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Recent threads looking back at racing and horses past have seemed popular, so here’s another – I hope the personal elements entwined in this one don’t spoil the story.
The recent publicity that brought the name of Ken Cunningham-Brown back into the news prompted me to look back at the career of his best horse, one that provided a landmark in my betting career and who also holds what I suspect may be a rare place in Cheltenham festival history.
Dancing Paddy was a son of moderate sire Nordance, out of a Niniski mare that had raced without winning for Major Hern. He made his debut as a 2-y-old for trainer Julian Czerpak, finishing last in a maiden at Nottingham, then reappeared the following year for Ken Cunningham-Brown, who handled him for the rest of his long career. He also ran in the same colours throughout apart from that 2-y-old race, the green, black hollow box, of Bychance Racing.
His flat career as a 3-y-old was a non event, although he did show some promise when 4th of 20 in a 2M handicap at Warwick, the first time he managed to get to the lead in the closing stages of a race. But hurdling immediately proved a different proposition, 4th in a big field at Kempton on debut and then he had the misfortune to run into the subsequent Triumph Hurdle winner in a £1900 to the winner juvenile contest at Hereford. I was there that afternoon in December 1991 and liked what I saw from a horse that jumped fast and low and showed a good attitude when headed.
I had been made redundant at the end of November and by that day at Hereford, I’d more or less decided to try my hand at full time punting, which I eventually did from Jan 1st, 1992. As part of setting myself up for that, I ordered the SIS replay service, which offered a full rerun of all the days racing shown at 10pm each evening and lasting as long as it took. It required a 5ft diameter brilliant white dish to be erected outside and cost the princely sum of £900 p.a., but I considered it a worthwhile investment.
So I was able to see Dancing Paddy’s performance at Newton Abbot on Boxing Day, even though I’d been elsewhere, and watched another fluent round of jumping produce an 8L win as 5/4 fav. The first few days of January 1992 were quick to remind me that simply calling yourself professional doesn’t automatically translate to success, so I was delighted to find Dancing Paddy declared to run at Fontwell on Monday 13th. The race looked competitive, but that at least ensured I’d get a price and I was pretty sure his jumping would be superior to his main rivals.
I’d managed to back two losers before his race that afternoon, but hit the ring full of bravado (i.e desperate and chasing) and my diary shows one bet of £500/100, one bet of £900/200 and two bets of £800/200. Dancing Paddy and Richard Guest didn’t let me down, making all the running and using a tactic that Guest later passed on to McCoy, quickening into the first hurdle on the final circuit and stealing a six length lead with a fast jump. Never troubled thereafter, he won by 8 lengths and I finally had the first winner of my new career.
Dancing Paddy went on to have a remarkable career encompassing 67 races over obstacles, showing himself just as good over fences, where he scored his only Graded race success (also the only one for his trainer) in the Future Champions Novice Chase at Ayr in April 1995. Earlier that year, he ran what I still reckon was his finest race, when third in the Pendil Novices Chase at Kempton, giving 12lbs to the winner Brief Gale and 7lbs to Kadi, beaten just over two lengths. The first two went on to win the Sun Alliance Chase and the Mildmay of Flete respectively on their next start and if Dancing Paddy had managed a better jump at either of the last two fences, he would have beaten them.
His own Cheltenham festival record was dire in terms of performance, but he turned up there for six consecutive years from 1992 to 1997, running in five different races, all at the 2M trip. He tried his hand in the Triumph Hurdle, the County Hurdle (twice), the Arkle, the Champion Chase and the Grand Annual. A feat that would be much easier nowadays, with so many more races to choose from, but probably unique at the time.
The only sad part of the Dancing Paddy story is that he ended up running in selling handicap hurdles as a 13-y-old before finally being retired. But how many horses go from three to thirteen with one trainer and one owner and get to the end in one piece? He wasn’t quite a star in the broader sense, but I’ll never forget him and I’ve little doubt the same can be said for his connections.
Entertaining and valuable insight into the early days of a long career as a pro punter, Alan. Given your meticulous record=keeping, I’m sure you could write an excellent book.
