Al Riffa drew the most attention from bettors at the Call Of The Card, with a stream of substantial wagers backing the topweight.
The Wolfden team stepped in first, staking Al Riffa to return $1 million at odds of $7.50 with swiftbet.
Australian Bloodstock’s Jamie Lovett also showed strong confidence in the star import, placing bets to collect more than $1.5 million.
Bookmaker Chris Lester, however, was comfortable opposing the favourite. “It is clearly the best horse in the race, but weights are clearly against it,” he said.
High-profile punters Antanas Guoga (Tony G) and Kieran McManus, son of Irish racing magnate JP McManus, were also notably active during the session.
Athabascan, the rank outsider, was the only runner that failed to attract interest from the betting public.