By MIKE DILLON
You can just see it, can't you, in the public bar in Sydney's west at 10.25 on Saturday morning.
A bad time to admit you are from the other side of the ditch.
"What are we doin' betting on these bloody Kiwi horses?" says Dave, somewhere between his second and third middy as he watches Shading slide over the line at Ellerslie at long odds.
"The whole thing's a rort - always said those Kiwis were cheats."
It was not a kindly start to Australians betting regularly on New Zealand racing.
Not for the punter, although the TAB did well.
Zaitan, who had been strongly tipped to win, went out a $2.60 favourite in Race 3 at Ellerslie, finishing sixth while his stablemate Shading won at $20.45 and another of the McKee runners, Never Blue took third at $7.90 a place. The trifecta paid a whopping $2587.
It's the sort of thing that gets an Aussie punter trying to spell suspicious.
The sort of thing that grates on them, particularly just after they've been called sons of sheep stealers.
But in typical Aussie punter fashion they rallied quickly and bet almost exactly double the amount on the next race at Ellerslie.
Despite results generally un- favourable to increasing betting turnover, the introduction of the NSW TAB betting on New Zealand racing on a regular basis last Saturday was seen as very successful in Australia.
TAB Limited is confident it has found a satisfactory betting medium to fill the TABs with punters until the start of Australian racing each Saturday.
"Despite heavy tracks our customers supported the New Zealand service strongly and proved to us there is sufficient level of demand in this time slot to continue each Saturday," said managing director Warren Wilson.
Betting increased progressively, due almost certainly to more and more punters coming on line as the midday Australian racing came closer.
Race 2 at Ellerslie was the first provided in NSW and held $A2752 in win and place bets and $A1574 in exotics.
Increasing amounts for the remaining three events from Ellerslie were: R3: $A9045 and $A3654. R4: $A17,345 and $A7319 and R5: $A22,253 and $A11,243.
The total turnover was around $NZ213,000, about what the TAB would handle in NSW on a twilight meeting, said Wilson.
The betting levels were considerably higher than the American racing TAB Limited axed last year through lack of interest.
Last Saturday it was the four races from Ellerslie and Wanganui which fell into the 10.00am-midday Australian timeframe. This week it will be eight races in total during those two hours from Te Rapa and Awapuni.
The New Zealand TAB receives payment for its video link through a percentage of the NSW betting.
Betting trends were relatively parallel, but there was value to be had. Rand won the hurdles at Ellerslie at $5.75 and paid $9.70 in Sydney while Exploding Halo, $17.30 here and $29.30 in Sydney and Normanhurst $3.95 at Wanganui and $6.40 in Sydney were well among the "overs".
It is not difficult to imagine internet punters comparing odds race by race each Saturday.
Oddly, at $12,60 in NSW Shading was not much more than half the odds she was here, despite the big plunge on stablemate Zaitan.
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Shading is yet another example of what great publicity for racing a champion like Sunline can be.
Shading's Sydney owner Geoff Duffell met co-trainer Stephen McKee while indulging in a joint passion - golf.
"I met Stephen during a golf tournament we both play in each year on the Gold Coast and he invited me to the races when Sunline was racing in Sydney.
"I was so blown away by Sunline I said: 'Find me the next Sunline.'"
The closest Shading has come to her champion stablemate so far is being by the same sire, Desert Sun, but that won't stop Duffell enjoying every win.
Already he knows his luck is in with the filly - this trip is the first time he has seen her race.
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Aussie punters are not put off by what Hill Of Grace could not achieve in Sydney.
Hill Of Grace, perhaps on the slide down in her campaign, failed in the AJC Derby, but punters have rallied behind fellow Kiwi filly Giovana being able to take Saturday's Queensland Derby.
"We've hardly written a bet for any other runner since Saturday," said Brian Taylor from Peter Coster's bookmaking office.
Giovana has shortened from 8-1 to 5-1 third favourite behind Freemason and Fairway.
They don't win races easier than Giovana took Saturday's Queensland Oaks, which should have taken nothing from the filly for this race.
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