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I suspect it’ll get a wide range of responses from those who are more one way or the other and plenty who might be in the middle. It might get no responses
I don’t want to make this about me because I think there are some huge issues within the subject but just to give some context behind the post and me being quite quiet on here generally lately: I’ve given up on betting completely for the time being for personal reasons. Haven’t struck a bet since Royal Ascot. Just to reassure its not gambling harm related, the opposite probably as I’ve been able to see the impact on my families disposable income. I was a latecomer to the sport through my old man, probably only been a follower for around 10 years and to me it was entirely gambling related rather than love of the sport.
Since that hiatus from gambling (on anything I should add) I’ve tried to follow the sport as a lover of the animals and participants. I’ve managed okay with the festivals but the day to day and ordinary weekends I haven’t watched any or kept up with results. I’ve got a couple of local racecourses I could try in person but we know its not cheap and I’m a bit sceptical about how much I’ll enjoy seeing the horses in the flesh without a bet given my main local is Newton Abbot and it will be low grade, small field summer NH stuff. I am a bit of a snob, hands up on that one.
I’ve digressed a bit. I suspect I’ve struggled more to follow the sport without money involved because we’ve had a summer of excellent sport besides racing. I think the flat is harder to follow without betting anyway because you don’t get that longevity of horse at the top tier that you do over the jumps albeit they are increasingly being ‘saved for Cheltenham’ and rarely sighted. The handicap system which dominates the sport is as we all know open to manipulation which is hard to fathom for an outsider, this concept of not actually trying or being ready for half the season is an alien concept to sport generally. Huge problem to the reputation of the game to outsiders imo.
What I’d love to see is the best taking on the best in the big races where there is no handicap mark protecting/manipulating and it being properly promoted by the tv folk and not so betting focused. You can bet on the athletics but I had no idea who the favourite was for half the finals in the olympics and they were bloody enjoyable races. The programme book and prize money in racing doesn’t promote the best taking on the best often, too many open goals and easy black type. Promising horses on the flat sold abroad etc
Racing is knackered really isn’t it long-term? It doesn’t have much of a product that entertains people not having a bet and the betting side is on very dodgy grounds for various reasons. Or maybe I’m wrong? Would love to hear views all round but particularly those who do enjoy it from a non-betting orientation. I have pencilled in Haldon Gold Cup day and Badger Beer day back to back in October/November if I can still be bothered by then as both are also local and I’ve been before and enjoyed them without much betting.
To me the betting is everything, I don’t have enough money to regard it as a sport.
I use form study to try to keep in front with mixed success and treat it as mental exercise.I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysTo most people racing and betting go hand in hand and it is how I became interested a work colleague from many years ago convincing me of the riches to be made
I always bet on a Saturday but short priced Group races don’t entice me. Big midweek meetings it is 50/50 as to me having a bet and it has nothing to do with affordability I just sometimes say to myself you ain’t going to win you never do so just watch but it isn’t as interesting without a bet. I only bet to win so my chances of profit are much slimmer and for the first time drew a complete blank at Royal Ascot.The things I want most in life are the things that I can't win.
Of course I would. What question is that?
You know know how many times I watched the likes of Big Bucks or Kauto Star, Vautour and so on win their Festival races? Even though I didn’t have a bet on them.I’ve enjoyed watching Athletics (Track & Field) without having a bet since I was a teenager. Same applies to tennis and other sports like swimming for instance which can be compared to horse racing.
What would be wrong with enjoying Horse racing without having a bet? I there were less crooks or cheaters involved, I would enjoyed even more…
I have never bet on any other sport, maybe Spot The Ball
The things I want most in life are the things that I can't win.
Yes. I rarely bet these days unless I am at the races but still love watching it and following my favourite horses.
I’m with Tonge. Boxing Day, National day and Cheltenham are the only times I have a bet at home. Other than that I only have a wager when I go racing.
I love horse racing as a sport just as I love watching football and the NFL without having a financial interest.
Doubt it would exist without the betting, but I watch every UK race without that distraction.
Much more interested in the racing and its history than the endless opinions of so called experts on who might win the next big race.
....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.
Absolutely I do, why wouldn’t I?
My father used to give my brother and I a shilling each when we went P2P’s to bet on a horse of our choice. That didn’t lead to a compulsion to bet.
I can remember with fondness my first £50 bet and then later my first £100 bet. I was never down when I lost, or overly ecstatic when I won and the maximum I would bet when I felt really strongly was the mid three figures. I bet regularly from my ‘betting fund’ from around 1987 until 2014 when Betdaq closed my account due to where I live. Not being able to bet didn’t alter my enjoyment of horse racing.
I don’t follow racing over here, so when I have a rare day at Woodbine, I don’t bet at all, because it’s pretty much blind betting and picking winners can be difficult enough anyway. I just enjoy the races and pick one for interest.
Each to there own of course.
“Racing is knackered really isn’t it long-term?“
I don’t think it’s necessarily knackered for those reasons, but I believe that any future for a strong horse racing sport in the UK can only be achieved through a TOTE style system……..and that ain’t going to happen. It’ll be bled dry first.I love racing as a sport, and view betting as a secondary aspect. The biggest races and the best performances are hugely exciting. I enjoy the sport’s variety and its history, and it always has many interesting ongoing stories.
To be honest, it’s just like a big soap opera. I think this is part of the appeal for most people who follow any sport in depth, even if some of them would be reluctant to describe it this way.
There are plenty of things I would criticise about the current state of the sport, but all the above remains true for me to this day.
I can’t get my head around how some people who have followed horseracing all their adult lives have developed no interest in it at all beyond the betting angle. Why does racing have this problem more than any other sport? Even comparable sports such as motor racing don’t get the “it’s nothing without the betting” argument.
100% yes but then I am only an occassional bettor and that is usually just at the big Festivals like Aintree/Cheltenham/Royal Ascot etc.
Personally, I am not sure you can say you are truly a fan of (insert the sport of you choice) if you can’t enjoy watching it without betting on it…….betting really should only be an additional sweetner on top of your baseline enjoyment of said sport.
A resounding YES from me too, and the recent posts from Marlingford and LD73 sum up my thoughts perfectly!
Yes, I was brought up watching racing on TV as my mum loved it, but never bet on it. She’d be on the phone to my granny after the big meetings discussing how their favourite horses had fared. I agree with Marlingford about the soap opera aspect, I always want to know what happens next.
I only started betting in my 30s, and then only small money, mostly the minimum bet to see races that weren’t shown on terrestrial TV.
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