#sportstalk

Any Horse Racing Fans on SportsTalkSocial?

Ash @abh12345.sports@abh12345.sports (59)2608d

No posts yet tagged with #horseracing and so this one could well sink like a stone - are there any horse racing fans here?

I first started getting into Horse Racing in the early 2000's. My work gave me lots of free time and allowed me to pull up the racingpost.com website most mornings to check on the days meetings and races, and I soon got into studying the form to give me more confidence when trying to pick a winner.

In the afternoon I would listen to williamhillradio.com where they gave live commentary of the races, gave selections, and also took tips from the people like me listening in. By this time, Flutter had been bought out by Betfair and the ability to back and lay a horse, as well as the amplified odds on offer meant I did most of my betting on this site.

Learning to Hedge bets and having some of those come off in style was really good fun. Often I would have a few pounds on outsiders and if the odds had shortened up in the afternoon prior to the race, I could then lay, or hedge the bet and win a little no matter the result.

Biggest Win

A horse called Littleton Zypher dotted up off a light weight in a race where he had form against the odds on favourite in a previous race. I could not understand the 4/6 for the favourite, whilst my pick was as high at 140/1 on the exchange. That morning I sent williamhillradio an email stating that I liked the chances of this horse, but it wasn't until after the race than one of the guys in the studio stated 'oh we had an email for that one earlier on in the day'. I earned a months wage with less than 10 pounds and was pretty chuffed about picking such a big price based on form lines.

Biggest Miss

Has to be Kicking King in the in the 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Kicking King had won three of his last four races and was the talked up horse for the race in the months prior. Suddenly a report came out just a few weeks before the race that he had gotten sick and was unlikely to run. Those with antepost bets were likely to lose their bet and the same would be true for those betting in advance on Betfair. I checked the market on Betfair around the time of the news and the odds had been pushed out to 1000 , or 999/1 - the largest odds (at the time and I think now) for a single selection in a market. I had a few pounds in my account that day, and looked at the price thinking 'well if it's not running, I'm not going to waste a few quid', and didn't put a penny on at that point.

A week or so later the horse was cleared of illness/injury, and the following week romped home at odds of 11/10. Damn!

Biggest Loss

Ha! I'm not telling :) Actually, I'm not sure, and it is probably most appropriate to say that racing days out at the course can put the biggest hole in your pocket. At 20/30/40 pounds to get in, the travel there and back, 5/6 pounds a beer, expensive 'food', and of course your bets, a day at the races can turn out pretty expensive.

I have been to 3 Grand Nationals and the Guineas day at Newmarket, and also visited courses like Chester, Haydock, Nottingham, Kempton, and York for days out with friends. If the sun is out and it's not cold, they are excellent events - if it is cold,you are not dressed properly, and your bets keep losing, then it can be pretty miserable. Overall I think I've had more of the former than the latter.

Favourite Horse

I have a few that have done me some decent favours in the past but in my eyes there is one flat horse that is yet to be surpassed. I can't remember ever placing a bet on this horse as the odds were too short after his first or second win, but those who did bet each and every time he ran would never be disappointed.

Fourteen races, fourteen wins: Frankel The 'Wonder Horse'

As I was writing this post, I had a look to see if I could find a few examples of his dominance, and saw that some kind soul has compiled all of his victories into an 8 minute clip.

Frankel never looked like losing any of those races, what a nag!

These days I hardly ever have a gamble but do watch and listen to the main meetings of the year, flat and jumps. My friends however are still at it (they have more 'spare' money to throw away I guess) and have a whatsapp group to share the tips around.

This group pay a 'professional tipster' to send them selections and over the 3/4 years they have been following, the tipster is close to 100 points up which is pretty excellent. There is a tip for today, and I will occasionally (without telling them of course!) pass these selections on.

Saltie Girl - Ayr - 5:00pm (6pm CET)

The tipster has also given a horse for the St Ledger on the 14th September - Constantinople at around 25/1.

