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During the past week or so, I have been reading and contributing towards threads about Steve Cauthen the jockey and Terry Ramsden the financial whizz-kid and punter.
Two or three people were kind enough on the threads to say they enjoyed my modest contributions and encouraged me to write some more about my many years of going to the racecourses of the UK.
Hence, today I thought I would kick off a thread about the latter. Other contributions from the experiences of others most also welcome, but please let me request something of all forum users first.
When I joined the Betfair Forum in 2001, it was an interesting place for lovers of horse racing, sport and betting to discuss things. Sadly, though it has declined over the years and now I often see morons and fantasists start hijacking threads with stupid comments. Also, it is not uncommon to see some quite vicious name-calling arise. PLEASE, do not allow this thread to go that way.
If you haven't got anything sensible or relevant to say, then stay off the thread and allow it to be populated by those who will enjoy looking back at tales from UK racecourses and of those who used to populate them.
OK, my opening tale is one only indirectly connected to racing and the tracks but one I think it still very interesting.
From the late 1970's to the mid 1980's I used to attend Newbury Racecourse on a regular basis. From my home in East London, it was the Underground to Paddington and then the racecourse special to the track itself.
I will turn 60 in August, so I am not that old, but I have been going racing since I was a young child (with my dad) and so in 1984 I was only 24. I wasn't a complete wet-behind-the-ears kid, but I did still have a lot to learn and was thus always going to be impressed by some of the gamblers / characters who would also be on the train to Newbury. No more so than one day in mid-September 1984.
By that date, the practice of those in the know boarding the train at Paddington without a ticket, sitting in first class, and then bunging the ticket collector / inspector a smaller amount that the actual fare had almost ceased. But if the train did have a first class section, and if I was enjoying a winning spell, I would treat myself to a first class ticket.
On the Friday of the September meeting at Newbury I was in a first class compartment and found myself sitting opposite a guy who I estimated to have been in his early 50's. He was very well dressed and well-tanned and carried a slim briefcase on the seat next to him. As the train moved out of Paddington, no-one else had come into our compartment so we were on our own.
As the train gathered speed, we nodded at one another and then I took out my Sporting Life to begin reading. He had already opened his case to begin reading something from within it. After a few minutes he looked up and said 'Excuse me, but where did you buy your Sporting Life, I couldn't get one at the station'.
I told him it had been delivered to my home in East London that morning and this started us talking. It turned out, much to his delight, that we had both gone to East Ham Grammar School for Boys (same school as Michael Tabor, BTW). He'd obviously been there quite a while before me but we still had common ground in remembering what had been a brilliant school (one I am still immensely proud of 44 years this summer after leaving.)
We moved on to talk about our current lives - a topic which he had a lot more to tell me about because of my young age compared to him.
It turned out that this guy had worked in a number of fairly ordinary jobs (civil service, banks, etc) after leaving school but, as he came to his late 20's, had identified a gap in the market with regard to spare car parts. He'd astutely and quite quickly built up a big business and then sold it for a great deal of money in his early 40's.
He was married by then and with the proceeds of the sale he and his wife had decided to retire and spend each winter in Spain and summer in the UK. This was all interesting enough but then he asked me if I liked anything at the races that afternoon. I was, and still am, a big form and speed figure fan and so I told him about a couple of horses I fancied and why.
He noted them down but then I asked him if he fancied anything, to which he replied that he 'didn't really follow the horses' but did have some business at the track which he needed to complete' before going back to Spain for the winter, adding he 'would still have a bit on my two tips, though'.
Naturally, I was interested to hear more but didn't want to seem nosy. Hence, I let him continue of his own accord.
It turned out that all of his life this guy had loved athletics, especially track running - now I appreciated why he had remembered so much about PE and the sports fields at our grammar school.
He had always run himself and had continued to do so after retiring, running for amateur athletic clubs in both England and Spain.
During his second winter in Spain about eight years earlier, someone at his Spanish athletics club had drawn his attention to a very young Moroccan boy runner called Said Aoutia - the same Said Aoutia who had just won gold for 5000 metres at the 1984 summer Olympics in LA.
