Germany’s ‘Paul the Octopus’ attracted worldwide attention as an animal oracle due to accurate predictions during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
But meet a pseudo greyhound tipster – more omen bet – who has filled Paul’s mighty tentacles!
Yellow And Black, trained at Mount Moriac by Kevin Ward, scored on every day Richmond won during this year’s AFL finals series – including the Grand Final!
In fact, he won at Horsham 25 minutes before the ‘big dance’ commenced at the Gabba in Brisbane.
Here’s how a greyhound racing ‘omen’ unfolded over three successive weeks:
October 9
Healesville 350m – 1st Yellow And Black ($7.40) – 19.75sec
Semi-final (Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast) – Richmond 12.8.80 d St Kilda 6.13.49
October 16
Healesville 350m – 1st Yellow And Black ($1.30F) – 19.53sec
Preliminary final (Adelaide Oval) – Richmond 6.10.46 d Port Adelaide 6.4.40
October 24
Horsham 410m – 1st Yellow And Black ($5.10) – 23.74sec
Grand Final (Gabba, Brisbane) – Richmond 12.9.81 d Geelong 7.8.50
WATCH: ‘Omen bet’ Yellow And Black (6) ‘kicks a goal’ at Horsham on AFL Grand Final day.
“October 9 at Healesville was the start of it. I thought Yellow And Black was a good thing and told a few mates to take a multi with him and Richmond,” Ward said. “And then a week later I said to them, ‘you’ve got to go again’.”
But Ward admitted he wasn’t as confident with Yellow And Black on AFL Grand Final day.
A self-confessed ‘Tigers maniac’, Ward has been a lifelong Richmond supporter. “I remember going down to the ‘G’, as young as five, with my mum (Mavis) and brother (Daryl). My favourite player was Royce Hart who wore the same numbered guernsey as ‘Dusty’ (No. 4).”
Ward also owns and trains Tiger’s Twenty, who he named last year. “Some people thought I was getting ahead of myself,” he quipped.
A giveaway, Yellow And Black (Aug ’18 My Bro Fabio x Daisy Lara) only started racing in late June. He’s won five races from 15 starts and $5425 in prizemoney.
Ward has also been in hot form. He snared five winners at Warrnambool on September 28 and followed up with four winners at the same track two weeks later.
And on Tuesday he saluted with Tiger Blurton ($13.80) – named after Ashley Blurton, an Indigenous footballer who played for Richmond in the late 1990s.
