Zoe Davison's dad (the late Albert Davison) would have considered it a failure if any of his were backed off the boards when they won. His coups were landed at double-figure odds, thank you very much, with bets spread around betting shops at SP, sometimes involving each way doubles. He won a reputed £250,000 when Great Things won at Leicester in 1978 at 33/1.

For instance, there would be a string of zeroes in front of his horses, names, their handicap mark would get lower and lower, then they would be entered in a claimer, where the lower mark was of no benefit, and THAT would be the day. When you'd least suspect it.

In the end he got warned off, but that benefited him, as he and his associates simply ran the horses in the names of other trainers, which boosted the SP. All sorts of names cropped up, from John and Monica Long to Rod Simpson. When the obscure Wiltshire trainer David Jermy died, his widow was persuaded to take out a licence to land a coup at double-figure odds with Will I Fly.

About the only jockey he trusted was Dean Gallacher. One New Year's Day at Windsor Gallacher rode Matelot Royale to win the opener, before he and Davison drove at high speed to Leicester to land the other half of the double with Prince Klenk. The latter had already landed an each way touch at 50/1 just before Christmas.

Marcus Armytage was a rider who, probably unwittingly, found himself landing a coup for Albert, when the apparently unraced Sprintfayre made all at 14/1 in a Sandown bumper in the early 90s. Sprintfayre was down to be ridden by DOUBTFUL in the Racing Post. He was listed as trained by Rod Simpson, but shared a sire and owner with a useful hurdler in training with Albert called Billy Boru. The odds would have been nearer 25s if Eddie Fremantle and I hadn't spotted what was going on and had a few small bets around the Ring in a weak market.

Harry Flemming, knew how to land one usually at Market Rasen.

One of the best weapons to avoid the dreaded "backed off the boards" when the money's down is to have a reputation as clueless among punters.

When Norman Babbage was having a string of 33/1, even 100/1 winners in the 90s with horses like Fly Guard and Wannaplantatree, even Dodger McCartney was adamant Babbage didn't know what he was doing. Eventually, of course, some unwelcome heavy hitters latched on and the fun came to an end, but what fun while it lasted.

There was an example this week, when Monzino ran away with a Southwell handicap at 12/1 after its "clueless" trainer had run it in a string of bumpers and maidens in which it had no chance under all sorts of female riders, including even Ann Stokell(5).

But like you say,folks soon see through the clueless guise.

Lol at altitude here WF
Sean says yay btw

how come veitch never gets mentioned on here

bit like a few on here

A lot of plots fail of course. We don't hear so much about those. The best bets for the professionals are the maiden winners that subsequently become group horses. No "fiddling" required, just point and shoot. Occasionally they don't produce on course or they meet another one of similar ability -like Nathaniel starting off against Frankel- but usually if the stable is confident that they are group class, the "insiders" clean up. I was at Newbury on the day that Frankel won his maiden at Newmarket and a well known and respected owner/gambler asked me what time the Frankel race started that evening and told me it was the bet of the season. Don't suppose they knew at the time that the second best staying 2yo of the season was also in the field and the Gosden camp must have been disappointed at the time to get beaten.

Derek Haydn-Jones used to land some good ones especially up at Hamilton.

Ernie Weymes back in the 70's,80's.

Jim Old in his prime.

The solution is to move away from the handicap system. Maybe have more valuable condition type races for horses that have won or been placed in last 3 runs. No easy solutions to the corrupt mind of many and the poor prize money available so guess we live with it and try read between the lines.

IT SEEMS ALOT TO ME,IT LOOKS TO ME IF THERES ALOT OF SHADY PEOPLE IN HORSE RACING ,

Almost all major gambles in the past were placed by commission agents, a breed that has largely disappeared overthe past 20 years because all the big bookmaking companies will not do business with them.

Therefore yards with a hundred or more horses are viable concerns because of the training fees while weaker outfits struggle to survive.

Someone mentioned her earlier Charlotte Postlethwaite. Landed a big gamble at Wetherby with Abandoned Warrior. Had a very decent horse in the mid 80s and I cant remember its name- anyone?

Also Patrick Haslam- many gambles landed in the 80s I recall. Remember backing Hawkley in the Royal Hunt Cup.

That's the one Geoff, used to race with a low head carriage if I remember right.

a blast from the past when the forum was buzzing,

interesting read with some great stories

What was the name of the trainer who was called the Selling Plater King . Wrote a book called The Coup

George Todd not been mentioned here.

Trelawny was trained by George Todd at Manton, near Marlborough, Wiltshire. Todd was renowned as a trainer of staying horses and an intrepid gambler; he bought the Manton Estate from Tattersalls in 1947 and reputedly paid off the balance – £47,000, or £1.85 million by modern standards – with the proceeds from a series of winning bets on Dramatic in the Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster in 1950, which he carried to London in a paper bag. He would remain at Manton until his retirement in 1973.