There was a surprise, baby for those wishing to make a downdraft on their Melbourne Cup bets in Mount Isa this morning.
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The TAB was full of the sound of people who mustajeered as they walked out when a power cut meant they could not bet cross counter on the chosen one.
They fled the building possibly towards Constantinople or Southern France where the power was still on and they could make a twilight payment.
But after 20 minutes Ergon Energy blew the hunting horn, waved their magic wand and the TAB could vow and declare it was the master of reality again.
Punters hope they will find il paradiso after 2pm today.
On a more serious note, there was dismay at the TAB when the outage hit before 9am on their busiest day of the year.
"We were watching dollars walk out the door," TAB employee Tanya Burns said.
"We even had two staff fly in to work on the busiest day of the year.
"In the end we were offline for about 25 minutes but we are all good now."
Ms Burns said her hot tip for the cup was number 11 Finche.
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