Horse Racing

I have just finished watching the Panarama programme on their expose of dodgy dealings in the horse racing world. I have backed horses for the past thirty years and generally I have done quite well out of it. I am not trying to convince people that I always win but then I have a system which works for me.

I invest what I can afford to lose. When I lose then it has no real consequence because all I am doing is spending money that is actually inconsequential. I could have bought a book or some music or watched a film but I don't do that because I back horses.

Sometimes I get lucky and some days I get really lucky and on those days I feel like a king. You see I only back to win. Gone are the days when I used the bookies chums like the Patent and the Yankee because frankly finding a decent priced winner is so difficult it is folly to try and find another winner. In forty years of gambling I only ever had one fulfilled Yankee (Four horses who all win) and three Patents (three horses who win). It is brilliant when it happens but frankly it is a mugs bet.

Tonight on Panarama they exposed people who have cheated the system. In my opinion they were just scratching the surface. Horse racing is institutionally corrupt. It comes from the very top because they keep fiddling the system. I used to study form and I have Form Books which go back thirty years. Unfortunately the past two seasons form has been meaningless!

The punter has really no chance! I watch horses scoot home by a country mile one day and the very next week they run like drains. Nobody holds the trainers to account. Nobody questions that a particular horse is not running to it's full potential. We have winners of races who have never in their lives shown any ability whatsoever and yet if you look back in the record books it is quite obvious that they have been 'schooled in public' which is an offence.

Until the Racing Channels stop making excuses about their lack of success in tipping winners (they really are useless) and start challenging the ridiculous results then they will kill the sport. They are perpetuating the myth that horse racing is a clean sport when in effect it is an exciting form of gambling but the people who run it are not ensuring that the punter has a fair chance of landing a bet.

I love horse racing but I am about to find another use for my money. I suspect by the empty betting shops that many others have aleady made that decision.