It's nearly sent me to the madhouse a few times but probably for different reasons. Most of the guys I knew from the forums who i genuinely believed were pro's or at least had the ability to be were either batshit insane or at the very least completely puddled in the nicest possible sense. I think one of the most insane things I remember hearing of someone doing was google earthing a track in Chile where a horse that had been imported over here had been running to see if he'd could draw any edge from it. All he could conclude is that the horse would be alright on Good to Firm as next to the race track was a a river bed that had completely dried up. Watching all the speed rater guys as they developed down the years fascinated me I have a basic understanding myself but some of those guys we're different level including yourself EC.
I was always a bit different in my approach but did alright out of it in the end but could never really reach that next level. I probably did everything that I'd advise somebody not to do as I just enjoy gambling too much and wasn't very disciplined. I always said that I did just enough good stuff to cover the daft stuff and leaves a few sheckels over. Knowing my own weaknesses on the discipline side I made sure I put most of the wins to good use and it at least allowed me to pay my house off start to finish in around 9 years which has stood me in good stead since. The thing that broke me mentally was I had a spell where over 3 months the last legs of multiples let me down for 5 figure wins it was either 5 or 6 times, two of those were beats right on the jamstick one being Sunnyhill Boy in the Nash. This was at a time where I'd never won a 5 figure sum and I have still only done it once to this day. I had a fair few more near misses more than it seems possible to of had but I had spells lying in bed at night where I was basically seeing replays of finishes on my bedroom ceiling. These bets weren't massive either probably between £40-80 at the time. I nearly pulled one off on here once with a £10 e/w ante post double where I had Guitar Pete win at 33/1 and Double Shuffle 2nd in the King George at 66/1. When I think back at how many times I rattled the bar and at the time I was really just an erratic desperado but a half decent judge. It makes me wonder now I'm a bit more settled mentally and financially whether its worth putting a concentrated effort in to grabbing one big payday. Since I've returned to having a dabble probably 9 months ago now, I have singles and seem to just go around in circles win some,lose some and I don't bet big enough that its ever gonna change anything financially for me. Most would say chasing big paydays is a mugs game and you should grind it out steadily. As you've said EC to do that these days, you'd have to be so anal about it all with all the restrictions, accounts gone and whatever else in the general tightening up. Then going on betfair and if you tend to back a lot of longshots the losing runs in of themselves can break you mentally. So looking at it, especially for a guy like me I think chasing big paydays whether it be through multiples, big trifectas or having a serious go at Jackpot rollover pools may be the lesser of two evils. It would take a serious amount of money to change my life in any way these days I'm not sure where but its somewhere in 6 figures. I could spend my whole life trying and never get anywhere near but the odd consolation of a 5 figure win paying for a new kitchen or a car or something might make it worth while. Like you I think its pretty much impossible to make a go of it long term its certainly harder than it was even just 5-10 years ago. The way I look at it is I'm back enjoying my racing which at one point I never thought possible, I'm a lot more laid back about the bets these days as I don't need the dough like I used to and my daughter is all grown up now. So it matters not really whether I win or lose but to land something special, the big one, one last hurrah is something that i see as my divine right. For the hours I put in to learning the game in which time I could have become a brain surgeon twice over and for all the heartbreak endured down the years. At this point in my life its more a point of pride and something to tell the grandkids about, and maybe put them through college to boot.
I may even start a blog on here so you can follow the journey if ever I can figure out how the blog function bloody works.
Firstly Danny, I am awarding you the prize for the longest paragraph in history
Seriously though, great reply. Glad your daughter is now grown up and that means like me, you don't worry about her, hopefully. When my son was growing up, gambling on horses was not my worry, I worked and was ok moneywise. On saying that, I still worry about him as we all all do, parenthood never ever ends does it?
Long term to me would have meant total insanity timing sectionals by eye on replays. I did it for a long period and if it weren't for looking after my cat I would have gone mental.
That is just one aspect I talk about, reading past races spotting horses that should have won due to being pace negatived. To someone who thinks studying pace in past races as in giving future winners is silly, that is spotting potential winners from past races, well who would have thought that?
I put lots of winners from that period on here, I also pm'd Colin some too.
I am getting old now, the future looks short to me with my lifestyle so it all looks less important now compared with my 10 year old self when I look back at my posts on here. I was so angry and not tolerant of others views then. I don't actually recognise the person who posted some of those views. I read stuff on here now and am still angry about stuff but don't see anyone as this strange angry enemy I might have thought they were. People I have recently opposed in views I just see as people I just disagree with, I ask of them questions as to their views, but still respect their opinions on racing, Luke and Tanlic being two who I tend to cross with now and in the past. It s all just about opinion, but I know we all love this game.
It is odd when you look at posts on a forum, those people who you may often disagree with most, grab your eye first, you always want to see someone's view who you normally disagree with first? Maybe that is just me? People on here I always read are those I think will wind me up most. I'm probably not normal of course.
My most read first in the past, was always Reet hard, we have a great history of falling out, mainly on my part, yet now I respect his comments and views more than most. I think we are so similar in type, that we were always going to conflict, which is really odd when you think about it.
No matter what people think of me in the past when we have fallen out, I have always respected people's views no matter how I might not have appeared to.
Grasshopper needs to get himself back on here too.
