LADY BETTOR

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 119, 10 August 1927, Page 12

LADY BETTOR

BACKED RAWHETU STARTED AT LONG ODDS Settling up revealed the identity of the person who mysteriously backed Rawhetu for big stakes at Rosehill on Saturday week, when a section of the crowd hooted and jeered as this winner was led back to scale. She was the mysterious Lady Bettor, Mrs. Vandenberg, who thinks nothing of putting £SOO on a horse. The fact that Rawhetu was backed

at double figure odds for big wagers, despite a lamentable failure the week before, when he was a public favourite, no doubt rankled in the minds of those who stood round the enclosure and said vile things. But how were the hooters to know that Ms. Vandenberg-backed the horse “off her own bat” and without stable information. GEORGE PRICE'S £2 George Price (former trainer of Windbag) thought so little of Rawhetu’s chance that he put £2 on him. Yet Rawhetu is in his stable. The friend to whom he entrusted this £2 decided to have a mild plunge and took £3OO to £24. But Mrs. Vandenberg, knowing nothing of these modest transactions, “thought” Rawhetu would win. And that is enough for a woman punter. So she took £I,OOO from Jim Hackett. junr., £9OO from Sid Baker, and £I,OOO from another bookmaker, making a total of £2,900 on the horse to win. Mrs. Vandenberg is credited with having run her betting transactions into a five figure sum in the past year. It was £IO,OOO won on Aniounis, which first carried her into the realms of bis winners.