Good luck if you have a dabble, don't shoot the messenger if a leg falls off, etc, etc :)

I'd like to know if anyone else is keen on the horses and has any cool stories to tell. If not, then this could be my last post on the topic and I'll have to resort to complaining about Manchester United.

Cheers!

Asher

Comments · 13

@patrickulrich(70)· 2606d
I've been meaning to check for a couple days but have always put it off. Did your tip pay off?

I love horse racing and definitely hope to see more posts here! I was really hoping we'd see a lot of activity with prerace predictions and tips like you shared above. My buddy @jasontruett is a trained jockey and even has a win under his belt though he doesn't actively ride much now. I'm really hoping this helps bring him in here more! ;) ;)
@maxwell95(61)· 2606d
I personally love and enjoy most of the sports including horse racing. Don't really have a cool story on horses though :)
@arcange(79)· 2607d
Congratulations @abh12345.sports! Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade for newcomers in the following category:
- Comments - Ranked 4 with 27 comments
I also upvoted your post to increase its reward If you like my work to promote newcomers and give them more visibility on the Steem blockchain, consider to vote for my witness!
@giornalista(60)· 2607d
hello I made my first post on sportstalksocial maybe you can tell me if it can be interesting ... anyway I love horses and I have a purebred Arab but I don't go to the races for a long time ...
@kaluchima(33)· 2608d
Good to see a sport racing fan here. Though l have limited my interest in horse racing bet back in the days, l still have good memory of it.
@blanchy(75)· 2608d
Live very close to Coolmore Stud here so regularly get tips from some of the staff and so do quite well from it . Any funds I have invested in Steem have come off the back of horse tips. I did post my tips on Scorum but I got flagged as a shit post and that was the end of that. It was a double tip and the horses were 14/1 and 8/1 . If anyone put a fiver on that double instead of flagging me then they would of won quite a bit of money. I left Scorum shortly after due to the saltiness. But in summary Gambling is fun. Everyone goes on about the dangers but no one tells us of how bloody fun it is when your horse Franklin is romping home.

Posted using Partiko iOS
@qam2112(63)· 2608d
I bet on it almost everyday but defo not a fan. Dont consider it a sport and rigged to the bone. If the odd winners hapoened in any other field there would be palimental meetings but here its all good. I now pick them as i do the lottery just numbers to me. About 6 months ago got my lil boy to pick a color 100/1 and yep it won lol nade him pick for 3 weeks straight not had one since. If me you and Usain bolt were in a race and both of us were in high heels and beat bolt at 30/1 what would happen? The world would stop but this happens daily rigged i tell ya rigged
@flipstar(72)· 2608d
do you wear a sill hat when you are there?

I like gambling so I think I would hav fun there
@steemitboard(66)· 2608d
Congratulations @abh12345.sports! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You received more than 250 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 500 upvotes.

_{You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking} _{If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP}

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!
@serkagan(66)· 2608d
Excellent review @abh12345.sports, horse racing has always attracted me with its beauty and grace!
@niallon11(77)· 2608d
I watch a bit of it. I tend to follow the big meetings rather than everyday racing. I love Cheltenham and galway races. Take the week off every year to go to the galway meet.

Posted using Partiko Android
@leedsunited(67)· 2608d
Hell yes. I wrote a post about Nashwan last week along similar lines to this except not as good of course lol

Like you, I follow more than bet these days but was hoping to set up some antepost action for the big races here, maybe using dpoll if I can constantly update it.

I am waiting for someone to set up a Blockchain Betfair. It would be ideal for peer to peer markets if it was fast enough and could handle the last minute rush.

Isn't one of the guys here Irish? He MUST be into racing unless he has revoked his citizenship?

Pontefract is my local course but never won a race there. That last rising 1f home straight has always been a favourite killer but those evening summer meetings are sublime. A better night out it's impossible to have.
@michealb(67)· 2608d
Only horse race i ever went to was to watch Black Caviar (won 25 times in a row retired undefeated) i think the odds where if you paid a $1.00 you got back $1.01 or something silly like that. i did win and decided to keep the ticket instead of claiming my winnings as a souvenir. hmm wonder where i put it might see if i can still cash it in:)