And you’re right – there are few Dancing Paddys around, though they’re all the more memorable when they do come along
Interesting read Alan. In relation to going full time in 1992, did you find it liberating being your own boss and as enjoyable and satisfying as you had hoped it would be, or did the pressure of having to be successful to put food on the table detract to a point where it largely negated the positive side of the profession.
In the current betting landscape would you be going pro on January 1st 2016 if you were made redundant in November 2015?
Hi Cav,
By 1991, I was already betting to stakes as big as I used once full time, and I’d had my best ever year with over £20k profit by the time I was sacked. So with that in the bank and added to my redundancy payment, I was able to put aside funds to pay my living costs and expenses for at least two years and still have enough capital to bet. Apart from the SIS service mentioned above, the only big outlay was a car to replace my company vehicle.
With no family to support, I can honestly say I felt no pressure in that first year and enjoyed almost all of it. The only time it wasn’t fun was during a long losing run in September that wiped out earlier profits, but even that proved a useful experience for the future. I ended 1992 with a profit of less than a grand, nothing like enough to even cover my racing expenses, let alone living costs. But I’d always expected it would take up to two years to adapt and had no concerns about continuing.
Then in March 1993, I had the Tote Jackpot win that netted me £39k and from that day on, there was never any chance of me rejoining the 9 to 5 world. What would have happened without that score, I simply don’t know.
Would I do it again now – no chance, and that would be true even if I was 44 again! I was very lucky with my timing as the 90’s was just about the ideal time to be an on course punter. Tax free betting, plenty of books willing to lay a decent bet, and with no early warning system to allow them to price up accurately – and best of all, most punters were woefully ill informed about things like draw biases, pace, speed figures, paddock watching etc.
I look back at some of the bets I had and know for certain that the price I got then would simply never be offered today – in fact Dancing Paddy is a prime example of that. If more people had seen what I’d seen at Hereford and Newton Abbot, he’d have been favourite, but there were no racing channels then and no replays available other than by paying that £900 each year. Also his trainer was unknown, whereas the favourite that day was trained by Ian Balding. And what chance now that anybody could back a horse to win three grand (or it’s inflation proofed equivalent) on a January Monday afternoon at Fontwell?
Entertaining and valuable insight into the early days of a long career as a pro punter, Alan. Given your meticulous record=keeping, I’m sure you could write an excellent book.
And you’re right – there are few Dancing Paddys around, though they’re all the more memorable when they do come along
I think he may have written a couple.
… but from my memory, on this memory lane thread, I’m sure AP said he never made any money from those through no fault of his own. Would be good if Alan wrote another that he could make some money from. I would certainly be interested as a long time fan.
Thanks DB (Alan characteristically taking the view Modesty Forbids! – which wasn’t a bad horse at one point if memory serves).
I found both books on Amazon, along with an entertaining review, part of which I quote:
“There do exist slim volumes of esoteric mathematically-based rhetoric of the sort that make the outpourings of Einstein and Russell seem like pulp fiction, but accessible, interesting books about punting are few and far between. This makes Alan Potts’s book, The Inside Track, his second, all the more refreshing. Having seen him on television, I know him to be an unprepossessing character with a dry sense of humour. The very opposite, in fact, of the wide boy image most of us have of a professional gambler. Sky Masterson he ain’t.”
What happened to the 5 foot wide white satellite dish AP? Did you have it on a wall or did you have a big garden?
It was on the wall at the back of my house and fed into the second bedroom, which I had fitted out as a sort of office – all my formbooks, a desk where I could spread out the Sporting Life and a small TV and VHS recorder. I recorded the review program evey evening and had a years worth of VHS tapes on shelves. I’ve still got the tape from the day I hit the Jackpot at Lingfield!
That dish was up for about five years until the live coverage arrived with the original Racing Channel, which was a lot cheaper as well! It was replaced by a standard Sky dish and the big white one went for scrap metal.
Excellent thread, terrific read.
Don’t want to hijack it ap, I have found another photo with no details at all. It looks a lot more modern than the ones you helped with me previously.
Any chance you boys could id this racetrack please?
