- This topic has 21 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 3 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
We’ve all had that horse, the one that’s let you down in a Yankee, or a big ante-post bet. Or has just lost you face after you’ve told everyone it was the next Arkle.
Let’s have those stories about the horses that have let you down BIG TIME.This is such an easy one for me!!!
16th March 1989
10p e/w yankee and 40p e/w acc
THREE COUNTIES 6/1 WINNER
YAHOO 40/1 SECOND!!!!!
DIXTON HOUSE 10/1 WINNER
OBSERVER CORPS 66/1 WINNERBLOODY DESERT ORCHID !!!!!!!!!!! Cost me OVER A HUNDRED GRAND !!!
That day is etched in my memory!! Thank God it wasn’t the last one in the bet!!
And I tend to forget I still got about seven hundred quid back.And to make matters worse I backed Dessie next time out at Aintree and it fell and YAHOO WON!!
Can’t be the only one but Annie Power checking out at the last meant my £20 accumalator on the first five races went south to the tune of over £2k – you can imagine the fact that I got my £20 back from Paddy Power with their ‘money back special if Annie Power loses’ really didn’t help improve my mood much!
King John’s Castle for refusing to take part in the 2010 Grand National, I truly believed that he would beat Don’t Push It and told everyone to back him.
Will always remember the look on that horses face as he watched the others charge towards the first jump as if to say, ‘Catch me doing that again, no thank you very much…’
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Cheltenham 2008 the THursday, the year the Wednesday was called off with the wind.
Scoop 6
Leg 1 Albertas Run won 4/1
Leg 2 Finger on the Pulse won 9/1
Leg 3 Master Minded won 3/1
Leg 4 Our Vic won 4/1
Leg 5 Inglis Drever won 11/8By this time im a shivering wreck, and needing a wee dram to calm the nerves.
Leg 6 Don’t Push It 5/2 Favourite ……Fell 3 or 4th last, then the dream was over.
Thankfully was backing each of them singly so not total blowout of a ticket
Think bonus pot was sitting around £250k so would have had a chance at that and Win Fund was over £50k,
Another Jade was the horse that killed our dream back in 1993.
Henry Cecil’s Armiger was odds on for the Chester Vase and scanning the card that day my workmate and I concluded the Jackpot was very gettable that day. The trouble was that neither of us had access to a bookmakers offering the Tote Jackpot bet and the local one man operation had told us he wasn’t taking bets on it because of the carry over.
We settled on a tenner accumulator between us and watched as we landed the first five legs at 11/8, 7/4, 4/6, 7/2 and 7/1, which left us waiting on “Honest Alan Jarvis'” Another Jade, the 9/4 favourite in the 6f Handicap which closed the card.
Michael Roberts was on board but it was Darryll Holland on Play Hever Golf who pinged the stalls and went off like a scalded cat. We were praying that the leader would tire but it wasn’t to be. Another Jade stayed on for a clear second place but the winner never wavered and broke the track record off a mark of 75.
Michael Roberts would ride Debutante Days a few years later, coming from an impossible looking position with a withering run to win by a neck, landing me a five horse accumulator that paid more than 500/1. That helped ease the pain slightly but didn’t quite cover my half share in the potential twelve grand had Another Jade won.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
After this particular horse let down my Cheltenham treble in 1981 , I actually received sympathy from the independent bookmaker I had struck the bet with ; he also chided ( nay, ridiculed me ) for backing Little Owl ( just out of novice company and ridden by a amateur, Jim Wilson ) to beat Night Nurse and Silver Buck , two monsters of the National Hunt game .
The galling thing is that the same horse went to Aintree 2 weeks later and hosed up .
The horse in question – Broadsword
Prior to the 1981 festival , I backed a treble prior to the festival : Sea Pigeon @ 5/2 , Broadsword @ 15/8 , Little Owl 7/1
slightly better odds than their starting prices .Trained by David Nicholson and ridden by Peter Scudamore ,
Broadsword was considered something of a good thing to win that year’s Triumph Hurdle .As it turned out , a fairly unknown trainer called Martin Pipe saddled the horse
who would break my heart ; the grey , Baron Blakeney , who at odds of 66/1 stayed up the hill
stronger than Broadsword . I still cry in the dark thinking about it . Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
I’ve hit the crossbar several times in the last year and a bit. I always do an Acca with my Lucky 15, 31 selctions, and had a few times, where one horse has let me down.
