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I returned from a trip abroad on Monday having seen no racing news for about two weeks. Suddenly I was aware of a pleasurable sensation: not only was I on holiday from work, I was on holiday from racing. That sat me thinking about how close to work, indistinguishable really, the whole business is.
What if I packed it in for good? No more squinting at form and turning it over mentally; no more disappointment (the default emotion of the Turf); no more rage at one’s own stupidity and bad luck (put inverted commas round bad luck as you see fit); no more getting up early to get a handle on big race form. But there again no more thrills and spills, no more big wins.
Still it was very tempting to just forget all about it (so easy now it’s rarely in the mass media), and that surprised me.
Then today I thought: c’mon, it’s Brighton. Hard work but you like Brighton. So I got a copy of the Post and settled to it.
And I lost.‘I can’t go on, I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’ Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot.
Frozen Over wins. V apt; the name matches my enthusiasm.
I think I’m going back on holiday – it’s cheaper than working.
Maybe you should think about watching races without punting. I bet you’d enjoy the big meetings without laying down a penny.
Maybe you should think about watching races without punting. I bet you’d enjoy the big meetings without laying down a penny.
My thoughts exactly. I have been having the odd bet for a few decades now, but I know that there is equal, and sometimes greater, joy and excitement in watching good racing without having a bet. Horseracing is not synonymous with gambling.
Maybe you should think about watching races without punting. I bet you’d enjoy the big meetings without laying down a penny.
My thoughts exactly. I have been having the odd bet for a few decades now, but I know that there is equal, and sometimes greater, joy and excitement in watching good racing without having a bet. Horseracing is not synonymous with gambling.
Excellent post, sadly a concept many seem unable to grasp.
I’m quite happy watching without betting as well
I almost never bet at all on the big races or big meetings but I watch them all avidly
when i bet it tends to be on the class 5 handicaps round the gaffs…………..which i probably wouldn’t watch if i wasn’t betting on them
It took me a while but can now very happily watch racing without having to bet on it.
Likewise as I prefer the jumps I can easily ignore the majority of summer jumping, and return refreshed in the autumn without having missed anything.
Never was a "better", just the annual £5 each way on the National and Derby each year; it’s watching the horses that’s the main attraction for me. Seeing horses like Desert Orchid, Red Rum and Best Mate sailing over the jumps is a sight worth more than money.
Always watch without betting, will check the breeding and see if any horses by sires I follow are running, and maybe mark my tip for myself. That’s enjoyment enough and just picking the winner is satisfaction and if it loses doesn’t matter.
Ooh, i’ve ended up outside Aristotle’s cave with the philosophers!
Anyone would think it’s all financed by disinterested gentlemen anoraks having a fiver on the Derby!
Wot a larf!
I hope you enjoy your ivory towers: do you wear white to the racecourse to signify purity and intellectual rigour?‘Without gambling, it’s all just horses running around in circles basically.’ D Nevison, 2005.
Ooh, i’ve ended up outside Aristotle’s cave with the philosophers!
Anyone would think it’s all financed by disinterested gentlemen anoraks having a fiver on the Derby!
Wot a larf!
I hope you enjoy your ivory towers: do you wear white to the racecourse to signify purity and intellectual rigour?‘Without gambling, it’s all just horses running around in circles basically.’ D Nevison, 2005.
I think it was the Chinese philosopher Confucious who said:-
"Watching Horse Race without bet, like watching Blue Movie without Kleenex Tissues"
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Even gambling is not synonymous with gambling for us gamblers. It’s some innate search for proving your self-worth.
Ooh, i’ve ended up outside Aristotle’s cave with the philosophers!
Anyone would think it’s all financed by disinterested gentlemen anoraks having a fiver on the Derby!
Wot a larf!
I hope you enjoy your ivory towers: do you wear white to the racecourse to signify purity and intellectual rigour?‘Without gambling, it’s all just horses running around in circles basically.’ D Nevison, 2005.
I think one of the original point of this thread was can you watch horse racing on TV without betting, and not should those who don’t bet while watching horse racing be grateful to those who do.
As far as I am concerned yes you can, it is a sport. But if having a bet adds to the enjoyment then fine.
I also suspect that many who don’t gamble while watching TV contribute significant finance in other areas to the sport or just gamble when at the course itself.
Ooh, i’ve ended up outside Aristotle’s cave with the philosophers!
Anyone would think it’s all financed by disinterested gentlemen anoraks having a fiver on the Derby!
Wot a larf!
I hope you enjoy your ivory towers: do you wear white to the racecourse to signify purity and intellectual rigour?‘Without gambling, it’s all just horses running around in circles basically.’ D Nevison, 2005.
All people are suggesting is that you can enjoy racing for its own sake without having a bet.
If that concept is so beyond your ken that it elicits a response like the one above then the answer to your original question is yes – you should pack it in.
I’ve not yet ”packed it in” I may never call it a day but optimism is dying, it has barely a pulse. I find myself pitting myself against tipsters in the RP and, without being boastful, trouncing them in races of my choice.
There is simply too much disguised ability around especially in lower grade racing, too many unconsidered runners romping home like champions passing your selection laden with ticked boxes.
Even gambling is not synonymous with gambling for us gamblers. It’s some innate search for proving your self-worth.
Why the
. Nice words I’d have appended with 
I’ve long treated betting as an intriguing, stimulating and challenging intellectual pursuit. If I didn’t find it so I wouldn’t do it
The eventual – and nowadays fairly infrequent – wager is for me subordinate to the enjoyment provided by the procedures involved in arriving at it: the form study, the race watching, the mental imagery of how I believe the race will unfold, and above all the tissue compilation which I find to be the most engrossing of endeavours
I prefer the travelling to the arrival then, and the thrill of the chase , in my case both figuratively and literally as I bet solely on steeplechases
This year I’ve analysed – ‘looked at’ may be more accurate – 206 races, priced-up 122 and had 38 bets in 27 of those 122. So 95 races have in effect been ‘paper traded’. I can’t say these have revved up the circulatory system quite so much as the 27 punted but the difference is actually slight. The satisfaction comes from being proved right whether I’ve made the effort to walk the walk (punted) or just talked the talk (paper traded)
As for watching and enjoying races for their own sake, well that was a first love and it will be my last. The Thoroughbred is a glorious creation and will always fascinate
Professor Trubshawe, I would humbly suggest that you don’t like betting and you don’t like racing, therefore you should abandon both pastimes
Hardly surprising people here are disillusioned with racing as it will never be the nirvana they wish, joe punter on the other hand will always be happy if there’s racing going on somewhere and a betting shop open as it’s joe punter who funds the sport for the experts who don’t bet or go racing.
Horses for courses.
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