Hello all,
Not sure how long this forum has been going but i've only just found it ! :laughing: I'm a regular poster on the FISO Fantasy football forum
http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/index.php
but have noticed that I spend most of my time posting on the betting forum on that particular site so i've been looking to branch out and contribute more on some other 'Racing' forums. I have been a member of Betfair (aka Shrews), OLBG(Shrews) and The Racing Forum (Prince Chicaf) for some time now and haven't posted on those much but have done so a little bit more of late.
I like the flat and jumps but seem to have more luck on the flat, especially The Lincoln (and yep, I did have Smokey this year). I like the big flat handicaps the best and most of my success seems to come in those types of races. I like to see horses as just horses rather than machines and try to keep away from numerical stats such as time, weight etc and like to concentrate on how a horse prefers to run best, whether it will be able to do that in a chosen race and whether it's fit or likely to be fit. With this in mind, my thoughts on races tend to be different from the majority of posters so I would hope that I can offer a different perspective on races if kindly given the chance.
My undoing is that i'm only in the betting game to win big. Therefore I tend to concentrate on Lucky 15's which more often than not go t*ts up and I hardly ever back anything under 5/1 so try to always look for double figure prices. On the whole I tend to do o.k, and enjoy racing as a hobby that gives me the opportunity to win a nice sum.
I've been backing horses since my pre-teens. My Grandad taught me how to study form and much like the new poster above I used to have a crack at the ITV 7 with my mum on a Saturday afternoon.
I've been to about 75% of the racecourses in Britain. I used to go to the Cheltenham festival quite regularly but haven't done so over the past few years. Favourite course is Sandown, least favourite is Bangor On Dee (which just happens to be about the closest to me). I was also at the '93 Santa Anita Breeders Cup to watch Arcangues win at 150/1.
I used to have a share in a racehorse called Champagne Prince trained by Peter Harris in the mid '90's. He won some decent handicaps and the ownership experience was a dream come true. I am also still in contact with CP's current owner in the States where CP was eventually retired to stud duties. It is my dream to see the old boy again before he dies as I bought my share in him when he was just a yearling playing with two others in a field. He was the least expensive from that choice of three (the others were a Pirate Army colt who ran but did nothing, and a horse by Arctic Tern who became Arctic Fancy, a staying flat horse who was eventually placed at 66's at the Cheltenham festival later in his career). The ownership scheme with Peter Harris (now run by Walter Swinburn) was fantastic and I would urge any of you to give it a go if you haven't already done so.
......and finally my claim to fame is that I won the Ladbrokes/Lanson 'Pocket Companion' six to follow competition way back some time in the early 90's.
Favourite jumps horses - Dessie and Red Rum, but also like the classy flat horses who go on to succeed in the jumping world, such as Alderbrook and Royal Gait. I also loved the golden age of hurdlers Night Nurse, Sea Pigeon, Birds Nest and Monksfield as they bring back a lot of fond memories.
Favourite flat horses - Nashwan, Generous, Arazi, Dayjur, Zafonic, Salsabil and of course the legendary Champagne Prince :clap:
Apols, for the length of the post.