Betting People Andy Smith

This series as a whole is absolutely brilliant from Simon btw.

How do you define brilliant Swaddle ?

I enjoy them as well Swaddle, some of them I do take with a pinch of salt but they do make for good viewing I agree. I especially the ones about people who I really knew through the 80"s and onwards like John Henwood for example.

I'll have a look at that after racing, Simon gets the crack going with the books, Pinno, Gal, Stephen Little, Fletcher and as mentioned John Henwood have all been very good.

I enjoyed listening to Eddie Fremantle.

Jay Rogers, I have to ask this, hope you don't mind.
Were/are you an on course greyhound bookmaker, also did p2p's?

Apr 18, 2022 -- 1:20PM, ItsMeSwaddle wrote:

This series as a whole is absolutely brilliant from Simon btw.

agree swad

Well I'd define brilliant by genuinely interested in about 50% of people he has done.

He actually lets the people speak rather than doing much talking himself.

Also its absolutely free of charge and light hearted.

Nobody is going to give away the golden goose.

Slippy Blue.
Not me, and isn't the first time I've asked on here.
Just a hash on my old forum name JH Rogers.

Was he a southern layer?

Yes J.H. A Southern layer, I'm based in South London and he was a regular layer at various venues in the South. A really good bloke he was, real "old school" like me !

Certainly old school (the better school) by the photo of him on his tools google has just popped up.
I'd not heard of him, but was mainly in the north until Betfair came along.
Will have to change this name.

Yes indeed J.H. The better school by the proverbial.

By 'Southern', to me that's Towcester & Newmarket downwards to say Goodwood & Fontwell by the way.

The country is saturated with pro punters

The golden goose - its in the psychology . So hard to master .

Lol Jimnast.

Part 2 is up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0NXquXh9XQ

Some old timers mentioned on part 2

Just watched the first part from the link. I don't go racing much now but I knew Andy as an on course bookmaker and as he was the racing manager for Bob Blumberg who I shared a horse with (Jefferies) I met Andy in that capacity as well. He lives quite local to me so I still run into him in local towns and stop for a chat. The big day for us all was Freetown winning the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham trained by Lenny Lungo.

He mentions his Welsh mate Simon Smith. I remember being at Wolverhampton one afternoon in November 1992, when the pair of them backed Roy Brotherton's Hand In Glove at 100/1 in the claiming hurdle. I knew they'd backed it, and I knew they were shrewd, but I couldn't for the life of me see why.

https://www.racingpost.com/results/95/wolverhampton/1992-11-09/48668

The thing had three 'P's in front of its name, and subsequently never got closer than 48 lengths to the winner. But it did the business that day, and saw off my bet of £350 to £100 each way the second. I was seething. How dare other punters back 100/1 winners! That's my game!

Oh well. Thirty years on, and we're all still here. Including Roy Brotherton. One 100/1 winner a decade seems to be what keeps him in the game. Well done to Simon and Andy for sorting out that particular one.

SBTW

Did you get a mention in the first part.

hope you are well
regards

Ronnie.

Oh! I hadn't looked at the first part, ronnie. I just saw your mention of the old timers in part 2 and thought, "That's my sort of thing!"

I have to rely on YouTube subtitles though. I barely understood a word Andy ever said even while I still had some hearing. He used to jabber away nineteen to the dozen, with the phone constantly ringing throughout.

Mentioned Eddie Baxter a lot for opening up earliest, always Hemmings & Franks when I was betting on course, but Avalon always laid me a bet.

Sctw  he mentioned many well known people from the betting ring in the 80s great days sad to say  gone forever Ronnie

Oh yes! Hovering over Eddie Baxter's pitch alongside Eddie Fremantle at Newton Abbot in the August sunshine thirty-plus years ago. Almost sending the Avalon joint flying trying to get a hundred pounds to six each way about something. Then watching it open at fives with Jack Bevan (Harry Metcalfe), Frank Angliss (Ivor Perry), etc.

I don't think racing or betting ever got better than that.

(Did any of those men actually bet under their own name in those days?)

I was at Ivor Perry's funeral at Yeovil crematorium back in December 2019. It was standing room only, with mourners lined up either side of the seated congregation. Fremantle nudged me and said, "Have you noticed? All the punters have lined up on one side, and all the bookies and workmen on the other." We just did it automatically. It could have been D&E or Taunton thirty years earlier, the two sides facing each other, no one making a move until Eddie Avalon picked up his chalk and carefully opened that little notebook where he kept his prices.

I vaguely remember Redfern, Dave Pipe & Bob Pittard working alongside one another. Who was the tall fellow with specs who always stood next to Bevan? He had the same surname as another bookie I believe.

Was he another Redfern?

Bernard Redfern obvs the father of the delightful Anthea of Bruce Forsyth fame.

I only remember 2 'old' bookies, both from Bolton dogs.

Pat Whelan seemed like a decent bloke, Maurice Lindsay seemed like a tw@t!
Just my opinion.

enjoyed the andy smith one genuine but i must say its easy to spot the bluffers the cann berry ones lol he spends 10 hours a day editing the videos sure he has time to be a pro lol, never anything live all recorded and edited, shows it in a better light

Part 3 is up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiOGlcqaZA0

Ainsworth (w/o fav or forecast); Swain; Hynes; Brown (A) - the halcyon days of Westhoughton dogs

Part 3 is great. Especially about losing and chasing.

"We go there and have a picnic and 15 pints of cider.........."

Part 4 is up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW0H1A82rNc

I guess a lot of you who know Andy are bookmakers. As a a small owner and punter for 30 years, I knew quite a lot of on course bookies and found it easy to like most of them. Ivor Perry had horses in training with Jim Old at the same time as me so I knew him a bit.

Screaming
He mentioned you're name in part 2, along with some other punters.

I'm sure this has been posted on here before, but some of the names mentioned above appear in this old Pathe News clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6_ncpRRV0A

Who was the other party in the slander/defamation of character case mentioned in part 4?

Have a feeling it was Geoff Banks

He mentioned he lived down Wentworth way

Sounds like a p1sshead who did a bit of betting in between benders! I've never understood why some blokes want to brag about their inability to hold their drink.

whose this jonny lights character gets a mention in all these interviews

Yeah I think Johnny Lights was a bookie/punter.

Fashion Fever
I just bumped up a thread
Best gambler you know personally worth a read.

Mark DM your number

some one done there money to lights , its was doodos but it was the aa team from islington money , so thay put it on lights for there money back

https://geoffbanksracing.com/2017/01/08/sharp-practice/   After reading that i'm guessing its Geoff Banks who brought defamation proceedings against Andy.

John Humbrell was a market trader who **** up his stall with rows of electric light bulbs and hence his nickname as 'Lights' an exellent punter who used to be a regular at southern tracks.

Last saw him at Brighton a few years ago now though