Cancer-hit Daniel’s in for bet and beer
The Boys Get Paid syndicate will bet a staggering $500,000 together at Ellerslie tonight, but for one special member the money will matter little.
Just being with his mates and having a beer will be the normal he craves.
Daniel, who is keeping his surname private, found out this week his cancer has taken a turn for the worse and doctors are stopping his treatment.
He says, matter-of-factly, the prognosis for his acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is likely terminal.
The 30-year-old Aucklander was diagnosed in September but isn’t going to let the shock of that news stop him going to the glamour Karaka Million meeting tonight which features two $1 million races.
“To me, going to the races and having a beer and a bet with my mates is normal and that is what I want right now,” says Daniel.
“I have been following the Boys Get Paid the last couple of years and I will be up there at the top of the stand with all of them, probably removed to the side a bit rather than in the middle of it.
“I’ll be the one with the surgical grade face mask on under my Boys Get Paid mask.
“I have to be a little careful because I have a very low white blood cell count but after I got the news on Tuesday I went to the pub with some mates to have a beer.
“The doctors were a bit taken aback but really, what else am I supposed to do?”
Daniel won’t be short of mates tonight as the Boys Get Paid, a racing and punting group that started out as a Facebook page, will have around 800 of their tribe at the top of the public stand.
They will be even noisier than usual as they are on track to have more than $500,000 in their punters club which they will collectively bet on the six races.
BGP founder Luke Kemeys and two other members are charged with making the crucial punting decisions and have already placed two bets totalling $150,000 to get the chants going.
They have had $50,000 on River Falls to win race one and $50,000 each-way on Jodelin Gal in race two. You can keep up with their other bets on their app or the TAB website.
Kemeys once placed $96,000 of BGP punters club money on Probabeel when she won a Karaka Million race and the reaction had Ellerslie sounding like an English football match.
“We have had some big wins and some big losses but for 99 per cent of the members it is just fun,” says Kemeys.