The guy I was talking to had seen a talent in Aoutia almost before anyone else aside from his family had. He had watched Aoutia develop through athletic magazines and imported Moroccan newspapers during his Spanish winters. Through this - and it was no mean feat given we had no Internet back then - he'd formed the view that Aoutia was good enough to win a medal at the Olympics.
He told me that 1980 was too soon for Aoutia but from 1979 onwards he'd been backing him for the 1500, 5000 and 10000 metres at LA in 1984. To start, it had only ever been £5, £10 or £20 here and there because it was incredibly hard to find bookies who would even take a bet that long before the games but all his early cash had been taken at 100/1 and more.
Up until 1983, this guy had been dribbling money on Aoutia on a regular basis but then Aoutia had run well at the 1983 World Championships in Finland. Others started taking notice and so prices about Aoutia for 1984 became easier to find. He still wasn't sure what distance Aoutia would compete at in 1984 but believed the 5000 was his great strength and so began putting more and more cash on him for that event. It was a wise move.
As many will know, Aoutia won the 5000 metres gold in 1984 and so this guy on the train had pulled it off. He was reluctant to tell me what he'd won overall but I coaxed it out of him and he let on that he had cleared over £100K, before showing me a hand-written log of all of his bets. Hence, if he had been making it all up he'd gone to great lengths on the off chance he would even talk to anyone about it!
He'd actually been in LA for the games but was now back in London to finish collecting the cash. His trip to Newbury was because he'd laid off some of his bets for a profit either way with a couple of rails bookies in July and this had been the first opportunity he'd had to settle up with them.
I was stunned at his tale and believed him completely. I asked him if he was following any other young athletes I could make a killing on but he said that he 'just had this incredibly strong feeling and instinct every time he saw Aoutia' (he seen him compete live twice in 1982 and 1983) and 'never expected for something like that to happen again'.
Like I say, I believed him - and still do - and was embarrassed when the horses I had told him about were well beaten! But I never saw him again, I think he might have taken a taxi back to Newbury Town before the races ended and caught a London train from there.
It was a truly amazing tale and I will never forget the quiet and cool way he told me about winning £100k from what must have been one of the best non-racing ante post gambles of all time!
Another tale in a few days.
Two or three people were kind enough on the threads to say they enjoyed my modest contributions and encouraged me to write some more about my many years of going to the racecourses of the UK.
Hence, today I thought I would kick off a thread about the latter. Other contributions from the experiences of others most also welcome, but please let me request something of all forum users first.
When I joined the Betfair Forum in 2001, it was an interesting place for lovers of horse racing, sport and betting to discuss things. Sadly, though it has declined over the years and now I often see morons and fantasists start hijacking threads with stupid comments. Also, it is not uncommon to see some quite vicious name-calling arise. PLEASE, do not allow this thread to go that way.
If you haven't got anything sensible or relevant to say, then stay off the thread and allow it to be populated by those who will enjoy looking back at tales from UK racecourses and of those who used to populate them.
OK, my opening tale is one only indirectly connected to racing and the tracks but one I think it still very interesting.
From the late 1970's to the mid 1980's I used to attend Newbury Racecourse on a regular basis. From my home in East London, it was the Underground to Paddington and then the racecourse special to the track itself.
I will turn 60 in August, so I am not that old, but I have been going racing since I was a young child (with my dad) and so in 1984 I was only 24. I wasn't a complete wet-behind-the-ears kid, but I did still have a lot to learn and was thus always going to be impressed by some of the gamblers / characters who would also be on the train to Newbury. No more so than one day in mid-September 1984.
By that date, the practice of those in the know boarding the train at Paddington without a ticket, sitting in first class, and then bunging the ticket collector / inspector a smaller amount that the actual fare had almost ceased. But if the train did have a first class section, and if I was enjoying a winning spell, I would treat myself to a first class ticket.
On the Friday of the September meeting at Newbury I was in a first class compartment and found myself sitting opposite a guy who I estimated to have been in his early 50's. He was very well dressed and well-tanned and carried a slim briefcase on the seat next to him. As the train moved out of Paddington, no-one else had come into our compartment so we were on our own.
