Pro Gambler goes racing in 1981 Interesting clip

Seaside, you are a star, great stuff, thanks for this.

Thoroughly enjoyable, thanks for posting!

No big screens, betting tax, bookies asking how much you want after a win and bookies betting in running . Don't recall seeing the last happening in recent years -does it still happen?

i was expecting Robin Askwith to appear at some stage with some scantily clad lassie and for the pair of them to be at it like bunny rabbits for the next 30 seconds tbh.

Confessions of a Pro-Punter...

Manoleeds , last time I bet in running with a bookie at the track was about 10 years ago at Chepstow with about a circuit to go
It was with Andy Smith and I assumed he had an eye on BF market

It won of course, otherwise I wouldn't be telling you!

I enjoyed that thanks.

Thought some of you would like it I was wondering if the guy is still around

Had loads of bets with the bookie over the years nice guy.

seaside, I posted a snippet of this a while back, so thanks for posting the whole thing.

There were some good and interesting posts on the thread, including one from ged about Alan's life.

I'll bring the thread back up for you - it's called Any old-time pro gamblers looking in?

Cheers, Seaside and George, both threads interesting. Great video to watch. 1981 was the first time I went racing to Ascot in April for a NH meeting. I remember watching Pay Related win the last and sure Spartan Missile ran on the same card and got beat (so soon after his GN exploits). I would love to be able to read through the card or even see the results from that day if they still exist.

Back to the Newton Abbot video, it surprised me just how much racing has transformed over the years, it really does look like a bygone age and reminded me how much more of an edge there was if you put the hours watching races vs all the instance analysis  available nowadays. I'm now watching the Phil Bull Founder of Timeform video again, I had forgotten how good it is.

Storm Alert - yes, Spartan Missile ran on that card, just 11 days after his Aintree 2nd. He was beaten 20 lengths into 2nd by Roadhead over 2.5 miles, but broke down badly in doing so. Pay Related won the last, but was lucky to do so, as the Webber mare Meneblends was clear when taking a fatal fall at the last. Other winners were High Old Time (beat Kintbury, Meistersinger and Walnut Wonder), Abbey Brig, Prayukta and Farmer. Prayukta was ridden by John Francome, who was friendly with Alan and Cynthia Argeband, and played tennis with them. Spartan Missile had to spend 3 months in his box after his injury, but recovered to run again, though not for John Thorne, who died after a ptp fall the following March.

How spooky is this. : Watched this last night as it was on my you tube TV   video feed .Ive never seen it before in my life. Enjoyable watch.

Unfortunately Alan A died a few years ago now (late 2017 early 2018) - the snippett below is from David Pipe website dated 25th Jan 2018

"I was watching the action on the all-weather from Lingfield yesterday afternoon and there was a poignant success when Ay Ay won the 1m2f handicap.  He was named after a good friend of Martin and myself; Alan Argeband who passed away recently.  Alan was a great mate of Harry Redknapp, in fact Alan took us all out for dinner at Rick Stein's for a meal not that long ago.  He was a tremendous racing character and is still very much missed."

real old school pro-gambler by the looks of things, his emotions didnt really change win or lose (ok a bit happier when he won) but he obv knew what he was doing

very interesting clip Seaside thanks for posting

going through the pages on google around pro gamblers,saw a JP headline about an interview saying if he backed a loser ,he didnt have another bet for 2 weeks,does anyone believe if JP backed his fancied horse in the  supreme looked like winning after last,he never had another bet and missed out on 4/5 winners at chelt including 2 that were smashed in the  betting,

Thanks for posting good watch.

sorry to ask again,but how do you open the clip ?

Some proper punting there and thanks for posting, seaside.

1st time, either copy and paste the link into your browser, or go to youtube.com and type

Professional Gambler Mr Alan Argeband & Bookmaker Mr Harry Me

into the search engine then press enter

Thanks ged appreciate the info I still remember the racing that day, being my first live meeting.

I watched the whole thing, and he didn't need to provide even one single bank statement!

Why, back then, were affordability checks not in place for his own protection?

Great watch for us nostalgic types.

