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By Greg Prichard

John Hurley and his mates were the lucky ones.

After Front Page had been scratched from The Kosciuszko in 2020 and ’21 because of injury, when the horse finally ran in the race in 2022 they were the winning slot-holders and it was a hell of a big day out.

“A few of the blokes were in the pub having a few drinks and they decided they’d like to buy some tickets in The Kosciuszko,” Hurley said.

“They spoke to me about it and we brought in a few others and we ended up with 10 of us putting in $50 each.

“I bought the $500 worth of tickets and the next thing you know, you wouldn’t believe it but we won a slot!

Kim Mulligan, Jim Cullen, Brian Cannen, Wayne Kaye, Mark Laing and John Hurley - some of the 2022 Kosciuszko winning syndicate. (Pic: Bradley Photos)

“One of the blokes knew (Canberra trainer) Keith Dryden, so first we tried to get his horse Handle The Truth. But it was already taken.

“He suggested Front Page, so I gave (trainer) Geoff Duryea a ring. Geoff said, ‘Yeah, he’s available, 60-40 split, we’ll do all the work and you blokes can have 40 per cent of the money’.

“It seemed like a good deal for a good horse, so we took it and it turned out to be the right choice.”

The $2 million The Kosciuszko will be run over 1200 metres at Randwick on October 19.

Punters can go in the draw to have a horse run for them in The Kosciuszko by purchasing sweepstakes tickets at $5 each via TAB through agencies, the TAB app, pubs and clubs and at race meetings until September 9.

The 14 slot-holders will be drawn on September 11 and they will then be able to do a deal on a prizemoney split with the connections of eligible runners trained in the NSW country or ACT.

Hurley, who lives at Karabar in Queanbeyan, said nearly all of the syndicate members made the trip to Randwick for the big race.

“A couple of the guys couldn’t make it because they were away, but most of us were there and we watched it from the owners’ enclosure opposite the finishing post,” he said.

“Big day, huge crowd, bloody tremendous. We stayed overnight at Coogee and had a great night.

“It was about $33,000 each that we earned as slot-holders. We backed it to win as well, had a few bob on it.

“It was the first year for our syndicate. We tried again last year and did no good, but we’ll have another go this year.

“Same 10 people, $50 each. Pretty painless, really. I think it’ll be a standing thing every year.

“My wife and I had bought some tickets before 2022 and I’m sure some of the other blokes had done that as well, but we had nothing organised until 2022.

“We’ve won a slot spending $500 on tickets before, so no sense changing the amount. You’re either going to be lucky or you’re not and I’ve heard of people winning slots after just buying a couple of tickets.

“It’s a pretty big lottery to win and it was a great to share it with a bunch of old mates.

“Some of the blokes are around 70 or older and are retired. I’m 64 and I’m still driving a truck. Got to work, got to keep feeding the dogs and the chickens or they’ll get cranky with me!”

Buy your $5 tickets in The Kosciuszko here