Downturn fails to dampen Melbourne Cup betting
Updated
The global financial crisis has failed to deter people from having a bet on one of the world's most popular horse races, the Melbourne Cup.
Irish horse Septimus and American stayer Mad Rush are drawing the most support for tomorrow's race.
Bookmaker Alan Eskander says bets in the lead-up to the Cup are up an estimated 20 per cent on last year.
"The Melbourne Cup is a race that we've been betting on for maybe 12 months, so a lot of our [betting] came before the global financial crisis, so therefore maybe the figures are a little bit flattering," he said.
"But in the last week we haven't noticed a downturn in betting at all, in fact we're sort of up on all of last year's figures."