Great stuff. The general feeling I get from watching these old clips is that going Horse Racing back then was ALL about the Racing & Punting and nothing else.....the way it should be.

good watch nothing changes with punters  plenty of **** getting spoken
loses £200 on 1st bet,wins £100 on 2nd bet and says he,s price of petrol down on day, £100 bought you a lot of petrol in those days ,where did he drive  to newton abbot from, the shetlands

Special Cargo - if he picks up the bit he'll be all right..

Wonder if Alan got on in-running when SC looked a 66 shot for the Whitbread at the Pond Fence?

was thinking that soft ground at newton abbot,but was a whitbread specialist on faster ground,diamond edge,iettoch in the pink hearts great dats for the whitbread

SOZZ, lettoch wasnt the love hearts getting mixed up with PLUNDERING

not sure you,ll get rich or good adivce certainly in todays punting world to advise people to back horses falling down the handicap,as he found out majority are falling for a reason

Watched it this morning he approached the bookie bevan and asked what price the horse he backed in the last bevan replies 10/1 Alan says it’s 11 on the back ,ok Alan you can have 11s thank you I’ll have a 500 to 55 please that’s a bet

Horse won so it didn’t matter

Yes Jimnast spotted that,it was obviously somewhat staged but still a lovely reminder of those days.

theres a bbccoverage of the 19994 3rd day of the festival on youtube,its an enjoyable watch.its all about the form of all the horses. no interviews pre race,there was a stewards enquiry in the stayers and they were giving prices on the enquiry from the betting ring. good watch.just shows how far away tv coverage of acyual racing events has gone.

Not so good on my fractions, but surely 500/55 is under 10/1. ?

Ambush.
We're they owned by the same guy and may I ask did the books get ir correct.
Have a good day.
Ronnie.

Correct Glasgow 9/1.

9/1 My favourite  racing slang in the shop box of chocolates.

Before  anyone  asks after 8
Have a good day.

avro anson  was first past the post in the stayers ronnie, balasani got it in the stewards room, pipe trained the promoted winner, he was 1to 4 to get it, the excellent graham rock was reporting.at the time it was a 3 day festival with stayers 2nd race on the card, coverage was excellent, i suppose the down side was there were oly 4 races covered each day anf you had to change channel to see race 4, daily express was 30 runner event . mind you mysilv was 2 to 1 fav and won easily,

funny that year pridwell finished 2nd in the supreme and 2 days later ran better than his finishing position of 7 TH IN THE TRIUMPH.

Ambush.
Thanks for taking time to reply  it was not the race I was thinking  of can anybody  help me out was it crimson  embers  think everyone  thought  it was the wrong result.

I think you are thinking of the 1985 Stayers Hurdle. Rose Ravine badly interfered with Crimson Embers. Both horses in the same ownership so no objection, I can't remember if there was a stewards, but if there was, pretty unbelievable they didn't reverse result.

regards newton abbott the punter lost £200 on one race and won a £100 on another and said he was level for the day other than his petrol money,would have went down well on betfair forum everyones a winner even when they lose

Storm.Alert.
Thank you.

Found it on you-tube. Not quite as bad as I remember and would probably just result in a ban for the jockey nowadays! Race also notable for Sir Peter briefly calling the wrong horse after the last...

Storm alert there was a stewards but incredibly the result stood.

backed loser in one race
backed winner inrunning in another race in home straight after backing something else in race
and in last race fancied fav in last but ended up backing 2ew against it
and post racing said his big advantage was he didnt have to bet on every race,if last one had lost,there would probably have been a clip of him playing pitch and toss with nevo and steve palmer in the car park
rather than the disciplained punter he proclaimed pre racing which give him the edge , seemed to have a scattergun approach

Lot of punters lose the head when beaten……

had to look it up ronnie, rose ravine beat its stable companion and kept the race in 1985, there a clip of it , if you look up 1986 stayers hurdle on youtube.

agreed, but its racing/punting  snobbery to say theres always tomorrow and walk away,some well informed punter might go to track to have £500/1000 on a horse but have £20 on every other race and say its just for an interest ,there not really bets etc,etc ,not many have the patience of someone like melish

I think Fulke Walwyn trained CE and RR.

Yep, remember Mallish saying countless times on ruk “I haven’t had a bet”

Decided to turn pro on the Comanche Run result…..7/4 fav….strange game….

This video of Alan Argeband at Newton Abbot appears to have been deleted. Anyone know where I can still find it?