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The Kid, God and The
Quaddie 
The Story of Australia’s
Favourite Bet Type - the Quadrella.
The following article ‘The Kid, God and the
Quaddie – The Story of Australia’s Favourite Bet Type’ appeared in the 2010 summer edition of Australia’s
top thoroughbred racing publication Horse Racing Australia magazine.
At around 4.30 p.m. on Saturday
afternoons, at the track, in pubs and clubs, in TABs and tin sheds, in
gardens and on bowling greens all over the country,
ears are tuned to transistor radios, eyed are fixed on screens and you can
sense the feeling of expectation. Then following the muffled sound of a race
call, you will sometimes hear the triumphal cheer – ‘I got the Quadrella!’.
Australian
punters’ affection for the Quadrella is reflected in the fact that it is the
only bet type with it’s own nickname – ‘Quaddie’ - and just about everyone is
familiar with and uses this nickname in preference to it’s full name - as you
tend to do for someone or something that you like - and who wouldn’t like a
Quaddie? Winning a big Quaddie is an Australian dream. Some like the winner
of the $1.1 million dollar Quadrella on the Flemington races on Emirates day in
2007 live the dream and can say ‘ta ta’ to their tyrant bosses and any little
outstanding debts they may have like the mortgage.
However,
the Quadrella doesn’t usually deliver such life changing fortunes. It's not
that big and brash. It’s more subtle and that’s part of it’s appeal. It will
give you a collect of four or five hundred dollars and if you’re lucky a mini
wind fall of several thousand - and sometimes more. Such wins come in handy and are always
appreciated.
The
Victorian TAB introduced the Quadrella on July 1st 1972. As every
punter knows the bet type requires you to pick the winners of four races
nominated by the TAB at a race meeting. The original Quadrella was a strange
bet type. It bracketed runners together – i.e. horse numbers 9 &10 were
bracketed together as a single selection as were numbers 8 & 11, 7 &
12 etc. This odd format evolved only because of the limitations of the TAB’s
computing systems.
Back
then, the TAB’s master computer was housed in a sealed off, glass walled, air
conditioned environment as big as a tennis court. On race days it whirred and
whizzed and operating lights flashed as it carried out all manner of
complicated maths. If something went amiss and the computer failed to
function, it was no problem, because on the floor above there was an exact
replica of the computer that would take the baton and crank up and carry on
all the whirring and whizzing and mathematical calculations. The computer and
its back up were state of the art and could do just about anything – except
provide a Quadrella without bracketed numbers. So the bracketed Quadrella,
despite being a strange and somewhat ugly baby, became accepted and was
eventually embraced by punters.
The
bracketed Quadrella continued to provide punters with nice collects and tales
of ‘the one that got away’ until 1986 when ‘The Kid’ arrived at the TAB. The
Kid came from the land of advertising on St. Kilda Rd. which was just a stone’s
throw away from the TAB’s headquarters. He was taken on by the TAB’s
Marketing Department as Product Development Manager – his mission – to create
new and attractive bet types for punters.
From his
fourth floor office with picture windows
overlooking the beautiful Albert Park lake, The Kid went to work. He’d turn
his office chair to get inspiration from the view, and then swing back 180
degrees and put his inspirations to paper. In the same department was a TAB
stalwart by the name of Bob Bourke. Bourke was a large man who moved slowly
but he had a mind as quick as a bear trap. He knew everything there was to
know about the TAB and bet types. The Kid and Big Bob collaborated and were to develop ideas that would herald the start of a whole new era of racing and sports
betting.
With the new ideas there was always
a stumbling block - new bet types at the TAB usually took years to get to the
market place because of all the computer software that had to be developed
and tested. The response The Kid got to his ideas from the computer department was invariably along the lines of “That’ll take three years, that’ll take six
years, that’ll take ten years”. The Kid thought computers were supposed
to speed things up. In this case they were slowing them down.
The TAB’s Marketing Director Maurice Sheehan called The Kid into
his office. Normally a jovial man, Sheehan had his serious face on. Sheehan told
him that TAB turnover was flat, the chiefs were unhappy and the natives
(punters) were restless for something new. Sheehan said there was an urgent
need to fast track a new bet type – to get it to the market sooner rather
than later.
The Kid
was originally from South Australia
where they had an interesting bet type
called the Fourtrella. It was basically a Quadrella without the brackets.
Each runner stood and could be selected on it’s own merit. In his Uni days in
Adelaide, The
Kid punted to help pay his way through his studies. His dad took him to the
races and introduced him to acquaintances like Bart Cummings - and to the
Fourtrella. Soon he developed a fascination for Fourtrellas – and a happy knack of winning them.
In fact he was such a regular in the collect queues that the ladies at his
local TAB christened him the ‘Fourtrella
Kid’. This was later to become the ‘Quadrella
Kid’.
The Kid
told Big Bob about his idea for a new bet type based on the Fourtrella. Bob thought
about it for while, and then like Caesar to his gladiator gave the ‘thumbs up’.
The battle to get the new bet type to the market place had only just begun.
