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This time of year always reminds me of finding an obscure horse called Barizan whilst looking at the form for the Triumph the night before the race; was convinced I’d unearthed the winner at a big price and then had to watch him lead the whole field a merry dance the next day, only to be beaten by a Henderson horse in the dying strides of the race. Why do the ones you lose always stay in the memory more than the winners?
A thread for aftertiming. It’s amazing labaik went off at price he did. Pretty much the whole of Twitter backed him.
I had a 50p SF roll up the day Love Divine won the Oaks. I had Calypso Katie to be second and she was. I ended up with £450 running on as a SF on a Willie Haggas 2YO to beat Mark Johnstons runner. They were 1st and …………………………………..3rd.
Safe to say I would have had a dream return for 50p.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
1993/1994. As a young croupier in Mayfair in 1993, me and a friend were given some information about two horses, by a very successful high stakes player/gambler. He’d had a very good night, was a little bit drunk, but told us to get as much money as we could on a horse called Moorcroft Boy for the following Springs National. At the time, he had only ran two races under rules, having a hunter chase back ground. The other horse was an un raced Stoute talking colt, called Green Green Desert, who was to be backed for the same springs 2000 guineas. 25-1 was secured on the Stoute horse, 33-1 on Moorcroft Boy (It could have been the other way round pricewise). Lots of singles, and quite a few doubles, all very stupidly to win. The Stoute horse came out in Oct, impressively winning in a backend Newmarket maiden,spent the Winter as the 4-1 fav for the 2000. Moorcroft Boy had gone on a winning spree (all backed by us) went off 5-1 fav for the national, jumped the last in the lead. For a few minutes in time, I was going to be stinking rich (in 20yo terms). Minniholma got him on the run in, he finished third. Green Green Desert turned out to be the biggest dodge pot going, and never ran in the 2000. Moorcroft Boy was my favourite NH horse, whom I followed every time he ran after our initial national bets on him. He more than paid for those bets and then some.
Biggest wins, Wichita Lineman in the William Hill, and Strong Flow in the Hennessy.
Alright chaps, some top quality stories on here, if anymore come to memory then please share? Also, what’s the most you’ve ever won on one race or in one day whilst gambling on racing or another sport?
Cheers,
Sass
As a teenager in the mid eighties I used to spend 35p of my weekly £1 pocket money on a 5p patent.
This was usually put on by the local bookie’s runner Sid who trawled around the local estate picking up scraps of paper with bets on from the old, in-firmed, lazy or the too young to bet (like me, my brother and best friend).If we happened to miss Sid, it then meant one of us having to dash to the local betting shop, an independent called Reuben Raine (run by his son Ashley) located in an old prefab outside one of the many Working Men’s clubs in the area. Once there you’d have to knock on the door and nervously hand over the slip with the money to whoever opened it and ask them to put it on for your ‘Dad’.
In the summer the door would be open to let the fug of smoke out and a bit of light and fresh air in, and we’d often stand outside and listen to the blower, hoping to hear your horse mentioned and if it wasn’t you could always imagine it travelling with a double handful in behind waiting to pounce, which it never was.
Anyway I digress, on this occasion Sid had collected the bet and all three, for the one and only time during those teenage years, came in. Chrysaor at 16/1, Playschool at 11/1 and Thats Your Lot a John Francombe trained juvenile at 25/1. I’d won £315 for my 35p even now the best ROI I’ve ever achieved.
For the rest of the weekend I worried that Sid hadn’t put the bet on and pocketed the cash, there were always stories that he’d been known to do that or to apply what was known as Sid Tax where he’d skim some off the winnings hoping no one would notice or say anything. Worse still what if Mr Raine junior refused to pay due to me being under age and then refusing to take any more of our bets.