As the train gathered speed, we nodded at one another and then I took out my Sporting Life to begin reading. He had already opened his case to begin reading something from within it. After a few minutes he looked up and said 'Excuse me, but where did you buy your Sporting Life, I couldn't get one at the station'.
I told him it had been delivered to my home in East London that morning and this started us talking. It turned out, much to his delight, that we had both gone to East Ham Grammar School for Boys (same school as Michael Tabor, BTW). He'd obviously been there quite a while before me but we still had common ground in remembering what had been a brilliant school (one I am still immensely proud of 44 years this summer after leaving.)
We moved on to talk about our current lives - a topic which he had a lot more to tell me about because of my young age compared to him.
It turned out that this guy had worked in a number of fairly ordinary jobs (civil service, banks, etc) after leaving school but, as he came to his late 20's, had identified a gap in the market with regard to spare car parts. He'd astutely and quite quickly built up a big business and then sold it for a great deal of money in his early 40's.
He was married by then and with the proceeds of the sale he and his wife had decided to retire and spend each winter in Spain and summer in the UK. This was all interesting enough but then he asked me if I liked anything at the races that afternoon. I was, and still am, a big form and speed figure fan and so I told him about a couple of horses I fancied and why.
He noted them down but then I asked him if he fancied anything, to which he replied that he 'didn't really follow the horses' but did have some business at the track which he needed to complete' before going back to Spain for the winter, adding he 'would still have a bit on my two tips, though'.
Naturally, I was interested to hear more but didn't want to seem nosy. Hence, I let him continue of his own accord.
It turned out that all of his life this guy had loved athletics, especially track running - now I appreciated why he had remembered so much about PE and the sports fields at our grammar school.
He had always run himself and had continued to do so after retiring, running for amateur athletic clubs in both England and Spain.
During his second winter in Spain about eight years earlier, someone at his Spanish athletics club had drawn his attention to a very young Moroccan boy runner called Said Aoutia - the same Said Aoutia who had just won gold for 5000 metres at the 1984 summer Olympics in LA.
The guy I was talking to had seen a talent in Aoutia almost before anyone else aside from his family had. He had watched Aoutia develop through athletic magazines and imported Moroccan newspapers during his Spanish winters. Through this - and it was no mean feat given we had no Internet back then - he'd formed the view that Aoutia was good enough to win a medal at the Olympics.
He told me that 1980 was too soon for Aoutia but from 1979 onwards he'd been backing him for the 1500, 5000 and 10000 metres at LA in 1984. To start, it had only ever been £5, £10 or £20 here and there because it was incredibly hard to find bookies who would even take a bet that long before the games but all his early cash had been taken at 100/1 and more.
Up until 1983, this guy had been dribbling money on Aoutia on a regular basis but then Aoutia had run well at the 1983 World Championships in Finland. Others started taking notice and so prices about Aoutia for 1984 became easier to find. He still wasn't sure what distance Aoutia would compete at in 1984 but believed the 5000 was his great strength and so began putting more and more cash on him for that event. It was a wise move.
As many will know, Aoutia won the 5000 metres gold in 1984 and so this guy on the train had pulled it off. He was reluctant to tell me what he'd won overall but I coaxed it out of him and he let on that he had cleared over £100K, before showing me a hand-written log of all of his bets. Hence, if he had been making it all up he'd gone to great lengths on the off chance he would even talk to anyone about it!
He'd actually been in LA for the games but was now back in London to finish collecting the cash. His trip to Newbury was because he'd laid off some of his bets for a profit either way with a couple of rails bookies in July and this had been the first opportunity he'd had to settle up with them.
I was stunned at his tale and believed him completely. I asked him if he was following any other young athletes I could make a killing on but he said that he 'just had this incredibly strong feeling and instinct every time he saw Aoutia' (he seen him compete live twice in 1982 and 1983) and 'never expected for something like that to happen again'.
Like I say, I believed him - and still do - and was embarrassed when the horses I had told him about were well beaten! But I never saw him again, I think he might have taken a taxi back to Newbury Town before the races ended and caught a London train from there.
