Interesting article

warren buffett did the same in his time.

$8.5m over 2 years!

great story alright.cheers for putting it up here

THIS ARTICLE WAS WROTE BY THE CAPTAIN IN 2003
AT Punchestown on Sunday a horse called You Need Luck ran his usual genuine race for owners Liam Brady and Gerard Shevlin and trainer Jessica Harrington.
The solid form of the son of Key Of Luck - third at Galway, second at Down Royal - suggested he should run into a place, even in the competitive, 25-runner three-year-old hurdle.

He finished fourth, a curse to those off-course who backed You Need Luck each-way; but this was a boon to 'The Stoopers'.

This is the name given to that extraordinary group of people who scavenge the racecourses of Ireland picking up Tote tickets their original owners have discarded as worthless.

There is no mystery to the name. The Stoopers simply stoop down after every race and examine tickets in case they are winners.

Non-handicaps with big fields are fertile ground for Stoopers. Many who back a horse placed fourth still do not realise that the Tote pay on the fourth horse.

There are dedicated Stoopers. One man is said to take his children to the races for the sole purpose of Stooping.

The family pick up ALL discarded tickets, return to their Limerick home, and scrutinise the day's takings.

Instead of doing their homework, the children are examining Tote tickets; and it can be highly lucrative, according to one source.

It may be that the days of the Stoopers are numbered, according to Tote Ireland boss John White who confirmed the phenomenon.

"I know of the practice, if not by that particular name", says the Tote supremo. He adds: "It is not the big business that it used to be.

"Contract cleaners are so quick off the mark at race meetings these days that the tickets are more likely to be hoovered up and destroyed.

"You might say that the sweepers are putting an end to the Stoopers!".

But Stooping means the Tote have very few unclaimed tickets, and certainly nothing of the volume of the high street betting shops.

John White is excited about the figures being produced by the Tote. "This year, we are looking at a €3m increase in turnover in the home product and €1.5m in imported sales."

TAKEN FROM THE INDO(JOHN MARTIN NOV 2003)

Chucked away a tote slip at gowran park yrs ago worth over 500 notes. It was a forecast my brother had done, and him being a novice asked me to check it. I had the wrong result in my head somehow, told him it lost. Only spotted it two days later when looking at the results in the paper. Never told him ;)

There is still one dedicated stooper at most Irish meetings. All the regulars know him. And he ain't short a buck or two!!

the day celtic swing was beaten in the guineas, there was a 4 horse race chase at Uttoxeter

Strath Royal won it with River Tarquin second

River Tarquin was disqualified and the forecast of 1.80 was paid out on Strath Royal with anyone

I had teamed him with Gallateen who was pulled up.

Docket had been thrown in a heap on the floor the size of a snow drift.

Got paid anyway, but I'd sat there were a fair few winning dockets in the bin that day.

there's a lad from kerry that does it at the big festivals...you would be surprised how many winning tote dockets dont get cashed!

Poohna owns the Tote.