly $1billion a year. Yet, they disappear when the accolades are handed out.
Well not yesterday. Because Irish Chance may be good and Shan's Beau may be gutsy but they will never stand among the greats.
But somewhere in New Zealand yesterday a hero entered the punting Hall Of Fame. One for the good guys.
The only problem is, after a stunt like that the rest of his year could be an anti-climax.
Horse Racing: Finally a hero punters can really relate to
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