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Thanks for that Himself. Everyone remembers the big winners like Grand Nationals, Gold Cup, Derby etcetera. However I’m glad someone remembers those not world beaters.
A decent handicapper was my impression when I backed him.
Racing Daily I remember Apple Wine and had the best forecast bets of my life on him.
Not the biggest return but the biggest for the stake I’d put on.
Everyone was telling me to back this or that. I completely ignored them and with only a few pence in my pocket did Apple Wine and Tony in a 10p reverse forecast for 20p. It was when they used to declare the dividend to ten pence instead of a pound like nowadays. The dividend paid £21.00.
I have won more but never at the same ratio.I also remember those Flyscreens being in vogue in the summer months for a while.
I don’t recall Apple Wine, but remember No Bombs and Janus well. There were some great sequence horses in those days too(Provideo being the one which sticks most firmly in my mind). Favourite Handicapper would be Rambo’s Hall who I backed at decent odds in the Cambdridgeshire one year. It was soft going and he had it won a long, long way out.
I also remember those Flyscreens being in vogue in the summer months for a while.
I don’t recall Apple Wine, but remember No Bombs and Janus well. There were some great sequence horses in those days too(Provideo being the one which sticks most firmly in my mind). Favourite Handicapper would be Rambo’s Hall who I backed at decent odds in the Cambdridgeshire one year. It was soft going and he had it won a long, long way out.
If I remember rightly, Apple Wine was the horse that won Aldaniti’s comeback race after his injury and before his National win. You might even hear him mentioned in the film ‘Champions’
I joined Ladbrokes at the age of 17 to train as a settler ready for working in a shop from my 18th birthday.
Many of the ‘oldtimers’ like me could write a book. Punter came to the payout saying "I’ve lost my ticket" The cashier passes him a pink claims form saying "Write it out on that please". Punter returns a minute later and hands over form which says "I’ve lost my ticket".
I recall in the days before settling machines, many a hard shift when results went against you: Red Rum’s Scottish Grand National victory in 1974 sticks in my mind on a day littered with winning favourites. My Saturday settling assistant called off sick and I think it was about 7 that evening before I finished settling more than 2,000 slips.
We had plenty laughs, a few shocks (including a shotgun in my face during a robbery)though I couldn’t handle now the barrage of ‘betting events’ shop staff contend with.
When I started working in shops, dog racing took place only on Tuesdays and Saturdays; if racing was abandoned, we went to the pub.
Ladbrokes had a long-standing face-off with striking staff in the 70s, determined not to give in to unionisation. Management were virtually stopping people in the street and asking if they wanted a job. They had training schools set up in major towns and cities to educate the newcomers.
One young American recruited during his ‘gap year’ was trying to understand the intricacies of greyhound racing. When the training manager finished his spiel on it he asked for ‘any questions’: the Yank piped up "Who rides the little critters?"
Happy days
- Total Posts 102
According to some old timers "BC" Actually meant "Before Camera" a mystical time where Managers had exotic holidays and the latest Jaguar.
I went to Hill House in the middle 70s straight from School, you had to achieve a 98% score to pass the settling test then and only two of us on the course managed that.
I managed my 1st shop in Pentonville road for Playboy at the age of 18(basically the shop was robbed and i volunteered) so that was an interesting place to start.
The only thing "Touchy feely" about relations between staff and customers was when someone belted the other, in those days although there were some great times, a note with the word "Sub" and a amount was a common sight in the till.
Staff stayed longer and you looked after the good ones, Managers meetings were events which were a Landlords dream as vast amounts of alcohol were consumed usually ending up with a couple sleeping either with a counterhand or in the shop.
A great result on a saturday after 3.00 pm was a horse that didnt start fav with a name longer than five letters
I also remember those Flyscreens being in vogue in the summer months for a while.
I don’t recall Apple Wine, but remember No Bombs and Janus well. There were some great sequence horses in those days too(Provideo being the one which sticks most firmly in my mind). Favourite Handicapper would be Rambo’s Hall who I backed at decent odds in the Cambdridgeshire one year. It was soft going and he had it won a long, long way out.
If I remember rightly, Apple Wine was the horse that won Aldaniti’s comeback race after his injury and before his National win. You might even hear him mentioned in the film ‘Champions’
The only thing wrong with Champions was they didn’t use actual footage of the race. I’m sure with kind permission that the Beeb would have gladly give them a copy of it. Seen as it was about Bob Champion’s fight against cancer.
Here by you tube is the actual race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj8bjWTQSU4Great thread ….my first visit was in a Dublin village called Clondalkin, (its a heaving place now )in 1964 , the extel commentaries were legend ..the settler did everything by mental arithmetic , no settling machines yet invented …the Jumping was the most popular by a street
I was oblivious to smoke then as it was a bit of a secret haven , but for all its faults , surely 100 times better than now , FOBT machines and cartoon racing ..sanitized coffee , and staff who look so bored its painful to be there
Ricky
Mr Gifford gave a talk at our racing club a year or so ago, and said that ‘Champions’ had been an incredibly good film but had been changed to suit the American market. Pity they didn’t do ‘directors cuts’ in those days. As for Dublin betting shops, during my search for ‘the place where Mill House was born’
we chanced upon a bookies that looked as if it hadn’t changed in 30 years…piles of racing papers everywhere and a good crowd of people.
The one I picked was no world beater by any means and probably no one on here remembers him, but he was called NO BOMBS.
On the contrary, I remember No Bombs very well. He was a decent handicapper trained by Peter Easterby and was sometimes ridden by Mark Birch.
wasn’t No Bombs the other one famous for a Mars bar incident ?
I frequented betting shops around New Cross, Lewisham and Blackheath when at Uni in SE London. In those days you still couldn’t see into such places from the street outside.
Smoke filled (not always just tobacco smoke either). Retired old boys, jobbing painters and plasterers, Irish lads, West Indian fellas, ocassional hardmen and gangsters. A drunk now and then and assorted wastrels and wagerers and whiners and bullshitters. No respectable citizen would be seen in one.
Happy Days!
John Samuels has a great book out which you can get from Racing Post books. ‘Down the Bookies’ the first 50 years of betting shops.
I have to admit I know John, (and my copy was free !) but it’s a great read for anyone with an interest in or affection for this great British institution.
I frequented betting shops around New Cross, Lewisham and Blackheath when at Uni in SE London. In those days you still couldn’t see into such places from the street outside.
Smoke filled (not always just tobacco smoke either). Retired old boys, jobbing painters and plasterers, Irish lads, West Indian fellas, ocassional hardmen and gangsters. A drunk now and then and assorted wastrels and wagerers and whiners and bullshitters. No respectable citizen would be seen in one.
Happy Days!John Samuels has a great book out which you can get from Racing Post books. ‘Down the Bookies’ the first 50 years of betting shops.
I have to admit I know John, (and my copy was free !) but it’s a great read for anyone with an interest in or affection for this great British institution.
And the waiters from the local Chinese restaurant putting £500win on the first favourite they see? Never would a day pass in my local when some Chinese guy dressed in a violet and black uniform and bow tie walk in and lump a wedge of cash on a 5/2 fav somewhere on the card. Money to burn?
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