A horse that has already developed a cult following without a single race start will make her highly-anticipated debut at Murrumbidgee Turf Club on Friday.
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Four Beers Please will have her first start in the opening race at Wagga, the Bidgee Pumps & Irrigation 2YO Maiden Plate (1000m).
Four Beers Please is no ordinary filly.
Purchased by corporate bookmaker Sportsbet for $20,000 from the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, the Star Witness filly has about 12,000 owners.
Sportsbet offered ‘ownership’ in the horse for all it’s customers to register for and the interest was unbelievable and had to be capped at just under 12,000.
Sportsbet ran competitions across their social media pages for naming the filly and also to design the silks.
After plenty of fun, Four Beers Please will debut for Canberra trainers Barbara Joseph and Paul Jones in a six-horse field at Wagga on Friday.
Simon Miller takes the ride.
“If we can’t win a maiden at Wagga on a Friday, we’ll have to abort plans for the Slipper and Everest,” Sportsbet spokesman Christian Jantzen said tongue in cheek.
“We’re not expecting much, just to win the Slipper and race in the Everest.”
The 12,000 owners do not share in the prizemoney but if the horse wins, they will be rewarded in various ways, including being flown to enjoy a raceday as the horse’s connections.
As for the debut appearance at Wagga, Sportsbet have offered any registered owners who make it to the MTC, free entry and four beers.
“We put it out there, for anyone in Wagga, or that could get to Wagga that we would put a party on for them,” Jantzen said.
“Already we’ve had about 40 people say they are going.
“She was bought cheap so she’s the little Aussie battler that’s there for the people, basically.”
Four Beers Please has opened as the $3.00 second favourite in Sportsbet’s market for Friday’s race on the back of a second placing in a recent Canberra trial.
“She should receive plenty of support and if all the owners get behind her she could become one of the best backed horses in Australian history,” Jantzen said.
Nick Olive’s two-year-old, Sizzling Belle, opened the $1.80 favourite. All six horses are having their first start.