It was a truly amazing tale and I will never forget the quiet and cool way he told me about winning £100k from what must have been one of the best non-racing ante post gambles of all time!
Another tale in a few days.
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I have a tale not really related to Horseracing but on the lines of your tale the knight,I was staying at the passage house hotel for newton Abbott in the early part of this century can’t remember the year exactly,in the evening I got talking to an American chap who had no interest in racing he was there touring the uk ,what he did however say was that he had made plenty gambling on tennis and that was his sport ,he followed the tour and it was his life,so we got talking about players of years gone by I am not at all clued up on tennis but I do know a bit about the grand slams and previous greats,so off course the question I end up asking is who the best he had ever seen ,his reply was probably rod leaver but there’s one now who is just becoming to get noticed and make no mistake about he will be the greatest player of all time ,I of course asked who was it ,he replied roger fedderar.
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Knight - another smashin' anecdote - whilst reading that, I couldn't help but fall into a trap that in the last paragraph you were gonna
reveal just who this person was. I was very disappointed  Couldn't you have just made up someone famous?  |
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Thanks for posting.A very interesting read and 10/10 for your grammar.So often people write long essay's without paragraphs.
As an aside my wife attended East ham Grammar(12 yrs before yourself).She informs me the Girls school was a good 2 miles away from the boy's so obviously not a lot of mixing went on  .She used to live in Caulfield rd and i myself lived in Gloucester rd Manor pk. |
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Knight - I've exhumed the Cauthen thread and with a bit of luck and the assistance of a helpful forumite, there might
be an interesting read from today's RP there later. |
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Many years ago in the mid sixties I had a six month student placement at a company in Harlow and lived with a mate in a flat in Leytonstone. On Tuesday evenings I would often go to Walthamstow dogs and would back two shilling forecasts all evening.
One evening I`d had a complete blank and was staring out through the glass windows of the restaurant area at the bookmakers when I noticed a guy on the steps through the glass in front of the line of bookmakers. In his hands he was holding a huge wad of notes, the size of a small loaf of bread, which he proceeded to share out with a gang of lads around him. The lads then descended the steps and stood in front of individual bookmakers waiting for them to price up. I couldn`t see past the favourite which was in trap 6 and a shade of odds against but decided to watch and try and determine what dog the lads were going to back and concluded it was trap 5 which was steady in the market at 7/2 and despite many look rounds by the lads the main man repeatedly shook his head until trap 5 went 4/1 and the go signal was given. All the bookmakers immediately cut trap 5 and in a lively market I decided this was one. My last pound was placed on a Trap 5 to beat Trap 6 forecast(10x2 shilling bets) on the Tote and I returned to my window spot to watch the race. I don`t remember the early skirmishes but as they came round the final bend trap 6 was clear with trap 5 still in the pack. I was about to turn away when all of a sudden trap 5 flew up the straight and beat trap 6 a short head. The forecast paid just under a pound and I had won a few pounds. I watched the lads return to the main man with hands full of cash, job done though not without some more than anxious moments. Despite many return visits I never saw the man and the lads again. |
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Good story Knight, enjoyed that. I too thought that you were going to reveal someone famous at the end.
Foxy, I hope that you made a killing with the young Federer at the Tennis. |
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To be honest Mac I didn’t,at first I couldn’t just go of the word of someone I met in a hotel bar as interesting as he was and by the time I realised how right he was it was to late any value in backing him had gone, a very recent story was just before this seasons football season started a friend of mine was with a West Brom supporter who he had never met before and by the end of the night he had convinced him that West Brom at 28/1 was a huge price to be relegated and from what he had seen and heard they were very likely to go down,my friend passed this on to me and for some reason I did not show the same discipline and backed them to be relegated,not at any stage from placing that bet have West Brom remotely looked like been relegated,when placing the bet I never in a million years thought my only hope of not doing my money was covid 19.