Pass Muster – March 2013. The only horse in a Lucky 15, Acca to let me down. A very dubious ride, and it got it’s own thread on Betfair. Cost me about £7000. Made sure I bet him next time, and he, surprise surprise, hacked up at 7’s, sadly I didn’t quite win the 7k on him this time.
First Avenue – April 2014. Waiting on him for £9900, as the last leg in my Acca, but never threatened, and well beaten. Got some consolation that summer, betting him at huge odds on Betfair, and he won at 20’s and 25’s, putting the smile back on my face.
Maccabees – January 2015. Again, last leg of a Lucky 31, and never in contention at Plumpton. Cost me roughly £14000
Udododontu – Royal Ascot 2015, Lucky 31. Had Udodontu at 40’s, and he went agonisingly close, finishing second. Cost me pennies short of £10,000.
Going back a few years, 3 photo finishes in 2011 left me a “tad” upset.
Cheltenham – I’m normally a 10p stake Lucky 15 backer, but on the Friday, I did a 50p win, and £3 Acc on (rough prices) Zarkandar in The Triumph 8’s, Bobs Worth in The Albert Bartlett 3’s, Long Run Gold Cup 9-2, and finally……….Get Me Out Of Here in The County 16’s. The other 3 won, and GMOOH was beaten “a nose”, costing me over £10,000. That GMOOH, at the very least, clearly dead heated, did not help my mood. I still reckon he won.
Aintree October Meeting – The Cockney Mackem also gets beaten a nose in a photo, the only horse to let me down in a Lucky 31, costing me £7,700.
Cambridgeshire – Bet Prince of Johanne at 50’s, and much bigger on BF, and also had Stevie Thunder for the exacta, and I had a very nice return, about 2k. There was a sting in the tail though. I also had Nanton, and another horse for the Trifectas. Nanton was beaten a nose into 4th, costing me a serious return.
1st – Prince of Johanne 40’s
2nd – Stevie Thunder 25’s
4th by a nose – Nanton 33’sThe Tricast paid 13k, The Trifecta was not won, I still think about this one a lot. Had mixed feeling about including this one, having won 2K, but to get a Trifecta like that up, in a race like that, would have been something to dine out on for a good while.
Ante-Post
Antepost betting obviously carries it’s own risk’s, but the 2013 Gold Cup nearly finished me off. I had Katenko to win about 32k, and the plan was to lay off for about 1k @ 12’s, but unfortunately he got Colic the week before, and that was that. Was devastated, he would have routed them in that years GC, they wouldn’t have got near him, and it was a hard one to take. I consoled myself though with having £18 on Sunnyhill Boy @ 1000’s, and I thought he had a squeak. Stupidly told the guys at work about my bet, and excitement was building. Unfortunately though, Davie Russell got injured, leaving the fancied Sir Des Champs without a jockey. This leaves AP free to ride Sir Des Champs, but for already being booked for Sunnyhill Boy. What followed was indefensible, and put racing in a very poor light indeed. Sunnyhill Boy, shock horror, had an “unsatisfactory scope” on the morning of the race, leaving AP free to take the ride on SDC. Very very poor stuff all round, and it left a rotten taste in the mouth, but I at least knew it was coming, and told everybody at work that Sunnyhill Boy would 100% be pulled from the race with a “mystery injury”. I still get people asking me why I knew it would be pulled, and I just tell them that’s the way the game works. I’m over it now, and that’s the risks you take being an avid JP follower haha. I did try to console myself that if Sunnyhill was in with a chance, then AP wouldn’t have been desperate to jump ship, but in that 2012-14 period of poor quality Gold Cups, then I reckon he still had a serious chance.
2014 Grand National. Was very pleased with myself, having managed to identify Double Seven, as the most likely JP candidate for Aintree, from his huge team on candidates, way back in Aug/Sep 2013. Bet him at huge odds during the winter up to 350’s, and stood to win £17,000. Sadly, the very late rain put paid to his chances, but he still ran a cracker to finish 3rd. Consoled myself with a decent lay in running at low odds. Decided after that, never to bet a horse for that amount in The National again. It’s the Biggest race of the year, and sweating during it, deciding when to lay, when I should be enjoying the race, is an experience I don’t want to repeat. Nerve wracking.
2012 Grand National – Seabass. Another I’d highlighted early doors, and was betting him with firms long before he was added to any markets. Sadly, didn’t quite get home, and beaten fair and square. Had the consolation of laying him off in running, and also having bet Neptune Collonges, so not all bad, but if he had got home, even after laying off, I’d have won about £12,000. The best chaser in training that year, by some distance, and why they didn’t enter him in The Gold Cup that year, or at least supplement him, remains something of a mystery, baffling.
