As Melbourne Cup Week commences and the race that stops the nation is upon us, many punters are hoping to pick a winner on the Web.
Traffic to horse racing information sites is on the rise with locals taking to the Net in search of turf trivia, virtual tips on runners and jockeys and not to forget the favorite - realtime odds.
During the Spring Racing Carnivale, traffic to horse racing sites has increased by 40.2 percent on its September average, according to Web site monitoring service, hitwise.com.au.
In a 56-horse racing site race, ozracing.net.au continues to be the most popular with 18.9 percent of all traffic in the Hitwise horse racing category heading to its way.
"We would expect today's traffic [to ozracing.net.au] to increase further in anticipation of Cup day," a Hitwise spokesperson told ZDNet. "Then probably drop off tomorrow when people are actually watching the race," she added.
ozracing.net.au is head and shoulders ahead of racenet.com.au which has clocked up 13 percent of traffic to its horse racing category, and cyberhorse.net.au is proving to be in fine form and coming in at third place with almost 10 percent of traffic.
The TAB site, where fans who can't make it to Flemington can make a wager, is currently "going mad," according to Hitwise data, with an increase in traffic in excess of 32 percent.
"It's the whole punting thing," the Hitwise spokesperson said. "Gambling sites have more to offer with people able to place bets online rather than just accessing information," she added.
The betting site Racetab, has falls under the Hitwise gambling category, has attracted almost three times more Australian traffic than all of the horse racing sites put together.