I needn’t have worried and after an endless day at school on Monday I got home to find a brown envelope with the winnings in, all of it, thank you Sid, God Rest Your Soul…
Back in the early 90’s one of the oldest punters in my shop picked out a mix of Pat Eddery and Willie Carson mounts out from a Bank Holiday Monday set of fixtures. Had he stuck to the 10X10p doubles only he wouldn’t have done much damage but he had also stuck a 10p EW roll up on.
All five horses won and the 10p acca came to over £900, boosting his winnings, for £1.32 staked, to coppers over £988.
As I was counting out the winnings to him, he stopped me at £900 and said, “That’s plenty for me son, keep the rest” Pointing out the madness of such a tip was futile and he promised he would never come back if I didn’t keep the money. A crusty old guy with one tooth left and a heart of gold.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
best on boxing Mayweather to stop Hatton
Fielpe Toro( Not sure of spelling) to win the Portland, was at a sandown evening meeting and John Lowe was heading towards esher train station I kindly carried his saddle and he said this would win. Strange race as it was started by flag that year,if my memory serves my correctly.
One that hurt had a shares in some horses with John Spearing and was told he was going to have a touch with one at Folkestone (Shari Lousie) got beat in a seller week previous we backed it down from 25s only get beat a head. A young Gary Hind rode it
To many others to mention but all great fun
Never really had any monster wins on horses although like everyone I’ve been close. Closest was probably a 3 out of 4 on a lucky 15 on the Breeders Cup one year. Was a decent return, especially as I know sod all about US racing, but nothing like it might have been. Although the loser wasn’t a hard luck story, it was nowhere.
My sports betting highlight is undoubtedly the weekend that involved an ante post bet on Bayern to win the Champions League coming to fruition (the year they absolutely walloped Barcelona in the semis) as well as a lump on Froch to beat Kessler by decision in their rematch which took place the same night. Friend (read drinking partner) of mine also had decent weekend of punting and we did our best to spend it by Monday morning. Good times.
Not a best punt, wins and losses but a good story
2006 and Celtic had just been knocked out the Scottish Cup in the early rounds.
Gretna at the time were 2 leagues off the summit but had got promotion the year before and were going to be going up again and I thought were worth a poke with Celtic out at something like 66/1 had a fiver on it.
They get to the final and are big underdogs against Hearts. I went up the bookies with the intention to find a cover bet but for whatever reason ended up doing a fun bet on Gretna to win on penalty’s in a double with Liverpool to win on penalty’s. The English FA Cup final was on the same day and both games kicked off at about the same time.
BOTH ended up going to penalty’s, Liverpool won….. but Gretna lost
Even though Gretna had got beat because Hearts were already in Europe via a league place it meant Gretna ended up qualifying for the UEFA Cup and were drawn against Derry (I thought it was Linfield but just looked it up) and I fancied them to win the 1st leg strongly they were on the betting coupon at odds of 10/11 or something like that which was value with a capital V. I went to the cash point and took out £200 which is a massive bet for me. My hands were shaking as I hand the coupon over with the money. I was walking towards the door when I looked at the slip and it said Gretna to win with the odds of 1/5
I took it back along with another coupon to show the odds but was told the odds were wrong and the chap ended up showing me on a screen the price change. Why he couldn’t have done that when I was placing the bet I don’t know but ended up saying I didn’t want the bet and got a refund.
Anyway the score of the match was Gretna 1 Derry 5…….
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Alright chaps, some top quality stories on here, if anymore come to memory then please share? Also, what’s the most you’ve ever won on one race or in one day whilst gambling on racing or another sport?
