The turf
Betting tricks
Robin Oakley
In my cheese-and-onion-butty days as a junior journalist on the Liverpool Daily Post, a friend and I went once to a dodgy greyhound track for an evening's sport. The dogs were mangy, the handlers — even the female ones — even mangier, and the hare looked like what was left of a wellused washing-up mop. No self-respecting dog would have chased it more than ten yards. The thin crowd consisted almost entirely of whey-faced men with pronounced facial tics in long, dirty macs.
We hadn't a clue what we were doing, conversation with scar-faced strangers seemed unwise and what puzzled us most was that nobody seemed to have a bet until about 90 seconds before the off in each race. Then suddenly there would be frantic activity, with everybody clamouring to get on two particular dogs which would rapidly be chalked up as first and second favourites. After three or four such races we were finally emboldened to step forward when all were hanging back. Up we went with a couple of quid apiece for a reverse forecast on dogs 2 and 3. Suddenly the whole place went berserk as the regulars rushed in brandishing back-pocket wads and pouring money on the same two dogs, which rapidly became joint favourites. Amazingly, they finished first and second. Whether we had stepped unwittingly into some bizarre fixing or signalling system I will never know. But we went home unmolested with a profit.
I was reminded of the experience last Saturday at gloriously wet Goodwood, when lunching with a leading banker and a clutch of industrialists and politicians, as nice a crew as I have been racing with in years. I could not refuse an invitation from our host to mark their cards and managed to score a moderate success in the second race, having given them a successful 1-2 exacta with Where Or When and Flat Spin. I then suggested three horses as worth consideration in the Stewards Cup: Hurricane Floyd, Bond Boy and Ellen's Lad, with probable starting prices according to the race-card of 12-1, 20-1 and 25-1 respectively. In no time at all Hurricane Floyd had been backed down to 5-1 favourite, Ellen's Lad was slashed to 8-1 and Bond Boy trimmed down to 14-1.
I had assumed the wise and successful figures in our lunch party to be moderate £5 each-way punters. But maybe things are tougher these days in the boardroom and on the FT-SE index than we have all realised, and for a few moments I began to wonder. I may just have made a contribution to the restoration of our national fortunes. Bond Boy (the one of the three I didn't back myself, of course) came home a comfortable winner. Hurricane Floyd, from the unstoppable Dandy Nichols sprint factory, finished fourth and Ellen's Lad was only 12th. But both should be given another chance. Hurricane Floyd, under Kieren Fallon, dwelt at the start and they had real traffic problems in their efforts to reach the leaders. Hurricane Floyd was flying at the finish. Ellen's Lad was going beautifully for Pat Eddery, but when the far-side leaders began falling back, his rider, too, was simply left with no way through.
Victory makes you impervious to the weather and Reg Bond, a tyre magnate who has 18 horses with trainer Bryan Smart, was happy to chat on about his winner despite his soaking suit. At one stage, as he explained that the horse had benefited hugely from being gelded last winter (I am not prepared to try it as an aid to stepping up my jogging speed), Bond Boy was lashing out with his back legs, dangerously close to the huddled hacks. I warned one fellow scribe, whose response was sublime. 'Oh, that's all right,' he said. 'He can kick me if he likes. I backed him.'
I was asked by one fellow guest if I had a list of horses to follow. This flat season I failed to give one to Spectator readers. I spent too much time abroad in the early spring to recommend a list with confidence. Instead, I offered some broader guidelines. And to help the proper auditing of this column's accounts, it is time for stocktaking. Bet of the year, I suggested, was Kieren Fallon to be champion jockey despite losing the Stoute stable retainer. I predicted advance for two other riders, Richard Hughes and Jamie Spencer, and for trainers Marcus Tregoning and James Given. I also suggested that this would be a comeback year to the big time for Luca Cumani. As I write Kieren leads the jockeys' table by 20, with Richard Hughes in second place. But Jamie Spencer, precocious talent though he is, only just scrapes into the top 20 at present after finishing last season in fifth place. In part that may be due to the failure so far of my prediction about Luca Cumani, whose stable jockey he remains. With only 11 successes so far this season, Luca is having a pretty quiet year by his standards. James Given, however, with 19 victories, has moved smartly into the top 25 with a Glorious Goodwood victory. And Marcus Tregoning, whose 22 per cent strike rate I mentioned last week, is in the top ten and rising.
My other recommendation to readers at the start of the season was: 'Remember that Mark Johnston loves sending good horses to Goodwood.' When Scott's View scored his second victory there on Saturday, that was Mark's fifth success in the five days of racing. That point at least is proven.
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