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LOL guys,
Thanks for the kind comments. I only wish I could have revealed the guy on the train to be someone famous. It was tempting to insert the name of someone long gone now but in today's litigation mad world you can't be too careful! twizzle, Yup, the girls grammar school was in Plashet Grove, as opposed to the boys one a good 2-3 miles away. Any galloping down there in the lunch break would have left anyone undertaking such fit for little else! Lastly - A couple of weeks back I did a 4000 word piece for the Racing Post about Dahlia and her owner who tried to corner the world silver market, Nelson Bunker Hunt, but my effort there has gone unacknowledged. Shame because Dahlia was the Enable of her day and her owner's daft dealings on the silver market broke him - and were totally jaw-dropping. Hence, I will have to stick to tales on here and I am now working on one about the time a very good friend of mine was in a syndicate that owned a Henry Cecil cast-off. The tale of woe and deceit will probably be enough to put anyone off ownership for life... Will post it later today or tomorrow. |
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From personal experience many owners must have stories of deceit from trainers,agents etc..sorry not totally relevant for this thread
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The Knight - Good stuff. I should like to read your Bunker Hunt piece. That was a fun time to be an Antique Dealer (even a spare time rank amateur like me). In the late 70's, a silver teaspoon went from sub £1 to £8/£10 scrap in about a year. At the Ardingly Antiques Fair, and others, the scrap dealers (who were of course way ahead of the antiques market) were going round with carrier bags and scales buying silver cutlery and anything else silver in industrial (literally!) quantities.
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Enjoyable thread - thanks The Knight. I'll offer the tale of the best stag party ever, although it wasn't one I attended.
Newmarket July meeting, 2012, starts on soft ground and after more rain, the final day is staged on heavy. On the Friday, I get an email from a nephew, telling me that he's going on a stag party outing to the July Course on Saturday, can I supply some tips. I reply early Saturday morning, pointing out that the state of the going makes it worth gambling on longshots in some of the races and offering five suggestions. As the non runners mount up on Saturday morning, I text him with info about them. His friends on the minibus ask where he's getting this from and he tells them his uncle is a pro punter. At which point they appoint my nephew as betting master for the afternoon and produce a £300 kitty for the purpose. He decides to bet £50 per race, but as a complete novice, he has no concept of each way or place betting, so for the first race, he just walks up to the Tatts bookie whose name I gave him, and puts his £50 on to win at 40/1. The longshot I'd suggested was called Ocean Tempest and he was awarded the verdict by a nose in a photo that the market on here was sure had gone the other way. The SP was 33/1 and you could have over 70 on here. I got a garbled phone call from the bar under the stand, asking if I'd put any money on myself, to which I admitted risking the fantastic sum of £25 in the BF win market, probably my smallest bet in the previous thirty years! To top up the first two grand, I'd given him Olympic Glory as the nap, the one short priced selection, and he won the second race at 6/4 - my nephew took 2/1. When he collected for the second time from the Martyn of Leicester pitch, they asked where he was getting his tips from! That was the end of the winners, but every one of the fifteen lads on the bus went home with about £90 more than when he'd left home. Best stag party ever! |
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Excellent and thoroughly enjoyable read, The Knight.
Remember Dahlia well and reading of the Bunker Hunt dispersal in Robert Sangster's book, when the silver market collapsed. I believe that he and his brother cornered the silver market at the time. I cannot remember the name of the one mate mentioned in the book that he was most upset of having to sell; was it the great Dahlia? By the way, anyone remember a stayer in the 70's called Billion he owned and was trained by John Dunlop? Only a handicapper, but I used to follow him. |
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I remember billion so it must be late 70s ali
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In 1972 I go to Newmarket and see this horse called Ksar win as a 2y old and had this feeling this horse could win the Derby so I start backing it to win next years Derby I am on a great run and keep popping into the shops backing it all my bets are E.W comes the day of the race I stand to win many many £1,000s off I go to Epsom with high hopes as it had won the lingfield Derby trial in the mean time.
Leading up to the race I had lost my stake and was skint so I really needed for Ksar to do the biz. They make Ksar Fav at I think 9/2. I am up in the stand watching the race with my friend when with about a furlong and a half to go Ksar hits the front I stood there in shock as it looked for all the world it was going to win. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_rfEc68C1Q |
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Thanks some more guys.
