Foreign flirtation: going with a good thing once again

The source of most addictions - to drugs, to reality television programs, to gambling - is a single spontaneous act. My addiction to the Melbourne Cup's foreign raiders began at the back of a bookmaker's stand near the nursery car park at Flemington in 1993.

Huddled beneath an umbrella, the young penciller paid out my winnings on race three - and kept paying. As it turned out, he had mistaken my place ticket for a winner. A triple-digit error.   Read More