Favourite punting stories

I know that this is going a bit off track but the one thing that I detest about some punters is the offensive and crude language which is directed to the poor horse and jockey. I hate bad losers and people who blame others for the loss..you know who you are..you spoil it for all the others.

The year was 1972 in a small village in Scotland near Edinburgh called
Loanhead, or to the locals, " Loanheed".
We were planning a raid on a nearby village, Wallyford. They had a greyhound
track and a few bookies, and we had a greyhound called " Lucky Jim" who
could run a bit and we were planning a betting coup.
The background to greyhound racing can be a bit devious. The first thing you
have to do when you have a good dog, is make it look bad!
This involves entering it into races and making sure it runs badly. The best
way to do this is, with no exercise and excessive eating of pies, not for
the owner, but for the dog! This can lead to problems, as one night we gave
Lucky Jim so many pies, he threw up in the motor {so beware}. The other easy
way, is to stand on its foot as you place it in the trap.
After a few bad races Lucky Jim was getting a better handicap mark, what
this means is, that it gets yards start from the other dogs.
We had eventually got it of the maximum start of 12yards in the No 6 box, on
the rails and close to the hare.
The next stage was to get him fit, which entailed he was given a brisk walk
morning and night the week before the race, and fed fillet steak, while the
owners fed on the pies. The final plan is the night before the race you give
the dog a "kill" This requires you go to the local pet shop and purchase a
nice furry rabbit, that looks just like the hare, that the dog will be
chasing the following night. So everything was in place, The job of
purchasing the rabbit was given to the youngest member of the syndicate.
After about an hour he returned to join the other syndicate members, who
were plotting our betting coup, in the grounds of the Loanhead Primary
school, this is where the kill would take place, as soon as it went dark.
What happened next was the terrible news, that the pet shop had ran out of
rabbits. However the young lad had used his discretion and bought a kitten!
After he was slagged to death by the others, it was suggested , what's the
difference to the dog? After a quick committee meeting in the bushes,
nothing was going to stop our "coup".
So the kitten was placed in a bag and rubbed against the dogs ear , the
theory of a "kill " is to let the rabbit slowly out the bag and the dog
sinks its teeth in the rabbit to taste the blood, he is pulled away and when
he sees the hare the following night, he will travel faster than ever to
catch it?
This was the theory, what happened in reality was something from " the Texas
chainsaw massacre" with screams, blood and total panic, which resulted in a
healthy pussy and a dog with a missing eye, after a rush to the vet.
The story does not end here, as we would not be denied our betting coup. We
got " Lucky Jim " patched up and did consider changing his name? especially
after he had lost an eye out of the deal?
It took about 6 weeks to be ready again, this time we put the money down,
the traps opened and Lucky Jim was 10 lengths clear at the first bend, the
only trouble is that he didn't go round the bend, he ran straight and ended
up hitting the grandstand.
There is no moral to this story, because its true, but I can only say we
shouldn't be greedy or cruel to animals, but most important remember to
check which eye is missing.

scotia

Haha good one

remind me off the time,someone forced fed their greyhound,tins of ambosia rice pudding,and an angry passer by phoned powderhall.the then racing manager took it upon himself to smell the breath off every greyhound running that night

This one stands out for me. It was the Rothmans July and had lots of doubles and trebles riding on Model man. Was standing to collect R13000 which at that time was a lot of money.Well the rest is history now and boy did i have a go at Basil Marcus in the pararde ring after the race.Being under the influence of alcohol swore him from here to thy kingdom come(which i'm not proud of now btw).Not kwowing and ignoring friends advice to keep my big mouth shut i also had a go at nearly all the other jockeys as well.The next minute i was lifted off the ground by these 2 gigantic security guards who so happen to be standing right behind me as i was hurling all these verbal abuse at the jockeys and thrown out of greyville race course.Not 1 for taking this lighlty and remember i was totally pissed i then managed to sneak in again only to be confronted by these 2 monsters.
To cut a long story short , i had several broken ribs and my arm was in a sling for 6 months and not to mention my face was a wreck.
Looking back now i behaved like a total jerk and got what i deserved.

BTW Basil Marcus is one of my favourite trainers now.....lol...

I once took a place multiple including 4 x 20/1 in the first 4 legs which came tru to run places. In the last leg I had my favorite jockey Jeff ridding a 12/10 hot favorite. In total with the last leg I stood to collect R8000.00 from a investment of R150 . My wife was watching the horses going down to post and she said I hope you put in No 8 which was ridden by Figgy cause I really like that horse. She insisted on me taking a bet on the horse and I totally brushed her off ( She was clueless about horseracing and Figgy was riding a horse with absolute rubbish form at 40/1 )
I was so confident that Jeff would at least ride in the placings.

Hmmm, they jumped, at the 600m Jeff was in front and I was getting ready to cash my ticket. At the 300m Jeff was in front and I could feel this immense rush of excitement building up inside of me. I was actually shouting for Jeff Lloyd . At the 150m Figgy from now where makes a run on the outside, all of a sudden Jeff is slowing down and runs a fourth. Figgy won on a 40/1.

