The latest instalment of Gosford Race Club’s popular tipping competition may just have been the most thrilling yet.
It came as no surprise given that the contestants were playing for a fully-catered lunch for six at Royal Randwick for the Championsips — a prize valued at $4,500.
But it’s how the competition panned out that had everyone on the edge of their seats, with a countback needed to separate the top two contestants who remarkably finished on a tied score!
Peter Banbury came from the clouds to claim the win, after making the Kim Waugh-trained Great News his “big bet” in the last.
Saving his big bet (in this case a $50 win bet) until the last race was a stroke of genius by Peter, after Great News booted home to win by two lengths in the day’s feature race.
It ensured he finished on top of the pile with a score of 404.
However, it wasn’t quite as easy as that…
That’s because Kohei Himura also tipped Great News in the last, earning 44 points for a regular win bet, taking him to a grand total of 404 points.
In other words, he finished on the exact same score as Peter Banbury.
You can bet there were plenty of questions in the room regarding the outcome.
After the countback Peter was declared the winner.
However, with the runner’s up prize being a fully-catered day at Gosford races for 10 people, coming second wasn’t such a bitter pill to swallow for Kohei.
Taking out the third prize of a TAB suite package at Bankwest Stadium was Christopher Oaks who went with the alias ‘Oaksie’ on the day.
Oaksie produced the classic ‘come from behind’ fairytale story to grab the envied third prize.
After failing to register a point in the first three tipping events of the day, Christopher flew into contention with a wet sail, scoring strongly in three of the final four events on the card.
Landing his big bet on the last race winner secured him a podium finish as he plans to enjoy the spoils of an NRL game with his friends and family at Bankwest Stadium.
After another raging success this time, punters will be counting down the days until next horse racing tip comp at the Entertainment Grounds.