Racing: Telegraph message great news

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Waikato syndicator David Ellis got a big kick out of Irish Fling winning Saturday's Berkett Telegraph without owning a hair of the mare's tail.

Ellis can proudly say he selected and bought, through the Karaka sale ring, the sire and dam of the group one winner.

The sire is Darci Brahma, who brilliantly won the 2007 edition of the Telegraph in the Te Akau colours, and the dam is the O'Reilly mare Irish Belle.

"A result like that gives you a lot of confidence as you cast your eye over just about every horse in this year's Karaka sale over any number of weeks," said Ellis.

Despite this being the first group one victory for Hastings trainer Guy Lowry, the 43-year-old was as modest as ever, wanting to deflect the honour on to to the rest of the staff and particularly co-trainer Grant Cullen.

Irish Fling was not the outsider she might have been had the race not lost Waterford, Ginner Hart and Cauthen, but nor was she greatly favoured.

Grant Cullen is no stranger to surprise Trentham victories, having produced on his own the 150-to-1 shot Miss Bailey in the 1999 Wellington Cup.

Saturday's introduction of the Triple Trio bet type went "fabulously well", according to TAB executives.

Remarkably, five separate units struck varying percentages of the $1 million pot, which seemed impossible to get when the outsider of the field, Jaggard, finished third in the Telegraph, paying $19.10 for a place.

Two of the five winning tickets were selected by the purchaser, the other three coming from Easybets, selected by the TAB computer.

Of the pick-your-own, a 9 per cent unit was purchased at the Manukau TAB ($90,000 payout) and a 5 per cent ($50,000) was an internet bet.

The Easybets were: a 10 per cent unit ($100,000) at the Clive TAB, a 15 per cent ($150,000) at the Plains Hotel in Featherston, and an original 10 per cent touchtone bet.

The holder of that ticket is about the only person pleased with the late scratchings at Trentham on Saturday.

Those scratchings meant that 10 per cent share turned into a 30 per cent share, the dividend climbing from $100,000 to $300,000.

The next Triple Trio will be at Trentham this Saturday.