Bizwinkle may have been a rank outsider to win the Christchurch Casino 155^th New Zealand Cup on Saturday but his Tauranga owners knew he was a good chance.

A syndicate of punters made up of Graeme (Pedro) Petersen, Stephen (Chook) Hawkins, Dave Kinnear, Chris Middleton and Tim Lee have part-owned Bizwinkle for nearly three years.

They are all members of the Tauranga Citizen Club with a love of horse racing and the ups and downs of having a stake in a racehorse.

Pedro says Matamata trainer Glenn Old knew that Bizwinkle was ready for a strong race in Christchurch and deserved to be rated higher than the $26.40 he was paying at the TAB.

'He was the forgotten horse. In March we went to Wellington and he ran in a feature that was over 2,400 meters and he did a pretty good run. Glenn Old told us he thought he would set the horse for the New Zealand Cup, as he was going to stay all day,” Pedro says.

'His next two or three races he was only moderate but the trainer told us our one aim is the Cup and he will be as fit as I can get him.

'That's exactly as it panned out. The plan was that jockey Sam Spratt knows how to ride in the front so she went out almost from the time they jumped from the gates and led all the way.”

Pedro Paterson and his wife Jan hold the New Zealand Cup.

Pedro says it was easily the biggest win for the betting syndicate and plenty of money has gone over the bar at the Tauranga Citizen Club since the win.

'Everyone at the Citz Club know who we are and know that we owned him. Apparently the TAB at the Citz just went absolutely crazy on Saturday afternoon when he won.

'It was a fantastic experience for us. You just can't replace that sort of feeling.”