TRF Poster Of The Year 2023

[He Didnt Like Ground]

Never a prisoner fan , always preferred The Avengers myself , however if your talking 60/70s ITC **** then ….

3rd

[He Didnt Like Ground]

2nd

I have 2 gods … both Moore’s , Bobby and Roger

[He Didnt Like Ground]

And in first .. no man looked better in a flared pair of slacks … Return of the saint

[gamble]

Got to bed at a quarter to five and up at 130pm went straight out after a cup of tea and just returned and eaten.
I watched a few episodes of the Prisoner but it was all a bit strange to me. Never watched the return of the Saint. As for Roger Moore I nearly went to see him in an evening with Roger Moore, and wish I had really. An old friend of mine acted with Moore in a view to a kill and said he was great fun. Moore rated himself only the fourth best Bond behind Craig Connery and Lazenby.I would not disagree with him about that but his portrayal was fun to watch.

Sorry I am a little late in announcing this today, but the winner and number one of the forumite of the year 2001 was our very own

DAVID CORMACK

I think he wrote mainly in the horseracing section back then. An excellent contributor back in the day, and today also, but he writes appreciably less because of his different hat quite possibly.

At one time they posted a long list with first and second places – which was interesting. On that I think it would be better to have separate lists of First place and Second. The Second place list I sadly did not keep.
I am sure people could pm Nathan and write something like,

” Here Gnats get a load of this – I was second in 2007
can you add me to the second list and I’ll owe you one.”

_________________________

I am tired and have had to edit the post as I made a miscalculation. I may add a few thoughts tomorrow.
Maybe the comp started in 2001 and Corm was the first to win it – that is my current thinking.

[gamble]

Edit above …

[Nathan Hughes]

Good work gamble..

Charles Darwin to conquer the World

[Nathan Hughes]

I was 2nd to the bluesbrother in 2012 and maybe a couple of times in the vtc years

Charles Darwin to conquer the World

[gamble]

Nathan I think you were second four times actually so securing your win finally must have been that bit more satisfying.
My main plan this year is mainly to survive it !
This plan was nearly foiled yesterday as I stepped out from a central island at traffic lights in a dream like state, and not seeing the little red man, or the column of hidden traffic behind me filtering right at speed that almost mowed me down, if I hadn’t jumped back like an electrified jack rabbit. They hooted at me of course .

The chances of a lifetime road death is quite high 1:240. If you are suffering from sleep deprivation the risks that day are immeasurably higher I suggest – be you driver or pedestrian.
So slow down and get your eight hours.

I have a different version of history to relate this afternoon about THE LIST.

Ian Davies was the first person to win the title three times. I am 95% certain that David Cormack won the competition twice but last night I didn’t have the list to hand and my memory sparked a different sequence. My belief is that Davies had three consecutive wins and that Cormack had two consecutive.
So Ian Davies won in 2004 not David Cormack and David Cormack won in 2001 and 2002

The other sequence winners Graysons and VTC also won in follow on years so the stats also support this revision.

Neuroscientists advise us that walking backwards can bring back old memories.

I tried this and it is actually true – it brought back the memory of my doing it once before but with my eyes shut. I have also walked blind forward – it is strange when you bump into something another person, a lamp post or a parked (hopefully) car you realize that you have lost your bearings. Almost impossible to walk in a straight line with your eyes shut. I suppose the blind have mastered this technique as their other four senses are raised.

[Drone]

So, according to TRF’s resident archivists Nathan and Gamble it seems APRacing was mistaken in his belief that he’d won this most coveted of coveted awards prior to this year’s triumph. An excusable error for one whose mantelpiece is odds-on to be crowded with silverware and whose walls covered with framed glowing endorsements from his fellow turfistes

Unless, unless there has been an inexcusable error from the aforementioned archivists…

I demand a recount

[gamble]

Thank you Drone for pointing out the error and histories thankfully can be amended. Apologies to Alan I will look again at THE LIST.

[gamble]

My gut feeling now is that Alan’s prior win was in 2004 and David Cormack’s win was earlier in 2001 and if I am right about David Cormack winning twice he would have also won in 2000.
I cannot remember when the forum started presumably the year 2000 or 1999.
Feedback is welcome from the parties involved in this little conundrum or anyone with old memories.

[Nathan Hughes]

Before my time dear Drone,
I’m solely reliant on gamble …

Charles Darwin to conquer the World

[gamble]

I completely missed Alan’s post back their where he thanked people for there support and explained his previous win.
Of the older posters I noticed that Alan, Drone. Davies, Cormack, and myself all have 24 years 1 month as registration date. That is not correct and I suggest that date is a default date to when the forum started around the very start of 1999. There was no competition in the first year so I suggest the conp started in Dec 2000 or Dec 2001. I believe it was the former as otherwise there is no space for David Cormack’s first win. It is important THE LIST is accurate methinks, so maybe Gnats you might get Corm to confirm that he won twice.