Blackbarn - love that about the antique markets! Love it. TheAnorak - bl**dy hell, that day in 2012 saw me desperately ill with a terrible pelvic infection in a Sheffield hospital. I'd picked the infection up from when my prostate gland had been removed a month earlier. Early that Saturday morning was touch and go for me but by the time your nephew was at Newmarket I'd just turned the corner. It still makes me shiver to think of July 13th, 2012! ali1959 - I might post my bit about Dahlia eventually. It might have been Dahlia, although by 1988 when he sold up she was pretty old. I will look up Bullion. Lastly, for my final contribution today I will shortly post the first part of my tale about my friend's horse. I have written it now and I will split it into 3 or 4 parts. I hope you will all find it an interesting read, as this lockdown drags on and on. Take care all. |
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i too will look up Bullion. I remember him quite well as he was as standing dish at Goodwood - He didnt always win but he definitely won there two or three years running. I am pretty sure he won at Royal Ascot too. He used to get a long way behind and come with a rattle. Definitely John Dunlop trained.
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OK, part 1 of my new tale.. Enjoy. Parts 2 and 3 over next 2 days.
This next tale concerns a good pal of mine who, in 1987, bought into a horse with four or five others that was a Sheik Mohammed discard from the previous winter. I will give the name of the horse but not the names of the people involved, save for Henry Cecil and a couple of others, because much of the tale reflects badly on the Newmarket trainer they first went to. It also shows how careful anyone new to racehorse ownership has to be. Fairly early in 1987, a pal of mine who worked with me in IT at one of the major banks said he was thinking of buying into a racehorse. My pal, who was around 15 years older than me and a bit wealthier (not that he had to be to beat me), lived about 75 minutes north of London and would commute down each day on the train. On the train over the past two or three years he had got to know someone who lived in the same area as he did, and had subsequently started drinking with this guy and some of his friends at a local pub.It turned out all of the people at the pub had an interest in racing and one of them was very good friends with a highly rated work rider from the Henry Cecil yard. Throughout the summer of 1986, my friend passed on to me some really good information from the Cecil yard, plus plenty of news about what was going on with Henry, Steve Cauthen, Willie Ryan, and others. Then, in the spring of 1987, my friend said that he, the work-rider and four of the people from the pub had bought a horse out of the Cecil stable during a Sheik Mohammed clear out. They had paid 6,000 guineas on the recommendation of the work-rider who had told them that the horse still retained plenty of ability despite having missed all of his 3yo year with a knee problem. My friend asked me if I wanted to go in with his share, but I declined, despite the horse – Glebe Place – only being rated a few pounds behind Dancing Brave in his 2yo days. The syndicate decided to put the horse with a brand-new Newmarket trainer, who must remain nameless for reasons that will become obvious. The work-rider was the syndicate’s contact with the trainer and reported back that the latter wanted to give the horse ‘a good few more weeks’ before it ran so as to make sure his dodgy knee (the horse’s not the trainer’s) stood up to the rigours of training. Sadly, though, those few weeks started to turn into months. During the same period, the syndicate took up the habit of each taking it in turn every Sunday to drive over to Newmarket and treat the trainer and his wife to lunch. By June there was no sign of the horse being ready to go and the syndicate were starting to become a little restless with the endless reasons from the trainer why he had to ‘go steady’. Then, one day, somebody in the syndicate happened to notice their horse had been entered for the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot. With a low weight it had no chance of running and this started the syndicate off on a bit of research. They had had no reason to look before but a quick perusal of some old copies of the Sporting Life (which one of them used to keep in his garage) revealed the horse had already been entered a number of times in big handicaps which it had no chance or running in. As the syndicate rep, the work-rider used to collect the monthly expenses for the horse’s training and pass the money on to the trainer. At first the rest of the syndicate were irritated at how their ‘rep’ had not spotted the various entry fees (albeit small ones) on the monthly bills but he convinced them he had been as ignorant as to what had been going on (this still caused a rift which never fully healed, though). The work-rider went to Henry Cecil and asked him if it was normal practise to keep entering a horse in races which it had no chance of running in. A gentleman through and through, Henry was reluctant to criticize a fellow trainer but did indicate that it was not unheard