D-d coins it in...
14 Apr 2012 11:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
curiouswombatI don't expect anyone to remember, but I have mentioned in the past that D-d has a lucky touch when it comes to winning money on the outcome of the Grand National. The Grand National is the biggest race of the year over fences in the UK - and the race that people run sweepstakes on, and have their one bet of the year on. D-d and I are no exception, and we took ourselves to the bookmakers in Ramsey on the way to my Mum's.
Actually, you can tell everyone bets on The National - there was a queue of at least 50 people in front of us - all of whom clearly decided, like us, to then get sandwiches from the nearby shop for lunch - it's the first time I've known the sandwich shop run out of bread by 12.45pm.
Anyway, this year D-d got 'Sea Bass' in the office sweepstakes - and chose to put her £1 each way bets on two others - 'Organisedconfusion', the other horse with a female jockey (Sea Bass was ridden by a young woman), and the first grey she noticed in the list of runners, as she realised that his colours included a star - she likes stars.
I had a bet on 'Shakalakaboomboom' - it was that Shaka in his name, and on locally owned 'Ballabrigs'.
Shakalaka-b-b was in the lead for much of the race - had it been a couple of furlongs shorter I would have had a winner - but he ended up 9th - Ballabrigs was 6th.
D-d's horses? Sea Bass came 3rd - £10 back from the sweepstakes. Organisedconfusion didn't complete the course - her grey? Neptune Collonges. Which won at 33/1. That's a return of £43 on her £4 stake at the bookmakers to add to the £10 for her £2 in the sweepstakes.
Next time I'll just put my money on the same horses as she does...
Actually, you can tell everyone bets on The National - there was a queue of at least 50 people in front of us - all of whom clearly decided, like us, to then get sandwiches from the nearby shop for lunch - it's the first time I've known the sandwich shop run out of bread by 12.45pm.
Anyway, this year D-d got 'Sea Bass' in the office sweepstakes - and chose to put her £1 each way bets on two others - 'Organisedconfusion', the other horse with a female jockey (Sea Bass was ridden by a young woman), and the first grey she noticed in the list of runners, as she realised that his colours included a star - she likes stars.
I had a bet on 'Shakalakaboomboom' - it was that Shaka in his name, and on locally owned 'Ballabrigs'.
Shakalaka-b-b was in the lead for much of the race - had it been a couple of furlongs shorter I would have had a winner - but he ended up 9th - Ballabrigs was 6th.
D-d's horses? Sea Bass came 3rd - £10 back from the sweepstakes. Organisedconfusion didn't complete the course - her grey? Neptune Collonges. Which won at 33/1. That's a return of £43 on her £4 stake at the bookmakers to add to the £10 for her £2 in the sweepstakes.
Next time I'll just put my money on the same horses as she does...
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Date: 14/04/2012 10:16 pm (UTC)Ever since reading National Velvet as a kid, I've dreamed of going one day. If I ever do, I'll be sure to ask D-d who to bet on. *g*
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Date: 14/04/2012 10:45 pm (UTC)When she was at uni, and then law college, in York my daughter lived at the edge of the Knavesmire and could watch the races from her window in her last year. You can go to the races there for free as long as you don't want to go into the stands or an enclosure as the Knavesmire is common land. She and her friends did so quite often - occasionally paying the £10 or so for the enclosure with the bookies and having a flutter - and she rarely went home with less than she went out with there, either!
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Date: 14/04/2012 10:47 pm (UTC)How are you? Managed to dodge the worst of the weather, I hope!
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Date: 14/04/2012 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/04/2012 10:49 pm (UTC)Those horse names are terrific.
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Date: 14/04/2012 10:58 pm (UTC)I liked poor old Synchronised too. :( I have to say I've been watching racing all my life and I've watched 30 plus Nationals and I accept there are risks, but something about this particular race was brutal and that was evident way before we found out about the fatalities. My friend even said before the race begain that she thought this race would be a disaster.
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Date: 14/04/2012 11:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/04/2012 11:22 pm (UTC)I felt really sad about Synchronised too - it is easy to say in hindsight that he was too spooked and perhaps they shouldn't have started him - but if they had pulled him at that point there would have been an outrage. And he seemed to actually clear the fence before he went down too. So sad to have had two deaths two years in a row.
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Date: 14/04/2012 11:24 pm (UTC)UK racehorses have some weird and wonderful names - I'm guessing American ones must too, though.
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Date: 14/04/2012 11:27 pm (UTC)But the girl did good to get third - isn't that the highest placing for a female jockey in the National?
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Date: 14/04/2012 11:33 pm (UTC)I heard he actually sustained the injury while loose at the 11th. I don't believe he was that spooked, tbh, though I suppse it all the fuss at the start wouldn't have helped and Becher's is too early really to know if the horse is settled or not. I think McCoy is wise enough to know a Gold Cup winner falling would not be a good thing for racing. I think the bigger question is why they ran him at all, seeing as they didn't try last year because they felt he wasn't a good enough jumper.
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Date: 14/04/2012 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/04/2012 11:42 pm (UTC)By the way - and way off topic - I forgot to say thank you for the cake-stand info - which was really kind of you.
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Date: 14/04/2012 11:52 pm (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 15/04/2012 06:53 am (UTC)Congratulations to D-d.
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Date: 15/04/2012 06:57 am (UTC)My run of backing the runners up which began with Honey End [2nd] and Red Alligator [3rd] in Foinavon's year of 1967 continued with both Sunnyhillboy and Sea Bass!
And I'm still kicking myself for putting money on Longshanks in 2005 rather than the 100-1 winner Silver Birch!
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Date: 15/04/2012 07:36 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 15/04/2012 09:01 am (UTC)I was surprised to learn that my sister-in-law always places a bet, but the rest of my family has never bothered!
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Date: 15/04/2012 09:04 am (UTC)James let Chloe pick a horse - she chose Seabass, she liked the pattern! They had great fun shouting 'come on, Seabass!!' at the TV, and then Chloe put her £2.50 winnings into her money box ;-) Problem is, now she keeps asking for the 'fast horses' on the TV again!
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Date: 15/04/2012 09:29 am (UTC)(I hope you've had a better week than you did weekend, and there was a perfectly 'innocent' reason for that rather scary phone message.)
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Date: 15/04/2012 02:47 pm (UTC)It was so sad about those two horses. I understand why 'slinging' a horse to keep the weight off a broken limb could lead to major chest problems, but it is so sad in this day and age that no-one has discovered a way of inserting metal work and a way to keep them non-weight bearing for a time. I think, if it were possible, almost every owner would go for it even if the horse would never race again - I don't believe, as is sometimes bandied about, that they are destroyed thoughtlessly because they will no longer be viable money-earners.
And your record of picking some of the best runners is most enviable. I can see why you would go for Longshanks - and why you might have gone, otherwise, for Silver Birch. My mother had planned to back Silver Birch that year, because of the name of the jockey, but her friend who was to go to the bookies for her was ill and didn't go... she always thinks of it as the one that got away, too. She had her money on Killyglen for the same reason this year - but with no luck.
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