Call of the Card @ Melbourne Cup

Comments

• bookielover    2,709 posts

  November 2025 edited November 2025

  There have only been 4 bookies for the last 10 years. Back in the 1980's when I used to go to the Victorian Club, there were up to 10 bookies. This at a time when we still had up to 180-200 on course for the carnival. The bookies were only rails operators. The other 10-12 rails bookicould have worked at the call of the card, including my old man, but didn't like the low percentage bet there. 

  
  

  Yesterday they bet to 101.2%. There was more money bet there than had been in a long time.

  
  

  The mystery to me is that one of them was Natalie Hinkley from Swiftbet taking bets to lose a million. She's working as  a bookie on track at tracks at non tab meetings in far North Queensland against the likes of forum contributor Bushbookie. Can't work that out. Speaking of which, so does former Sydney rails bookie and Blue Bet owner Michael Sullivan. He's working at those meetings, Home Hill Roma etc this for a bloke who used to lay them to lose thousands. Apparently it's because he can't get a license to work at Eagle Farm and Doomben. 

  
  

  As my old man said, it's a disease curable by death only. 

  SLIPPERGOLDEN, thefalcon, savethegame likes this post.

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• AbbysAce    703 posts

  November 2025

  bookielover said:

  There have only been 4 bookies for the last 10 years. Back in the 1980's when I used to go to the Victorian Club, there were up to 10 bookies. This at a time when we still had up to 180-200 on course for the carnival. The bookies were only rails operators. The other 10-12 rails bookicould have worked at the call of the card, including my old man, but didn't like the low percentage bet there. 

  
  

  Yesterday they bet to 101.2%. There was more money bet there than had been in a long time.

  
  

  The mystery to me is that one of them was Natalie Hinkley from Swiftbet taking bets to lose a million. She's working as  a bookie on track at tracks at non tab meetings in far North Queensland against the likes of forum contributor Bushbookie. Can't work that out. Speaking of which, so does former Sydney rails bookie and Blue Bet owner Michael Sullivan. He's working at those meetings, Home Hill Roma etc this for a bloke who used to lay them to lose thousands. Apparently it's because he can't get a license to work at Eagle Farm and Doomben. 

  
  

  As my old man said, it's a disease curable by death only. 

  Who were the 4 bookies there?

  +1 -1
• bookielover    2,709 posts

  November 2025 edited November 2025

  Chris Lester who is in partnership with a bookie Michael Harrak. Harrack was a Westpak bank manager, gave it away to become a bookie, and let's just say that he went from being a big bettor to a very small one, until he took in Lester as his partner. Lester is the face of the partnership. He bet the 3.5 million to five hundred thousand on the basis that he had a bet back arrangement with Ladbrokes. I don't know how that arrangement came into being. Lester is chairman of the Victorian bookmakers association.

  
  

  Bookie number two was Lyndon Cleary a rails bookie. His brother Rod was a rails bookie but went corporate. Bookie number three was Natalie Hinkley from

  Swiftbet. She was taking bets from punters to win a million or in her case to lose a million. I don't know the full story about that company but she actually works on track at the non tab meetings in far North Queensland.

  Finally Robbie Warehouse who was only there for name recognition. He bet the smallest of them all and really shouldn't be there.

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  +1 -1