of for someone new to the profession to enter horses everywhere so as to ‘put their name in the racing papers’. Armed with this information, the syndicate all took the trainer out to Sunday lunch at the first opportunity and challenged him about the horse and where it was being entered. The trainer was full of apologies and promised it would stop. He also reassured them that the horse was ‘almost ready to run’. It still took another 7 weeks or so but finally the horse was set to run in an apprentice race at Catterick nearing the end of July. Over 7f, the race was a far cry from its previous fancy entries! On the great day itself, my pal tried hard to have me come up to Catterick with the syndicate, but I wanted to go to Sandown. I wished him the best of luck early in the morning and off he went to the far North, with me off in the opposite direction to Surrey. At Sandown that afternoon I was having an absolute ‘mare. One of those days when you know in your water it is all against you. Horses backed EW came fourth, horses I backed to win came second and others would have found more space in running on the concourse of Euston station! And then it came to Glebe Place’s race late on the Catterick card. By then there was only one contest left at Sandown and I was down a shade over £500. I had resolved before racing not to back the syndicate horse because it had not run for such a long time. – despite my pal telling me that the trainer thought it had ‘a bl**dy good chance’. (He had used a stronger phrase than bl**dy!) Of course, though, my resolve had crumbled bit by bit as my £500 went west and I could not resist £50 ew at 6/1 on Glebe Place. It was put on at the betting office near the doors within the open plan Sandown grandstand. I’m sure many will recall that location, the one with the big results board against the wall. (BTW, is it still there?) After, I’d put on my bet I stood back to listen to the old Excel commentary - SIS pictures of other tracks were still a while off – and was immediately unsettled when it was announced that ‘a horse has bolted on way to start at Catterick’. I just knew it was Glebe Place and so it turned out to be. However, the horse still ran and actually belted out of the stalls and built up a big lead early on.... To be continued... |
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"On the great day itself,"
Spoiler alert?  |
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The Knight
I am enjoying your story's please post part two I want to see what happen's |
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They change the rules on the Bunker Hunts and fcuk them.
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The hoss won.
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Some great stories by the contributors on the thread ...
Thanks to The Knight for his postings Can't say I can offer as much but I knew these local lads in the early / mid 80s who had a dual-purpose horse which won a few races and even a race at Royal Ascot ... used to be the final race I believe on the Friday ... 2 miles? ... anyway the horse was Regal Reform & they had some really good fun with the horse. Mark Dwyer used to ride it over hurdles & different jocks on the flat Anyway I remember one of the part owners who used to take bets in an unofficial capacity in a local pub say on one day he tells me a story that they had got a top jockey to ride the horse in an ordinary race at Haydock Park ... he wanted a payment in cash (it may have been £300 or £500 which was a decent under the counter pay't in those days) presumably over and above his usual riding fee and unlikely it was ever declared to the taxman. To cut a long story short he disobeyed orders and should have held the horse up (it was fav i think) but went to the front early doors and got turned over as he was overtaken close to the finish. I bet those types of payment were a regular feature of additional income to the top jocks although whether it still goes on i have no idea ... |
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Any story involving Jeff Pearce will surely not end well.
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I was told this by a man called Barny he was a well known face at the races when I was a young man he would put
money on for all sorts of people you name it he was the man to get the money on. There was a meeting at Epsom and the only runners in the race were horses that were trained at Epsom. Barny tells me the trainers had got together and decided who was going to win the race he tells me the winner is going to be so and so I have my few shillings on and the horse wins. I should add he never asked me for any money so it was not like he was at the tip up. Needless to say when Barny talked I listen one day at Ascot I was doing my money and Barny tells me I am putting the money on for the stable lads on a horse in the last when I looked at the race there was over 20 runners it was not the sort of race I would play but you know what it's like when you are doing your money any race will do The horse was 12/1 and won like an odds on shot RIP peace Barny thank's for the help. |
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Good story seaside.
