As has been well documented, the Flemington meeting last Saturday, on paper, looked like a really good meeting, however big problems emanated from a major hail storm that hit the track just after the running of one of the Group 1 features – the time honoured Newmarket Handicap.
It’s history now that the last three races on the card were postponed and will now form part of next Saturday’s meeting – namely the Australian Guineas for 3YO’s, the Australian Cup at WFA and the Melbourne Food and Wine, which is a Group 3 race for fillies and mares.
The postponement of the meeting has obviously left quite a few punters in a quandary as to what happens to their bets, so rather than keep replying to them all, I contacted Brad Tamer from Unitab to find out what definitive decisions Unitab had made regarding the bets.
As a pre-cursor to Brad Tamer’s reply, here are two emails typical of those received Saturday night and Sunday.
The first one is from punter Michael McLucas from Holland Park in Brisbane who wrote:
“Just interested to hear your views on the TAB deciding that all bets placed on the Australian Cup (and Guineas for that matter) yesterday will stand until the race is run next week.
For mine I think it's ridiculous. Going into Saturday, I was all over Shocking so was going to back him off the map. Then he came out so I backed Littorio. The outcome from that yesterday is obvious. But now I am faced with the situation where Shocking will end up being in the final field if his abscess bursts, and I will want to back him. And I am not the most wealthy person in the world, so I can't afford to back more than 1 horse in the race if I am having a big whack at it. So I want my Littorio bet refunded so I can back Shocking. But I can't have it back!!!! My bet stands!!! I would never have backed Littorio if Shocking was in the field. I think it would be in everyone's best interests if all bets were refunded, because if someone backed any horse other than Shocking and still think that horse can win, they can just place that bet again anyway with the same stake! I think it's ludicrous”.
Michael then sent a second email which read:
“I should clarify though - since I emailed you the first time, I have gone up to the TAB on Logan Road who actually refunded the bet. But by the sounds of what they were saying on Racing Review this morning, punters in New South Wales wouldn't have been refunded on the same situation. They are blaming the New South Wales government and not TAB Sportsbet. Not exactly sure what the situation is up here in Queensland at the moment”.
The second one is from John Pearce from Bridgeman Downs in Brisbane and it arrived Saturday afternoon and reads:
“Weeks ago, as fixed odds, I’d backed two horses that were supposed to run earlier today at Flemington, one being Denman in the Australian Guineas and the other being Heart of Dreams in the Australian Cup. Does the bet stand, until they race next Saturday, or do I just get my money back”?
Unitab’s Brad Tamer advised the following:
"All totalisator bets on Flemington races 7, 8, 9 on Saturday are subject to a refund.
Final field fixed price bets (i.e. bets placed after final acceptances) are also subject to a refund while fixed price bets placed before the final field (i.e. All-In bets) on the Australian Cup and Australian Guineas was announced, stand.
Trust this clarifies what happens with the variety of bets types offered by UNiTAB on the postponed races".