Well lets just say when the wife speaks now, I LISTEN !!

I hope sport punting stories count

I think it was 1997 and I took a multiple Corey Pavin to win the Nedbank golf and South Africa to beat England in a cricket test at Wandereres. The bet was 800/20 (for a guy just starting out the 800 seemed massive) and when Pavin won the golf I looked set to collect. I had to work on day 5 of the test match with South Africa needing 6 wickets I think and Atherton and Smith at the crease.

Was stocking a shop at the Randburg waterfront and ran to pub every 30 minutes for updates. Smith went early and then Atherton and Russell famously saw out the next 2 and a half sessions - it still hurts!

Heard about the chap (lets call him Charlie), who had a mate working at the Vatican who told him that the Pope had just passed on but would only be made public the next day. Told him to have the biggest punt possible on the Pope dying in the next 3 days at huge odds (obviously a sure bet).
They met up about a fortnight later and the now ex-Vatican employee, told his mate that with his winnings he was a multi-millionaire and wouldnt need to work for 3 life-times. He asked Charlie how much he had made. Charlie says dejectedly, "nothing, in fact i lost big bucks." His mate asked how that was possible with the sure info he had given him. Charlie responds, "i screwed up big time, i took the double with the Queen to die in the same week."

One of my favourites happened last year. No2son was told to bet Fair Brutus in the Man O'War Stakes. He decided to take our nephew and niece to the local flea market before getting back to his bookies shop to watch the race and have a bet.

Well sod's law applied and he got stuck in the traffic. Arriving at the bookies he got in to see the last 2 furlongs of the race and FB won at around 7/2.

However, not only did he not have the bet he intended to have, all his punters in the shop bet the horse and cheered it home, cleaning him out.

This goes back about 15 years, when I just got into betting on horses, and when night racing was introduced.

I met an old guy while doing contract work, and the subject of horses came up. This guys father was apparently involved with horses. Not sure what he did, nor can I recall his name. He told me about horses been a numbers game...not sure what he meant, as well as some suspect practises going on.

Keeping in mind all of this, I finished work and got to the tote about 10 minutes before the pick six.
I did not have time to study any form, so worked out a quick bet for about 20 rand, basing my selections on trainers that this old man had mentioned.
I had 2 bankers, Marwing riding Blossoming Field, a 8/10 shot, and in the last race I bankered a 14/1 shot named Margate Sands.

Guess what happens, Marwing gets pipped on the post by Figgi, riding a horse ironically called Well Judged, and my 14/1 shot, Margate Sands (Buddy Maroon) in the last leg romps home by lengths. Blossoming Field was the only horse that stuffed my bet up.
The Pick Six ended up paying approx R650k, and with my 12% bet, would have stood to pick up over R78k.
Still hurts and still wary of Mawing up to this day.

To add irony to this, years later,during my contract work, I met a lady who does show jumping.
She had subsequently bought Margate Sands, from Buddy Maroon for show jumping, and she mentioned to me what a stubborn animal this was, and how she had taken quite a few stumbles, when the horses decided to stop in midstream.

There was certainly, nothing stopping the horse, when he won at 14/1.
I stand corrected, but I think Sherman Brown rode it that night.

Stories

I have a few:

Trogan Hero 1st time out Kenilworth Manne in the irons 7/1 to evens all over the country confident ride and pipped a short head.

Dougie Whyte's mother was my next door neighbor in redruth alberton, i used to see dougie all the time and he would tip me winners. Was riding for payne alexander etc. I won a fortune with him and to say thank you i gave him a cheque, unfortunately i also lost a fortune at Morula Sun cheque bounced dougie stopped taking calls 2 years later he was in HK the rest is history

Doing my nuts at the tatts in loveday street. Walk up to Martin Sham and stick my last R30 on a horse ridden by Roberto Sasso and trained by Des Renou. Form figs last last last but alas blinkers first time i take 600/30 horse shots in next race i back Christie Blom on a horse called Brutus (Stanley Ferreira) wins by 2 even 500. Next race i go to Len smarts cubicle he takes a call from the course goes round the rooms backing a Gary Alexander horse i took 2000/1000 wins by 5 what a day.

Absolutely broke have my last R16 go to the tote at Turfies (Bloem meeting) btw this was one of my fav courses.
Race 1 take swinger boxed 3 horses (R9) collect R300 take a pa for R32 5x nett pa pool was just under 300k that day from my R16 i collected a cheque for R276 410.87

But for some even better stories i suggest we get Henni Hughes on.

Gajima Wrote:

---

> Not like no2son to get SP !!!!! I remember same
> forum member complaining to me that someone bet
> Dream World from 16/1 into 7/1 first run and he
> only got 7/1.
>
> By the way Ian, it was you that got stuck in the
> turnstiles at Musselburgh, I remember it well,
> including your sister disowning you. You were so
> black and blue that you were the inspiration for
> the purple teletubby.


a brings back memories,remember standing in morrisons bookmakers in my butchers apron,bringing the house done screaming it home,still spending the winnings,did i ever say thanks mark