The concept was soon presented to senior management in the board room. All
the head of the department fat cats sat around the board room table and
lapped up the idea. The question was asked of the head of the computing
department “How long would it take to get the new bet type up and running?”.
The bearded computer boffin thought and pondered. The audience of Tabbys held
their collective breaths and awaited his answer. He said “We couldn’t do it in
any less than six”. “What - six years!” uttered The Kid. “No – six months” was
the reply. The relief around the table was audible. A recent upgrade to the
TAB’s computer meant that the unbracketed Quadrella was now a possibility. Punters
would have their first new bet type to play with in over a decade.
On getting
the all clear from the computer people, Harry Leggett an advertising man from
the family who ran the famous ballroom of the same name, The Kid, Big Bob and
others planned the massive marketing launch and TAB agents all over the state
were trained to handle the new bet type. Management factions within the TAB
had differing ideas about what to do with the bracketed Quadrella. Some wanted
to keep it whilst others believed the old Quadrella format was antiquated and
that new bet type would be more attractive to punters and would suck up its
pool. If the bracketed Quadrella’s pool was low, it couldn’t swim. After much
debate, some a little heated and some white hot, the TAB’s senior brass
including General Manager Jim Carroll made a decision – the bracketed Quadrella would
remain and the new bet type would be known as the Quadxtra and would operate
on different races.
Eventually
everything was in place for the launch. Amongst much hoopla and publicity, the
Quadxtra was introduced to punters on the Moonee Valley
races on a grey, overcast day, on May 16th 1987. The hope of the TAB was that
the first Quadxtra would pay a large dividend to give the new bet type a real
boost early doors.
Oddly enough, the majority of the people employed at the TAB were not interested in having a bet. The Kid was an exception. His work getting the Quadxtra to the market
place done, he began work on the form for the Moonee Valley
meeting. Early on the Saturday afternoon, at his local TAB in Port Melbourne,
The Kid filled in his Quadxtra ticket and waited. The first leg was run and
won by an 8/1 pop. The second leg began the realization of the TAB’s hope of a hefty dividend. A distance event for
plodding stayers, it was taken out by a hurdler at odds of over 55/1. The
third leg went to a 6/1 chance. The Kid looked at his ticket – he was alive
in the last leg.
In the final leg of the Quadxtra The Kid’s hopes rested upon a single
horse named ‘The Prizefighter’. The approximate dividend was announced over the radio –
it was a small fortune - $15,500 – equal to about $30,000 in today’s money.
The Kid quickly headed home and told his missus about the unfolding events.
His other half, a born and bred Catholic said she would pray to God for the
right result. The Kid welcomed any help he could get at that late stage. The
horses lined up at the starting gates for the 1000 metre scamper. In just
over sixty seconds The Kid would know if he still retained his magic touch
with the bet type. The field charged out barriers at the 1000 metre chute and
thundered towards the home turn. Like big Joe Bugner fighting Muhamad Ali, The
Prizefighter was soon in trouble. He looked beaten, boxed in between runners
with nowhere to go as the field entered the short Moonee Valley
home stretch. The Kid looked solemnly at his missus. All hope seemed gone.
Then in a flash, jockey Rod Griffiths seemed to size up the situation and got
The Prizefighter up from the canvas. He forced the horse
through a gap that was barely there and urged him on to hit the front within
the shadows of the post to score an unlikely victory.
That
night The Kid booked a limousine and then invited family and friends on a
sightseeing tour around Melbourne
whilst they sipped French Champagne. Over the Westgate bridge they took in
splendid views of the city lights before arriving outside Maxim’s restaurant
in South Yarra for a night of French cuisine
and celebration. They began with an entree of escargot – The Kid hadn’t eaten
snails since he was a 4 year old playing in his garden in Adelaide. More rich French food followed
and the Veuve Clicquot flowed. The Kid was living every Australian punter’s
dream of the big Quaddie win.
The
following Monday morning The Kid went back to work. The mood was very upbeat
at the TAB. The Quadxtra had been launched successfully and the dividend was
a large one ensuring plenty of punter interest and publicity. Big Bob
jokingly asked The Kid if he got the Quadxtra on the weekend. “Sure did” The
Kid replied. In most cultures “Sure did” would be taken to mean just that,
but in the Australian idiom it was
understood to mean the opposite. Consequently, no
one at the TAB knew The Kid, who was the main driving force behind the new
bet type, also won a large part of the pool that day.
Predictions
that the bracketed Quadrella would fall out of favour with punters soon
proved to be correct. Their preference was with the Quadxtra. The decision
was made. The bracketed Quadrella would be discontinued and the Quadxtra
would take its place and its name. It would no longer be an extra but the
star of the show.
Since
then the Quadrella’s popularity has grown. Rather than only operating on the
main race meeting in Melbourne,
it now operates on every meeting, every day of the week at the gallops, trots
and dogs. It’s popularity saw it spread into N.S.W. in 2004 and into
Queensland in 2007, whilst in South Australia, where it all began, the Fourtrella
is now also known as the Quadrella, and its still ‘got legs’ - four of them
in fact, and punters there and all around the country still try to pick out
four winners in the hope of one day living an Australian dream.
www.quaddie.com
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