Kerry Packer and Horse Racing

Kerry Packer was, without doubt, the biggest punter in Australian racing history. He started betting on the horses as a boy, and retained his love of punting at the racecourse until the end of his life. Overseas, Kerry Packer loved to play the casino tables, but in Australia the Casinos weren’t big enough to handle his stakes and his biggest punts were reserved for the racetrack.

As Packer’s wealth increased over the years, so did his bets. The Costigan Commission report included the fact that Packer had paid $4 million to a bookie during an 18-month period in 1980-81, and had only received back $1.2 million – a loss of nearly $3 million.

In the late 70’s, “The Big Man”, as he was known in racing circles, would descend on a race course with a number of “gofers” and a larger number of hangers-on, all running around trying to overhear his instructions. When Packer gave the word, the gofers would run to the bookies – trying to place the bets simultaneously, because Packer’s bets were so large that they would immediately make a horse unbackable, as the odds dropped steeply as the bookies attempted to balance their books. Once the bets were on, though, Packer was an oddly unemotional bystander, rarely getting excited over the finishing line.

One of Packer’s most famous betting losses came at the1987 Golden Slipper race at Rosehill. Betting $2 million on his horse Christmas Tree, he saw it come in fourth and that was not the only loss of the day. Bookies apparently held a world record figure of $20 million in their satchels, and Packer’s losses amounted to a staggering $7 million.

Only two weeks later and Packer backed Myocard to beat his own horse Major Drive, this time at Randwick. Unfortunately, the favored Myocard, who had earlier won the Tancred Stakes that year, also came in fourth – and Major Drive won with odds of 7-1. This was just the start of one of Kerry Packer’s largest betting sprees, which is rumored to have been in the order of $55 million. The bets were so large they can be back-calculated from the overall betting figure turnover from AJC. By the last day of the Carnival, Packer was down $28 million to Sydney bookie McHugh. Packer then persuaded McHugh to raise his previous limit from $5 million to $10 million – and proceeded to pick three straight winners. McHugh turned in his bookmaker’s licence a few days later.

Packer’s legendary race betting continued well into the 1990’s. Another famous punt was backing his own horse Mahogany in the 1993 VRC Derby. He also successfully backed Jezabeel in the 1998 Melbourne Cup, and the odds went from 14-1 when he placed his bet, down to 6-1 when the race started a few minutes later – and Jezabeel came through too.

Packer wasn’t at a racetrack to socialize and mix with the cream of horse racing society. It’s even said that he was no particular fan of horse racing itself – the magic of the race was all in the thrill of the punt for him.