AN EASY WAY TO LOSELast Saturday evening One Last Dance looked a genuine threat to the favourite for the Blue Diamond.The TABs kept her safe at $7 behind the short Sepoy (far too short for this race a fortnight away and no money-back guarantee).My best racing pal has Sepoy at $7. I hope for his sake the horse bolts in.But the Blue Diamond is a cow of a race for beating the odds, so I'll just sit on my hands and watch.One Last Dance was offered on Monday and again early on Tuesday morning at $9 w

AN EASY WAY TO LOSE

Last Saturday evening One Last Dance looked a genuine threat to the favourite for the Blue Diamond.

The TABs kept her safe at $7 behind the short Sepoy (far too short for this race a fortnight away and no money-back guarantee).

My best racing pal has Sepoy at $7. I hope for his sake the horse bolts in.

But the Blue Diamond is a cow of a race for beating the odds, so I'll just sit on my hands and watch.

One Last Dance was offered on Monday and again early on Tuesday morning at $9 with at least two corporates. Let's be magnanimous and say they didn't have an inkling that Peter Moody was going to take her out that morning.

But she didn't do the usual preparatory run you might have anticipated from a filly with a big race in her sights.

And later on that same morning, guess what?

Yes, she has been announced as being back in the paddock and not racing again as a two year old.

It's a hard game, and punters, trainers, jockeys and bookies all play ducks and drakes in situations like this. But it would be interesting to know what sort of money went onto One Last Dance between Monday and early Tuesday. I don't hold out any hope that bets made (say) late Monday or early Tuesday will be refunded, but it would be a nice and generous action.

Hoofnote: One major concern has announced a refund on two sudden withdrawals from three major races. That's a nice touch. I don't know if they're extending their generosity to the case I cited above, but that would be equally nice. I do know, through a close punting acquaintance, that the question has been put to the person who made the announcement; so far there's been no reply.