About Me

I have come to punting very late in life - in retirement, in fact. But I was not new to racing when I did, for as a boy my favourite board-game was Totopoly and, in Australia at the time, I was taken a few times to magical Randwick, the Sydney racetrack. (For a while people used to jokingly ask me my "tip for the 3.30" to which I always soberly had an answer.) Once, in 1964 (back in England) aged 24, out of the blue I got a premonition that No.5 was going to win the Grand National! This was amazing, as I had not given racing a single thought for the best part of a decade. A few days before the race I saw a newspaper featuring 3 fancied horses - Freddie had No. 5 on his back. I determined to back him. Why not? But on the day of the race I did not have a single penny so could not bet, anyway not without borrowing! No. 5 won and Freddie came 2nd! Chance lost. Borrowing is not always the bad thing it is cracked up to be, eh? One day in 2003, I responded to a mailer from a tipster who sucked me willingly back to the sport of kings. It got to be painful when he had no tip and one such afternoon I sat with my computer and the race cards and enjoyed an afternoon at the races immensely. I spent about £20 and lost £1.50. I was amazed. I thought if an idiot beginner like me could do that well, I might chance my arm some more - and I have not stopped since. I had been doing extraordinarily well, but never quite well enough. But recently, at last, I reached the point when I can expect to break through the overall losing barrier. It has taken just over two and a half years to feel able to say this, and in this column I shall share some of the, hopefully, more interesting steps that brought me to this stage, set in the context of current cards, day-to-day experiences, plus any constants in my methodology that just might be helpful to others to mull over and apply (or, better still, adapt with some slant if their own devising). The Totopoly Kid

The Totopoly Kid

The Totopoly Kid I have come to punting very late in life - in retirement, in fact. But I was not new to racing when I did, for as a boy my favourite board-game was Totopoly and, in Australia at the time, I was taken a few times to magical Randwick, the Sydney racetrack.