Her lifetime average starting price was $1.33 and the only time she was not odds on –  shorter than $2 – was at her debut in April, 2009.

On Friday, Australia’s biggest corporate bookmaker Sportsbet posted markets for the 2019 State Election and the November 12 byelection for the seat of Orange.

Premier Mike Baird and his deputy Troy Grant have been slaughtered in the media for a raft of controversial decisions, the most critical to Orange being legislation to ban greyhound racing from June 30 next year.

Orange was retained for the Nationals by Andrew Gee at the 2015 election, with the two-party preferred result being 71.70 per cent compared to Country Labor’s 28.3 per cent.

Despite the negativity, Sportsbet has posted the National Party candidate Scott Barrett as the $1.22 favourite to retain the seat for the Coalition.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers’ Party candidate Philip Donato is tight in betting at $3.00 while “Any Independent” is listed at $11 and Country Labor at $21 to win the seat. The rank outsiders are the Greens at $34.

While the State election will not be held until March, 2019, punters have been offered just $1.25 for the Coalition to remain in office while the Luke Foley-led Labor Party is $3.75.

In a ‘two-horse’ contest, Labor’s price seems very attractive.

The Country/National Party has retained control in the seat of Orange since 1947. It was held by former Country Party leader and Deputy Premier Sir Charles Cutler for a remarkable 28 years. He was re-elected 10 times.

Early polling for the byelection suggests National’s lead is now tenuous and the distribution of preferences may decide the outcome – and the future of under-fire National Party leader Troy Grant.

I KNOW there have been many, many letters written about the pedestrian crossing in Anson Street outside Woolworths, but has anyone thought of this?

In a similar position, just one street up in Sale Street, there are pedestrian islands at the footpath and in the centre, just like they have in Bathurst.

The only difference is, pedestrians give way to traffic. To my knowledge, no one has been killed or injured at this crossing.

All it would take in Anson Street is to paint out the zebra strips and add a little signage. Hardly rocket science

Yours faithfully,

I SUGGEST it is too late for Malcolm Turnbull to regain credibility, as the electorate has already made up its mind. Thanks to a spate of failed prime ministers, the Australian public has become very adept at distinguishing pretenders from true leaders and are short on patience. Even if Mr Turnbull manages to survive the full term, I predict he will not contest the next election. He is unlikely to risk being dismissed from Parliament unceremoniously.