Racing: Punters only have eyes for Elsu

Reason has officially disappeared from the Interdominions.

Even some of New Zealand's hardest punters have been blinded by the dazzling form of pacing wonder horse Elsu.

The harness hero has dominated the carnival, which culminates in a $750,000 final at Auckland's Alexandra Park on Friday night.

Considering the race brings together the best pacers in Australasia it was hard to believe Elsu was paying just $1.65 to win the final with the TAB bookies yesterday morning.

It is more unbelievable punters thought that was great money.

In one of the more bizarre days of betting in New Zealand racing history, almost every bet taken on the final yesterday was on Elsu.

That meant his skinny odds at the start of the day were positively anorexic by last night.

"We can't stop people backing him," dazed TAB bookmaker Paul Lally said. "We thought the $1.65 was so short nobody would want to back him and that suited us just fine because already he was a bad result for us.

"But we took $25,000 worth of bets on the final in just a few hours yesterday and $24,000 of that was on Elsu."

That forced bookies to tighten Elsu into $1.50, the shortest win price for a pacer in an Interdominion final in New Zealand.

Which suggests Elsu's aura has mesmerised even hardened punters.

Fixed odds betting, particularly in sums as large as those invested yesterday, are not usually the domain of the small-time punters who would be swayed by sentiment.

So either Elsu deserves to be a $1.50 favourite - which defies logic - or some of New Zealand's most serious racing gamblers have turned into punting pussycats infatuated by the glamour horse.

Whatever the reason, the nationwide plunge has forced bookies to lengthen the odds for the other favourites, meaning pacing greats like dual New Zealand Cup winner Just An Excuse is already out to $7.50 to win, remarkable odds for a second favourite.

Elsu was oblivious to the mayhem he was causing in the TAB's Petone offices yesterday as he strode effortlessly over 3200m in a workout at the Patumahoe stables of trainer Geoff Small.

The black bullet was held back to a steady time of 4:40 but the workout confirmed he was feeling no fatigue after winning his three heats in the first week of the series. "He is better than ever. It is kind of scary," Small admitted.

There were also good reports on the other key Interdominions contenders yesterday, with both Just An Excuse and Australia's leading hope, Sokyola, having come through the hectic first week of the carnival well.

Interdom market

Elsu $1.50

Just An Excuse $7.50

Sokyola $9