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A post by Moehat, on another thread started me thinking about happy past memories of racing.
I’d be interested to hear of others first happy memories of going racing.
My own, for what its worth, was a family picnic when I was a child. If memory serves me right, it was a brilliant summer day, and we were sat on the hill inside the track at Cartmel. I seem to recollect a horse called Toughie running, and being ridden that day by Bob (B.R.) Davies.Watching Arkle at Kempton on a black & white TV the year he broke down in the King George V ‘Chase.
being at navan racecourse with my father and my brother my dad asked us to pick a horse each in the last race and mine won i was delighted i probably picked a load of losers in the other races as well but you never remember them
Seeing a horse called Patchoulis Pet walk round the paddock at Uttoxeter. Of all the horses I’ve seen since then,his name stuck in my memory [probably because I’ve got a bottle of patchouli oil in the kitchen and I think of him whenever I see it]. Trouble is I’ve just looked him up on TRP and he doesn’t seem to exist, and I didn’t buy racecards in those days. Just arriving at Uttoxeter for an evening meeting and seeing actual real live racehorses in the flesh; I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
I remember things now in an inaccurate manner.However I remember Bunny Cox riding Teapot for Vincent at Baldoyle,(I was there that day)prior to riding at the Liverpool Festival,that is probably my oldest memory. I remember M.Molony riding the winner of the 15 Hundred at The Park.Later he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Silver Fame.He rode both rules.He and Con Martin were my sport heroes.Con died quite recently,Martin is still with us.
I was a late comer to racing and was probably into my 30s before taking any interest……..that was in the 1980s
From the era before I was interested i remember Foinavon’s grand national and Red Rum, I knew of Arkle and Scobie Breasley and Lester Piggott and Brigadier Gerard…………
I can’t have understand betting because i distinctly remember a conversation with my Mum upon hearing on the radio that Brigadier gerard had won another race………..I postulated that everyone in the country should put all their money on Brigadier Gerard then everyone would be rich…………..
I clearly remember Arkle’s first Gold Cup, watching in my Aunties house after school. I have a vague recollection of Team Spirit’s Grand National, and wondering if the riderless horses counted.
My first memory of horse racing existing was an arcade machine at the local sideshows in the 1960’s. This machine had several horses on a carousel with various numbers of nags for the different Jockeys. As I remember you placed one old penny on the jockey of your choice and were rewarded with different amounts depending which jockey won. Because there were different numbers of each jockey, the ones that paid out the most were rarer and came in less often. If I recall correctly the jockeys were:-
Wragg- win 2p
Smyth- win 2p
Smirke- win 4p
Piggott- win 6p
Breasley- win 12p (A shilling in old money)No doubt our own Gingertipster could have found a sure fire way of finding the value, but I did pretty well out of it myself for a primary school kid, with an almost Rainmanesque ability to follow the sequence, and it got to a stage where grown men were following my bets. I even think there was a whiff of a large cigar and a "Now then, now then, young man" from one of my dedicated followers
That scenario would never have seen the light of day in these politically correct times.
Looking back, I suppose it was the Virtual Racing of its day, a race every few minutes, fixed odds, no fallers etc, and in a way we have come full circle.
It would be several years later before I placed my first bet in a real race, backing The Dikler each way the 1973 Grand National. A portent of things to come he finished 5th and they were paying 4 places!!
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
1972 Derby – aged 5, Piggott lifting Roberto over the line to victory. The pom pom on John Galbreath’s colours triggered my fascination with owners’ colours. My dad explained to me the owner had also owned two Kentucky Derby winners in the 1960s (Chateaugay and Proud Clarion) which triggered a fascination with American racing – very timely considering the Triple Crown of 1973. Finally I immediately became aware of the geniuses of Piggott and O’Brien and quickly learnt their influence over the game at that time.
Watching the ITV7 and seeing horses with unusual names such as W Six Times and Hellcatmudwrestler running at Wetherby.
Also at Wetherby seeing a race between Burrough Hill Lad & Wayward Lad (Charlie Hall?) with the former winning easily.
Arkle against Mill House in the 1964 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Watched it on the little black and white TV in my grandmother’s riverside cottage in Berkshire.
Live Racing (details slightly sketchy) – A trip to the Ascot Heath meeting the day after the Royal Ascot meeting. It was either 1968 or 1989 and I do remember my grandfather backed Bradfield on my behalf in the Halifax Stakes. The horse was named after my home village and was placed third at 100/6. Bradfield was trained by George Todd who trained a number of horses named after villages local to us, I remember Bucklebury and Thatcham as others.
Rob
My earliest racing memory was sitting on the settee in our living room and seeing my Dad yelling at the telly and the words of ‘grey some bread’ being shouted. At the time (being a toddler), I put 2 + 2 together and thought my Dad had something wrong with his dinner, food or something like that.
Later, I asked my Dad what had got him so mad but it turned out that he wasn’t mad at all. In fact, he was cheering on a horse named Grey Sombrero. Funny thing is, I don’t remember seeing the horse
Living in Scotland, where there are only a handful of racecourses, I mostly watched racing on the telly. Those grainy monochrome images of Santa Claus, Gay Trip, Sea Bird, Arkle, Mill House, Foinavon et al are indelibly stamped on my mind.
The first live race meetings I attended were at Ayr.
I remember vividly watching from the stands as Peter O’Sullevan’s Be Friendly won the Ayr Gold Cup. Coincidentally, the same year as my football team won the European Cup, as I recall.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
I vaguely remember watching racing on a sunny day when I was about four – no idea what the meeting was, or anything like that, though!
Move forward a couple of years, and the first race I remember watching was the 1988 Grand National, with Rhyme’n’Reason winning.
BlueSky @pghenn.bsky.social
So don't run, just like the others always do
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