Caveman’s run in a Towcester hunter chase back in March 2009 ought to have represented the successful culmination of plans lain months and years earlier. It was still absolutely game on until, when a couple of lengths to the good and all set to collect, he decided to try to go back up the horsewalk on the run-in and forfeited all chance.
I’d never had so much financially and professionally invested in the outcome in a single race. Still haven’t.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Cheltenham – I’m normally a 10p stake Lucky 15 backer, but on the Friday, I did a 50p win, and £3 Acc on (rough prices) Zarkandar in The Triumph 8’s, Bobs Worth in The Albert Bartlett 3’s, Long Run Gold Cup 9-2, and finally……….Get Me Out Of Here in The County 16’s. The other 3 won, and GMOOH was beaten “a nose”, costing me over £10,000. That GMOOH, at the very least, clearly dead heated, did not help my mood. I still reckon he won.
If it’s any consolation VTC I backed Ruby that day and got over £100 back
My mate had backed GMOOH and only really had a bet because he was out. He’s not a big Racing fan. I thought Ruby had left it too late and when they passed the finish line said to my mate “I think you’ve just held on” and resigned myself to having an unlucky second. To this day I still don’t know how Ruby beat probably the strongest jockey of his time in that finish. And then said to him “I guess that’s why I back him with blind faith”. Truly remarkable.1986, final day, Cheltenham, I was on a roll. I’d had 4 winning tickets on the placepot on Weds, Dawn Run had just come trhough on an antepost bet, the County hurdle was the last race + I reckoned Jobroke (5-1) would win + Taelos (12-1 would be second). So I was flush + confident + ready for a big punt. On my way to the bookies, I met a fellow irishman, who pulled me aside; “Dromoland Lad” he whispered, “Just been talking to the trainer, he’s a cert.” So Like a fool, I changed my mind, and Jobroke hosed up, Taelos running on for second and Dromoland Lad is still out there somewhere.
It taught me an important lesson about life tho, which aided me in my medical career; anyone can offer advice, the responsibility liee with the person who accepts it.
So there you are; Dromoland LadI name and shame forum member Triptych.
For following her in on Mia’s Boy every bloody time, between us we could of bought the horse…..
Blackbeard to conquer the World
I had a really stupid bet a few years ago where I had a fair amount of money on a double. Telescope at 8/13 in the Group 3 rose of lancaster stakes and Amazonas at 10/1 in the Dick Hern Fillies Listed race.
Of course Telescope got beat and Amazonas won and I didn’t have a single win or each way on her. I promised myself to never be so stupid again and broke that promise a few weeks later.To be honest with you Homer, it’s not that much consolation, but at least someone won from it haha
Bobby, yours makes painful reading :(
I’ve probably had so many they’ve faded from memory, mostly ante-post failures. Backed a horse called Jack Madness at 33s down for the Hennessy in, I think 1977. He walked out of the parade ring the 15/2 fav and threw his rider – withdrawn.
I backed Browne’s Gazette at 16s and all prices down for the ’85 Champion Hurdle. The subsequently famous The Needleman (Dermot Browne) was aboard and managed to ruin the chances of the 4/6 shot at the start.
Backed Sizing Europe at 25s and all rates down (with all usual inclusion in doubles and yankees etc) for his first Champion Hurdle only for him to break down when cruising toward the last.
Would never shame him for all the cash he won me, but I backed my old fav Cue Card from 14s down (plus multiple bets) for 2013 King George for my biggest potential win ever – would have paid off my mortgage. He too went wrong (I’m convinced: – has not won since) when trading at 1.05.
Finally, not a horse, but I bet Tom Watson to win that 2009 Open at huge prices. No matter how well he was playing over the first three days, a minimum of around 300 was always available on Betfair – often 500 and 600, and every time he birdied another hole I had another two or three quid on. I drove to Turnberry for the last day and sat in the stands at the 18th, and when his approach to the last took a wicked forward kick through the green to rest on the collar I had that little gut ripple that said maybe I should have left a lay bet waiting (he was trading long odds on). Beat in the playoff by another rank outsider who’s done nowt since, Stewart Cink.
Just as well our memories brand the good days deeper into the mind than the bad!
Backed Sizing Europe at 25s and all rates down (with all usual inclusion in doubles and yankees etc) for his first Champion Hurdle only for him to break down when cruising toward the last.
I remember that Champion Hurdle all too well. I thought Sizing Europe was a cert; I know he was reported as breaking down, but never quite trusted him to finish his races after that
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.