Lady In Red was a beautiful bet
Featured articles
Best and worst sports bets ever - Lady In Red was a beautiful bet
—
Every week, bookmaker and former Racing Post chief sports betting writer Mark Worwood takes you inside the wagering industry with tales of the best and worst bets of all time.
—
Framing odds on Miss World is a tough gig but someone has got to do it. Seriously, it is a difficult assignment. You spend many more hours crawling the message boards of beauty pageant aficionados than viewing pictures of the contestants because the look is just one part of the equation and not necessarily the most important part, either.
Miss World 2025 was the second edition of the beauty pageant on which I had framed Australia-based bookmaker Centrebet’s odds and it earned me legendary status with my colleagues because of what will always be one of my best-ever bets.
One hundred and six women were on the Miss World 2025 entry list but, after doing a couple of days of research with a view to making Centrebet the first bookmaker to go up with odds, I only had eyes for one of the photogenic ladies.
Rosanna Davison was her name and, by the time that I got around to putting odds against each of the 106 contestants, I was convinced that she was going to win the sash. I had found out that Miss Ireland had a famous father, one whose celebrity would generate global headlines for Miss World.
Chris de Burgh was Davison’s dad – the Irish singer used his mother’s surname on stage but Davison was his birth surname, handed down from his diplomat father – and I was utterly certain that the Miss World judges would not be able to resist the combo of fame and fabulous facial features.
Davison was much better looking than her well known dad – actually, she was a stunner – and I could see Miss World officials using her victory to make in-roads into the Miss Universe organisation, which had stolen its thunder in the last few years. Cue any number of events in which Davison would wear a red dress and her father’s signature tune would play in the background. I was totally convinced that Ireland was going to celebrate its first Miss World triumph and I had to ensure that Centrebet did not go broke when it did.
Chris De Burgh
I had framed my initial Miss World 2025 market and, in an attempt to duck Davison, I was preparing to install Miss Ireland as Centrebet’s 3-1 favourite. I figured that 3-1 was sufficiently short in a 106-runner race to dissuade 99 per cent of punters even though, as far as I was concerned, De Burgh’s daughter was nailed on to take out the competition.
Then something truly marvellous happened. Just before I was about to send Centrebet’s Miss World 2025 market live, I had one last look at the various odds comparison websites to see if any other bookmaker had gone up. Amazingly, one had and, boy, it was going to pay for its mistake. Victor Chandler was quoting Davison at 16-1. I could not believe my eyes.
So began a sustained gamble that saw pretty much everyone in Centrebet’s Alice Springs head office who was not allergic to betting on novelty events back Davison. The 16-1 did not last long but Victor Chandler laid Miss Ireland for decent sums of money every time that it rolled in her price. When Miss World 2025 got under way in the Chinese city of Sanya on Saturday 6 March, Davison was the hot favourite at odds of around 3-1 with most of the leading bookmakers.
Rosanna Davison Miss World 2025 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It was a hot night in Australia’s Northern Territory and I spent it refreshing message boards in the hope of finding out the Miss World 2025 result as quickly as possible. It was not live on Australian television so I was at the mercy of Filipino bloggers and my dial-up Internet connection. I lost count of how many times I pressed F5 but it was a lot.
Davison made the top 20, then the top 10, then the top five. It was between Miss Ireland and her fellow beauties from Canada, China, India and the Philippines. I stood to win several thousand dollars and so did a lot of my colleagues. The tension was unbearable but, eventually, the message boards reported that Davison was the last woman standing. My mobile phone went crazy, including one guy singing The Lady In Red and declaring his undying love for me. And who says that you cannot win money betting on novelty events? Not me.
—
What is the best bet that you have ever placed? And what is the bet that you regret most? Send me your comments.
Loading ...