I have thought quite deeply on the ‘ missing years ‘ and my firm belief is they read such

2000 David Cormack
2001 David Cormack
2002 Ian Davies
2003 Ian Davies
2004 APRracing
2005 Diane Avis (Ian Davies)

The only other possibility would be 2006 for Alan and Jeremy Grayson defaulting to 2004. I do think Jeremy Graysons three wins were consecutive and so that makes a 2004 win the strongest likelihood for Alan.
So Ian Davies’ three wins were not consecutive. His last win was arranged informally, as strangely the official completion was cancelled – I cannot remember Daylight’s reason for this.
Ian Davies’s win was a comfortable one with a total reasonably high vote count. It was set up and organized by Razeen.

Hopefully that clears the dates but please challenge the order if you have better information. We may hear then from David Cormack, Jeremy Grayson (if he pops back) and possibly Ian Davies has some reflective thoughts, and maybe Drone. I am happy with it now.

[IanDavies]

Merely reacting to a “reflective thoughts” request….I cannot recall when I joined TRF but it was while my website was in development.

This took longer than expected and TRF kept me (what passes for in me) sane during this period.

If I had my time over again I’d talk a lot less about it, proactively at least, and instead confine myself to having the url in my signature and answer any questions about it reactively.

My proactive initial apparent marketing stance understandably, I now realise, caused a lot of hostility here, including from those with who I felt I later became online friends, Slippy Blue springs to mind and google searches reveal kind words from him about me in later years on the Betfair Forum when discussing my alter ego Col Archaius Tory there.

But despite these manifest errors and my confrontational, abrasive, style, many came to realise I was a genuine lifelong racing and betting man, they also seemed to find me entertaining, amusing even, and to my pleasant surprise I made allies.

I attended a TRF Towcester meet up in 2004 and recall meeting Daylight (Craig), possibly his partner (memory hazy), Tete Rouge, and Rory Delargy, possibly others too.

But none of these became friends – these were Nick Hatton, who was a rock to me and who I miss dreadfully, and the aforementioned Dungheap, oh and Jeremy Grayson basically invited himself round for coffee when once passing and he was such a nice guy I allowed this to happen.

I left TRF in a blaze of infamy after IIRC orchestrating my own ban and didn’t even realise until years afterwards (I am a dab hand at completely turning my back on things I hitherto seemed obsessed with) I won TRF Poster Of The Year for a third time in absentia – a rebellious slap in the face from my allies to the TRF management of the day by the sound of it.

My relationship with David Cormack started off poor and just got worse so tbh I was surprised when he let me back on here many years later – in fact, my respect for him grew at his apparent magnanimity.

But that respect didn’t last long as I haven’t detected so much as a gram of conciliation in his dour, humourless, miserable tone – amid plenty of tiresome amateur psychobabble – from that day to this.

I’ve often wondered why, if he was going to cop such a lousy attitude, he ever let me back on here in the first place.

If ever anyone took “Chezza” took literally and too seriously, it’s him.

Anyway, those are my brutally-honest reflections as apparently requested.

It’s been fun these past few years – for me, anyway, I quite like some of the current generation of TRF – and to all the mockers, Chezza says: “Didn’t notice you getting nominated, still less finishing fourth of 53,000 plus in 2023, if you want to see a real loser, take a butchers in the nearest mirror.”

Roll on 2024!

I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"

[Nathan Hughes]

2023 APRacing
2022 Nathan Hughes
2021 Cork all Star
2020 Venture to Cognac
2019 Venture to Cognac
2018 Venture to Cognac
2017 Venture to Cognac
2016 Venture to Cognac
2015 Venture to Cognac
2014 Venture to Cognac
2013 Gamble
2012 The Blues Brother
2011 Billion/Kingfisher Joint Winners
2010 Bob Rolf
2009 Drone/Glenn Joint Winners
2008 Graysons Column
2007 Graysons Column
2006 Graysons Column
2005 Diane Avis
2004 APRacing
2003 Ian Davies
2002 Ian Davies
2001 David Cormack
2000 David Cormack

Just to muddy the waters further if I may, having gone back through old messages
Jeremy Grayson sent me a message back in 2021 saying he had won TRF Poster of the year in 07 and 08 but doesn’t recall winning in 06…

Charles Darwin to conquer the World

[Drone]

I too don’t recall exactly when I joined but it was around 2003. Haven’t these 20 years just flown by

Nothing to add concerning the veracity of THE LIST, other than to record it was the estimable Grasshopper who nominated me in the year I was joint winner, noting that I was ‘the king of whimsy’ or somesuch: a gratifying remark

Grasshopper wasn’t pushed but walked away after he was another to have a barney with Mr Cormack. Concerned either the direction TRF was taking or the relative merits of Hibernian and Heart Of Midlothian: memory is vague

[Cork All Star]

VTC had a period of dominance. 7 in a row, a bit like Surrey in the 1950s.

A stewards enquiry was in order in 2021.

[Author]

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