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By Greg Prichard

Blake Palmer was just hoping to win a steak or two and a few sausages, but instead he ended up with a shot at winning a five or even six-figure amount as a slot-holder in the $2 million The Kosciuszko.

The 32-year-old, who lives at Narrabri and works in agricultural research, was staying overnight in Coonabarabran on a work trip and went for a meal with a mate at the Imperial Hotel.

Blake Palmer with his winning Kosciuszko ticket. (Pic: Imperial Hotel Coonabarabran)

Palmer, who readily admits to knowing nothing about racing, thought he was taking part in a typical pub meat-tray raffle when he spent $20 on four tickets.

When his ticket number was called out as one of the winners he went up to the organiser to collect his anticipated prize and was initially disappointed to discover he hadn’t entered a meat-tray raffle at all.

Palmer recalled the moment this way: “No steaks, no sausages . . . The guy gave me this receipt and I said, ‘What’s this?’ He tried to tell me and I said, ‘No, no, what about the meat tray?’

“The guy explained that I’d won tickets in a draw for The Kosciuszko. The receipt had ‘TAB’ on it and all of these details. I think there were a couple of winners in the raffle and we each won $125 worth of Kosciuszko tickets.

“But I didn’t understand it at the time and I wasn’t paying much attention. The guy said ‘Are you going to register?’ and I was, like, ‘No, what do you mean?’ and he said ‘I’ll do it for you then’, which was good because I wouldn’t have known what to do.

“I know now that registering was important, because it meant Racing NSW could track you down straight away if you won a slot.”

Not that Palmer was banking on winning a slot in The Kosciuszko and being able to pick a horse to run for him in the rich event for country-trained horses over 1200 metres at Randwick on October 18.

“A representative from Racing NSW contacted me when I won a slot, but at first I had no idea what they were talking about,” he said.

“He said to me ‘You’re one of the lucky slot winners’ and I said ‘Righto’ and he said ‘Are you excited?’ and I said ‘I don’t really know mate, I don’t know what it’s all about’.

“He had to explain it to me and then at the end of the day at work I checked my emails and saw all this stuff I’d been sent about The Kosciuszko and I thought ‘Wow, this is big’.”

That’s when Palmer, despite his zero knowledge about racing, knew he needed to get on his horse, find a horse to run in The Kosciuszko for him and do a deal on a prizemoney split with the horse’s connections.

“Racing NSW gives all of the slot-holders the same information, with contact details for trainers and everything, and you go from there,” he said.

“I’m from Narrabri and Inverell is only a couple of hours away, so when I saw the horse Lisztomania was from Inverell I thought ‘That’s local enough, I’ll try that one’.

“I spoke to (Lisztomania’s trainer) Todd Payne and he was a great bloke and we were able to do a deal straight away. I don’t know how to play the game, I just wanted it settled so I didn’t have to think about it anymore.

“After that I read up a lot more on the horse and realised how Todd had set him up for the race and I thought ‘I haven’t done too bad here’.”

Payne said he and Lisztomania’s owners were delighted to have Palmer along for the ride.

“Blake was great to deal with,” Payne said.

Lisztomania (inside) runs second in the Country Championships Final (Pic: Bradley Photos).

“We’ll be meeting up with him in Sydney and hopefully we’ll get a great result. I couldn’t be happier with the horse. He’s going great in his work.”

Palmer said he had been to a few country race meetings with friends, but had never been to Randwick or any other city racecourse.

He’s now looking forward to a big weekend in Sydney for The Kosciuszko.

“I realise it’s a chance to earn a lot of money if you’re horse runs well, so I’m quite happy they didn’t give me the sausages now, 100 per cent,” he said.

“Even if your horse runs last I think you get about $5000.

“But, honestly, I’m not thinking about the money. It’s not about that for me. It’s really about the whole experience.

"I’ll never get another chance to do something like this. For me, it’s all exciting and new.

“It’s going to be a pretty cool weekend. I’m going down to Sydney for the race, with a few mates.

"The owners invited me out to dinner, so we’re doing that on the Friday night and going to the races on the Saturday.”

Palmer added that his wife, Natasha, wouldn’t be coming to Sydney for the race but had issued him with an instruction.

“She doesn’t want to partake in the festivities to the extent that I might,” he laughed.

“But she said ‘If you only end up with the five grand make sure you bring something back for me’.

“It’s going to be a great day. I’m not a punter, but I’ll probably have a few bets for the fun of it.

“I’m just looking forward to the experience. It’s a bloody unreal bit of luck to be involved in something like this.”

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