davros if your still around front page of the sporting life on tuesday august 6th 1996 was when the frontline story broke in the papers.

oor wullie the tipping line they had which i could not remember the name was brats


glen arthur prince was tabor

A brilliant thread Jimnast and one that proves that old heads have no need to tell lies,the truth is more often stranger than fiction and btw more entertaining?

dont know that story ronnie

hope your well

I remember Maurice Lindsay @ Bolton dogs. Saw someone stick one on his chin one night!

well done gal no doubt he would have dined well that night.

Told this story before about an away bookie at Carlisle but worth repeating imo.First time there at an evening meeting and they had a big screen showing racing from Windsor.

Had a bet with the away bookie on Milton Bradley's at 33/1 at Windsor,long story short,it won a short head,Bookie went mad at Clerk,I tucked a few £s in the clerks top pocket.Saw them next day at Hamilton,clerk had told me they did not have enough money for petrol to get from Carlisle to Hamilton.

Not sure Jimnast tbh,a long time ago.However Barry will remember a wet and windy Monday shelling out £4k in cash at Windsor and moaning and swearing despite me trying to keep him dry with my very expensive brolly!!!

Glentoby, ArmyAirCorps HQ at Middle Wallop nr Salisbury if I'm not mistaken?
Light blue berets?

Regarding early prices, I remember being allowed to take the Sporting Life sp forecast prices from the paper to a reasonable amount in the morning, in an independent.
Would have been 80s

Sorry,are you now Inspector?

Cheers Glen, used to deliver to the Officers Mess across the road by the sports pitches if you know it?
Used to try and do it on a Wednesday afternoon so that I could take in part of a football match.

Only ever ate the cucumber sandwiches tbh,too busy converting from Scout and Gazelle to Lynx,the sandwiches for the cricket matches which I avoided.

Screaming,i had many a bet with Charlie James especially at Sandown Park remember Dave Saphire and Kiki those were good days when the ring had a bit of atmosphere remember getting the tissue from Jack the Judge

OK Glen, I hadn't doubted you, btw

burns bookmakers, they done a runner, never been caught, bowmans  went skint

Big billie

the game has never been easy  some old timers will remember Benny racing on the rails great pitches went owing a good few quid.

have a nice evening

Ronnie.

TY SBTW,too late for the horse I am thinking of though.

As people are putting up horses from the past, I had a chat today with one of the Co owners of Garrison Savannahs, Gold Cup winner in 91. Told me the story before but never tire of him telling me how it would have won the Grand National 3 weeks later as well if hadn't missed a piece of work. Jenny Pitman had arranged a racecourse gallop at Newbury but the horsebox broke down and never got there. Convinced that cost him first place(finished 2nd)

Topscore

getting on in age but was that foggerhill and power or something like that.

hope you are well

Ronnie.

Some West Country names:

Vickers of Barnstaple - "A Sporty Bet"

Peter Jolliffe of Poole - May still be going, but got the account closed letter back in the 1990s

Stephen Little of Bath - Possibly the last bookmaker to try to make an actual book. Statements on yellow paper each week. Got stung big-time when the Brian Wright firm got involved in the Jibereen race. Wright was eventually put inside, but too late for Little, who now arbs on-course.

Dave Pipe of, well, everywhere. Father of Martin, grandfather of David. Promoted dog racing at the County Cricket Ground at Taunton in the 1960s. The dogs used to parade in what was then the nets area behind the Old Pavilion, leaving behind presents for the cricketers the next day. He turned the Old Pavilion interior into a Wild West-themed bar on race nights on the basis he'd found a photo of 19th-century Somerset allrounder Sammy Woods wearing a sombrero. Eventually sold all his shops to Hills to concentrate on the on-course business and on his son reinventing the way you trained racehorses. Kept the one shop in central Taunton, where the pencils were attached to pieces of string to prevent pilfering. Was the last bookie to use chalk on-course and possibly buried in the same trilby and raincoat he wore every day to the races. Always lowest priced on his son's runners, which must have helped keep the business profitable.

Those impressive buildings in North St, Taunton, which used to house the County Stores and Ladbrokes next door, have the Pipes as landlords. A legacy of when some punter couldn't pay, it's said. One day during summer 2014 I was in that Ladbrokes shop when a chap started talking to me who I'm almost sure was Derek Button, who, with his brother, used to bet under the Fred Button sign in the West Country. The trouble is, I'd not seen Derek for years and I'm almost completely deaf now, so I'm not 100% sure who the nervous chap talking 19 to the dozen at me really was.

Conky Woods was Yeovil's town crier, as well as town bookie. He traded under the name Mike Loveless Commissioning Agent, perhaps wanting to keep his business life wholly separate from his life as pillar of the civic community. I don't really know, but he was no shrinking violet in the Ring at the West Country gaffs. Let's just say that Conky fought a long battle against the idea that good public relations had any part to play in dealing with punters trying to take his pants down.

A legend.

Reg,the last time I was visiting Weathercock House I met Errol Brown,saw Garry in the paddock and witnessed Fellon and Ramsden pulling Rafferty's Rules in a Laddies in Lambourn.Had coffee with the cuddly one,met the rotty in her office and held the Gold Cup which sat on a window ledge with no bars or security.