Group of 12 Wagga mates land slot in all-new $700,000 Four Pillars

Wagga punters had a windfall at the Kosciuszko draw earlier this month with eight winning tickets originating from the city, including one TAB account holder from Tatton.

That happened to be Wagga businessman Jackson Oehm, who purchased the ticket on behalf of his punters club.

The group of 12 Wagga men are now studying the form ahead of the new feature race, to be held at Randwick on October 30.

"I didn't really know about the race," Oehm revealed.

"We knew about the Kosciuszko draw and were watching that and nothing happened. The Farrer drew their couple, but then I got a call from Racing NSW. Your ticket has been drawn for the Four Pillars race, I thought someone was having a lend. Then I saw the list of ticket holders and saw that someone was Tatton and thought that's us.

"It probably wasn't for a couple of days when I got talking with the rest of the boys that I realised what it could be and how big it could be. It should be good."

The Four Pillars is a new $700,000 race designed for 'midway' trainers. It was originated due to success of Kosciuszko ticket sales and works on the same concept, where slot holders must negotiate with connections to have a horse represent them in the race.

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Oehm said the punters club had purchased Kosciuzko tickets for the last couple of years and were excited by the prospect of having a Four Pillars runner.

"The phone has just been going mad for the last 10 days. We're all pretty pumped," he said.

"It will be a bit better if we can get there and watch. We've made a few plans already to have a things in place if we can go. It should be awesome, everyone's pretty pumped I think."

Not only will the punters club have their own runner in the Four Pillars, they are also members of the William Farrer Hotel's Super Punters Club (SPC). The SPC drew two slots in both the Kosciuszko and Four Pillars.

Oehm said the group has already drawn up a shortlist of potential horses, with nominations for the race to be released on Friday.

The conditions of the race, a Benchmark 68 Handicap (1500m) for midway horses, makes selection difficult.

"We've thrown a few options around and have a bit of a shortlist," Oehm said.

"We started off with a pretty lengthy list, talking to people and making a few phone calls. I think a few ran last week that we're still watching. That kind of narrowed it down but we've still got a shortlist now which hopefully by the end of this week, early next week, we can try to lock something in so we know where we're going.

"It's a lucky dip really, in terms of finding a horse that's suitable but it's all in the fun of it I suppose."

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