XMAS stories and tales of past experiences within Horse Racing.

[RIO2014]

As I suggested, for the few days over xmas I thought it may be a good idea to share some experiences we have all had within the sport over the years. Good,Bad or indifferent, those that made you laugh, cry or you felt priviledged to be there to witness, Gambling stories, those that were succesful, those that you think even to today,what if!, maybe someone you met, maybe someone you wish you had not. All contributions appreciated. Thanks Rio PS Ill post one soon.;)

[jayalexander]

Re: XMAS stories and tales of past experiences within Horse Racing. Ok, I'll get this started... It seems that this year my life has revolved around horse racing. I've only been interested in the sport for about 4 years and it's definitely become my favourite past time. I've really enjoyed 2012 and have visited four tracks here in England, plus the national stud and one in America. Newmarket July was probably my favourite overall experience as that included the stud visit and I got a few snaps with some jockeys. I was a bit overawed getting one with Mikael Barzalona, but he was very accommodating and down to earth, unlike Lanfranco, considering that he'd recently won the Dubai World Cup. Unfortunately I don't have the spare cash to say that I'm anything other than a social punter (maybe that's a good thing) but things could have been so different at the start of the year... I had started developing a system which looked at positive sire stats and was posting the selections on here, then on the 9th January, Lights Of Broadway came along. The price was massive and she had no real form to speak of so I just plumped for the place on Betfair at 50's with a minimum £2 bet. I happened to be passing a bookmakers when the race was due to start, so popped in there and thought that she looked quite big and was in good condition but thoughts of putting more money on didn't really enter my head and started to watch the race. Final fence and she was neck and neck with the fav. I'm begging her not to win as I've only done the place and the fav falls, leaving her to win by a length! I'm absolutely gutted as she's 200/1, but on Betfair is a huge 800! I won £100 but could have won 16 times that if I'd have followed my own advice and did the win! I haven't made any further mistakes like that since then and am hoping to progress in 2013 :)