I was thinking Wincanton, but have never been there so pure guess.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Viltash,
I must have looked in about 60 seconds after you posted that. I reckon you could hardly be further out with the Wincanton guess, as I’m 99% sure that is Perth. Kenneth Bright’s name across the top of the picture tells you it has to be in the North or Scotland as he was was based up there. And there are only two flat right handed jumps tracks in his area, Perth and Musselburgh – and there are no trees at Musselburgh!
But just to check, I had a quick look on Youtube and found this PR video. If you pause this at 1m 31s, you’ll see the same view but taken from further back and a higher angle. Also the enclosure has been extended down to the last hurdle since your picture was taken to make room for that big marquee.
Hello ap.
Thanks a lot for the input.The horse must be one of the later horses trained by Barry Stevens around 1990/91/92. I can only remember the home bred Cobb Gate(named after a place on the front at Lyme Regis) who has to go down as onbe of the most fortunate winners ever. There was another horse with an obscure name.
Flipping eck, youve nailed it to the floor. Just had a search on rp for Barry Stevens runners from that era, it is Alosaili winning.
Perth Result
24 Apr 1991
« 3:15 » Hilltown Property Company Limited Novices’ Hurdle(4yo) 2m Good
£2,302.50, £640.00, £307.50RESULT
RATE RACEHide all comments in running
Show all pedigrees
HORSE/SP AGE WGT TRAINER/JOCKEY OR TS RPR« 1 Alosaili 8/1 4 10-12 B Stevens — * * »
G McCourtAlways prominent, led 3 out, all out
« 2 3 Souter’s Hill (USA) 9/4F 4 11-7 T Craig — * * »
C HawkinsHeld up, effort halfway, hard ridden and hit 2 out, every chance approaching last, no extra
« 3 6 West With The Wind I 5/1 4 10-12 Howard Johnson — * * »
A OrkneyMade most to 3 out, outpaced from next
« 4 15 Edward Seymour (USA) 4/1 4 10-12 S Mellor — * * »
M PerrettEffort 5th, kept on, not pace to challenge
« 5 3½ Key Dear (FR) 50/1 4 10-8over weight3 Sue Bradburne — * * »
J Corkell7Pulled hard, chased leaders until weakened after 3 out
« 6 nk Golden Della 33/1 4 10-0 D Moffatt — * * »
D J Moffatt7Headway 4th, soon chasing leaders, one pace approaching 2 out
« 7 5 Preoblakensky 12/1 4 10-12 G Richards — * * »
N DoughtyHeld up and never placed to challenge
« 8 15 Rapid Mover 50/1 4 11-0over weight2 J K Kinane — * * »
Donal NolanNever troubled leaders
« 9 nk Regal Thatch 25/1 4 10-7 G Richards — * * »
M Moloney5Behind from 4th
« 10 3 Sharp Challenge 50/1 4 10-12 John Wade — * * »
K JonesBehind from halfway
« 11 Virbazar (FR) 33/1 4 10-9 Mrs S A Bramall — * * »
J O’Gorman3Ridden and lost touch 5th
PU Loch Glow 50/1 4 10-7 C J T Alexander — * *
S TurnerSoon tailed off, pulled up before 5th
« PU Kisu Kali 7/1 4 10-12 Charlie Brooks — * * »
Peter ScudamoreHeld up, steady headway 5th, soon chasing leaders, lost place approaching 2 out, pulled up approaching last
« PU Quick Tempo 50/1 4 10-12 Sue Bradburne — * * »
R FaheyProminent to 5th, pulled up before 2 out
« F Piers Delight 50/1 4 10-7 B E Wilkinson — * * »
G HarkerRidden and weakened halfway, tailed off when fell 2 out
« F Eastern Pleasure 33/1 4 10-12 Owen Brennan — * * »
M BrennanDisputed lead 2nd to 4th, soon weakened, behind when fell last
16 ran TIME 3m 51.60s Total SP 123%
1st OWNER: James S Marshall BRED: Mrs S M Rogers TRAINER: B Stevens
2nd OWNER: I Anderson
3rd OWNER: A G WatsonThank you very much.
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