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when you are doing your money any race will do
first thing they teach you at gamblers anonymous ....  |
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29th November 2005
I had a share in a horse with Paul Blockley Mrs Jo Hughes. Said horse was running at Southwell. Upon arriving meeting up with trainer and crew. He expected to have three winners we were told. Nigel Shields Wessex was about 8/1, Psycho Cat I owned half of was 6/1 and Market Avenue Racings Mambo Sun was about 12/1. Backed them all in singles, doubles & a treble. Wessex goes in at 7/1 SP, Psycho Cat goes in at 6/1 SP...holding some serious bets now on Mambo Sun...who goes on to finish 2nd  Still an amazing day that'll stick with me forever as made a tidy sum but could of been a small fortune. |
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They say that there is a thin line between sanity and insanity. The dividing line between winning and losing is thinner.
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back in 1994 I had only had my betting permit a few years and in all honesty was still a bit green . I made a book 4 or 5 nights a week at the time at the dogs swaffham rye house henlow etc the gaff tracks and the south east ptp through the winter months .at this time the "the hill bookmakers"at Epsom of which there would be well over 200 were offered a pitch by either bobby warren or dominic mickleborough I waswith the latter .a bookmaker by the name of mick cook was my regular clerk however late on the Tuesday night I receive the dreaded phone call that he was poorly and couldn't come 1994 was my debut year at Epsom and I was desperate to go so roped a friend in to come and clerk who not only had never clerked in his life had never even been racing in his life . it was very very busy and my pal gary couldn't cope clerking I said to him just write the bet in the right column and the ticket number down and i'll rub down 5 minutes before the off and hedge a few back if we need to.bearing in mind I was green poss wanted to stick my chest out a bit I got totally carried away it seemed every other bet was on mister baileys but I just kept cracking away for half an hour 12's 10's 8's 7's 6's and laying 3/1 near the off bearing in mind I had no tic tac or floorman.i rubbed down took the book off gary and started getting a grasp of my liabilities to my total disbelief we had mister baileys for over £23,000 I arrived at Epsom with a float of £2500 I jumped off the joint to see if I could have some back best price I could see was only 5/1 I was totally in it no way out I felt total despair this could be the end for me I had no choice other than to clench and watch the race.my joint was approx. at the 3 furlong pole and could see very little from where I was and couldn't hear the commentary either however when they went past me mr baileys was 5 in front I couldn't breathe my chest went so tight the next minute or so was the longest of my life when to my disbelief erhaab was called the winner and not mr baileys my friend gary said on the way home my face went all the colours of the rainbow it certainly was the razor or the river for me on the 1994 Epsom derby
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bet that race aged you 25 years flash ......
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Morning Ed,
Nice story, £23,000 would be worth over double that today, a hefty liability and no BF back then. Hope life is good with you, i would have been at Newmarket for the 2000 Guineas on Saturday if it wasn't for the C-19 pandemic. No telling when it will be run now. Stay safe. |
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yes one of my favourite weekends of there would have been great to see you again[and praps win a few quid back off you]I have come to the grim reality that this whole year is a write off for me however I'm still alive and lets hope next year we can all put this virus debacle behind us best ed t
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I backed Mr Baileys that day at a big price each way and it must have been 10 clear rounding Tattenham corner but clearly never stayed and finished 4th.
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1994 Derby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie77hJ7v9mQ |
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GG , its Mr Baileys from Colonel Collins with Kings Theatre on the outside , its between these three!!!!
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Onthejim
They have been showing the Guineas reruns on racing tv this weekend i makes you realise how bad gg was |
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Morning Foxy, hope you are all ok, will have a look if they show them again, don't know why but found yesterday hardest day of lockdown.
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I think we’re all getting fed up onthejim reality is setting in now ,the racecourse is a great place to be and knowing it won’t be happening for quite a while is hard,it didn’t help this weekend because it was Guineas weekend,I will probably lose my sanity royal ascot week especially if the weather is good .
Hopefully they will allow race goers in by york or Doncaster but judging by cancellations of other sporting events that odds against. Look after yourselfs |
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Morning foxy,onthejim,i'm afraid the country is paralysed.
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