Cheers,
Sass
Nice thread to post Sass, I’ve enjoyed reading some of the success stories and also the
woes that definitely go with gambling. Probably the most important bet I had, because of
my situation at that time, was Nortons Coin in the Gold Cup in 1990. I had 2 kids, a big
mortgage, and a wife that had gone back to Uni to get a degree. In short, with one wage
coming in, we were major skint. I was working on the day of the Gold Cup, but managed to
sneak off to put my bet on in Ladbrokes. As probably everyone here knows, he won at 100/1,
but Ladbrokes on the morning of the race went 200/1. It wasn’t a big bet, a fiver e/w, but
the return gave me some much needed breathing space. I couldn’t get out of work that day
without putting up a 40 ozer and 2 slabs of beer. It wouldn’t have been my biggest return,
but probably the one I’m most fond of.As for the ones that “got away”, well botchy has already mentioned Golden Chieftan, I think
the pair of us cried into our beer for weeks after that one, we both couldn’t believe when
he came down at the last, when he would have have time to walk in and still win. That was
sore, but My biggest loser, in as far as what I was getting back, was Unowhatimeanharry in
the Stayers last year. I had talked him up in here, and had backed him several times at odds
from 33/1 down. He went off favourite, but I knew well before the end he didn’t look right,
it was the only race that got away from him last year. He would have been my biggest individual
horse win had he won that.As you ask what’s the most won on one day on a non horse related bet, that’s quite an easy one
to answer, it was this week. I backed Louis De Jager in the 1st round betting in the Tshwane
Open, he was 90/1 with Paddy Power and I had 15 quid e/w on him. It’s all documented in Darren’s
Sports Bets thread, as you know because you also post on it, and it netted me £1,717.50. I’m
hoping that I can beat that today, because I also backed Shubankar Sharma in the WGC Mexico
Championships at 175/1, 10 quid e/w, again with Paddy Power, and again it’s well documented in
Darren’s thread. They go into the final round on Sunday, and he’s leading at 13 under, 2 clear
of the field. If he keeps his bottle, and has luck on his side, it would then become my biggest
non horse related bet. He’s got a pile of the world’s finest just behind him, and it’s his first
start on the Pga Tour, so it would make some story for this unassuming really likable 21 year old,
who until recently played all his golf in India. I’ll keep my fingers crossed
This isn’t one I was involved in (will never let myself forget that) but it’s a good story so I’ll tell it anyway. Used to go to the local paddy power shop a lot with a mate and we were very much regulars there (about 5 years ago maybe a bit less) and there were a good bunch of regulars there who would bet on the horses and have a good laugh together. The guys who worked there were also really nice and loved a bet on the horses too so it made for a great atmosphere……oh just realised I’m on my phone so can’t do paragraphs so apologies for this. Anyway one of the guys that worked that (we’ll call him Fred). Anyway around January time one year Fred says “my relatives other half works in the gay Kelleway stable and she has a horse that will won on debut in a few months time at odds of 25/1” I said thanks for Fred remind me closer to be time. Anyway it comes to April or may and Fred says “that horse is running in 2 weeks time don’t forget!” I was very sceptical so told him thanks mate I’ll get on it if I can, anyway 2 weeks later I go back in and he says “it’s out in 2 days time, we are all lumping on!” At this point though I was 5 or so days from payday and only had a tenner to my name and was too embarrassed to tell him so just said “oh yeah nice one I’ll back it”. 2 days later I’m at work and get a call from my mate who I’d go to paddy power with, I pick up the call and all I can hear is some enormous roar of people in the bookies, high fives all around, my mate told me “Fred’s come from behind the counter and is doing cartwheels around the shop!!!”. The horse did indeed go off at 25/1 and hacked up haha!! Love racing tales like this even though I wasn’t on.
HAha Nath not sure why but that story just reminded me of another sickener I had, about 4 years ago I had an £80 accumulator on 6 NFL teams to win, it gets to half time in all the games (they all kicked off at the same time) and all my teams were losing, if I remember correctly 3 of them were losing by 20 points or more. I look at the cash out offer (as I’d placed the bet online) and they were offering me £30. I thought to myself “Jesus £30? Was expecting a fiver!” And duly cashed the bet out, laughing to myself at how the bookies had given me £30 for a bet that was never coming in. Anyway fast forward an hour and a half later and all of my teams came back to win, the bet would have returned £2500! LOL!!!!
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