Favourite punting stories

Very interesting and unusual story MMF.

I got into racing in the mid 90's. A couple of years later i was at Kenilworth, like any other Saturday. I did a Jackpot which went Field/Sun Of Heaven**/Viva Espana**/Field(almost).

Anyway 10/1 shot in first leg followed by both my bankers winning comfortably. The minimum payout was over 2K. The maximum payout was 40K+, on (a name that lives on in infamy)Conquest Glory, the only horse i had left out of my Jackpot. CG was a 9yo trained by Garl Collins who hadn't won a race for about 4 years.
Five minutes before racetime my thinking went something like 'should i ensure a big profit by putting 50 wins on CG...hmmm...nah...can't possibly win' (i think it ended up paying R92 a win).

You can guess the rest.

"400 metres to go, and Conquest Glory is showing no signs of stopping - he's six lengths clear". He did fold late but held on by a length. Never won another race. Since that day i have never left out only one horse in the last leg of any Jackpot or P6!

** I got these names with the help of our database - my memory isnt THAT good.
Perversely i remembered the name Conquest Glory off the top of my head!

PS The day had a happy ending as i had something of a desperation bet on Thaba Bosiu in the last, who got up on the post at 7/1. Otherwise the dog and cat would have been in danger when i got home !

The sequel to the above...Uncle Bert gave me 10%, but we were poor... my dad was a brickie so took the money but gave me R 100.00. When you consider my pocket money was 10c a week... I felt like a millionaire. Anyway we used to go down to Cape Town for the December holidays every year... and this year was no different. I stashed most of the money (after splashing out on a bottle cane for my mates and I... set me back about R4) for when I get to Kalk Bay.
In those days the bookies in Muizenberg offered what they called the Big Six ... a 10c jackpot which paid 10% of the days usual Tote Jackpot. We arrived Saturday morning early, and without sleep I started studying form... made out an 80c Big Six.. banking a horse in the first leg.. Saffyr Bleu, actually a filly. My brother in law told me I was nuts cos the horse was 33/1.. but all I remember is the previous year when I was down it had won very impressively..... well.. the filly won like a good thing.. and I caught the Big Six jackpot and collected over R700... what a rave that holiday was... and the adults were seriously p!ssed cos they did not take my perm on the tote.. over R7k for R80...

Wish this was me but..... read this ad


Punter wins one million pounds with 50p bet
LONDON (Reuters) - A punter has won one million pounds from a 50 pence bet to defy odds of two million to one, a spokesman for bookmaker William Hill said on Saturday.

The punter, who placed his bet in Thirsk in Yorkshire on Friday, was unaware of his new-found wealth until he walked into a betting shop in Bedale and staff told him of his success after he placed five more 50 pence bets for Saturday's racing.

"When they told him he had one million pounds to come but would have to collect it from the Thirsk shop he went visibly pale before saying that he would have to go and tell his wife," said a William Hill spokesman.

The punter's winning bet on eight horses -- the first of which was called "Isn't That Lucky" and the last "A Dream Come True" -- was the first ever betting shop million pound payout, the spokesman said.

Having a "blast from the past" with punting/gambling stories

Sure we have a few more, might give a prize for a few new good ones.

enjoy!!!

It was in the late 90's and me being the outsider punter that I am took a Pick 6 at Turfontein one wet Saturday afternoon . My wife being the professional she claims to be insisted I banker the fav in the 1st and 2nd leg . It was short and everyone on course was singing the praises of these two fillies two days before racing . Overnight we had alot of rain and the track was not in good condition . Anyway I took my time making my selections for the Pick6 and ended up with 5 in the 1st leg and 5 in the 2nd leg including only the roughies . The whole country I think bankered the two hotties except me . Well the 1st and 2nd leg the favs ran stone last and 2 40/1 won . I included the two and and running into the last leg had 2 horses, one of which I remembered a wise old trainer once telling me his horse will win in the wet one day . It was 16/1 and it won by 10 lengths . Pick 6 paid R600000 odd and I caught 50% .

Nice one Lex, you have just hit the front for a bottle of JWB

it's the year 1985/6/7..
my father came to visit for the weekend..
a dear but simple man..
works on the mine..
all his life..
his children went away..studied..and started their own families..
He clears R490 per month..and a free minehouse with electricity..

My mother makes him unpack the pockets..all his change/coins on the table..
takes a while..the SAFARI SUIT has a few pockets..

now we ready..on the way to Turfontein..
I work as a payout clerk for Vivian de Villiers..on Saturdays..
My reason to go to the track....
First stop, Loveday tattersals to pick up the betting sheets and slips..

I bump into Derek, he gives me 2 horses..
We just clicked, were never friends, but whenever he saw me, he would put me in the play..

This is all new to my father..
comming from East Drienfontein gold mine..East Village..
the most they see is the monthly trip to Carletonville to go and draw the money


He hangs around the back of the bookie and every race I tell him..NO BET..
I gave him R300, told him to be carefull..
by the 3rd race, I gave him the 1st of Derek's tips..about 7/2
the horse won..

we got busy..
the payout Q was always busy..fav were winning every 2nd or 3rd race..
never had Q's like TOM...

by race 6, Jeff Loydd,s dad came around and put R100 on Dambuster at 10/1
said his son will win.
was a lot for him to put on..he normally put R10 or R20.
So I told my dad about the horse..
carried on with the payouts..
the horse won..

race 8 came..
I gave my dad the last of Derek's tips..5/2..the horse won...

we cashed up, balanced..
driving back home..
I am busy with my own thoughts..
suddenly my dad remarks..I AM GOING TO RESIGN ON MONDAY..

WHY..??
he starts unpacking the SAFARI SUIT pockets again..
bundels of money...almost R20k...

I WON ALMOST 4 YEARS SALARY today..

there I sat..speachless..my mother was going to kill me..

We got home..
end of the story..
He shared half his winnings with my mother..
and I never took him racing again..

Another classic, hope you checked all the pockets?

I used to have a punt with a bookie in Edinburgh and then go to the pub next door.

One day a chap I recognized from the bookie came and joined me for a drink.
He gave me one of the old carbon copy betting slips and says what is your best bet for the day, if I remember it was Easby Abbey over the jumps?
He said fill in this ticket and bring it to the bookies in half an hour.

The ticket says one pound Easby Abbey at 4.00 Warwick?

I placed the bet took my copy and went back to the pub

Later he comes to join me, brings back my original puts it back on top of my ticket and says, now add the word treble, so the ticket now reads one pound treble add Lucky Jim 2.00 at Musselburgh and Big Bob 3.00 at Thirsk.
He takes the ticket back, I go back to the bookies to watch Easby Abbey winning by the distance to collect a nice treble as obviously the other two had already won,

We split the winnings, he disappeared a couple of weeks later and never saw him again?

...in the early 80's an ex-farrier to my father(since deceased) was once shoeing for Ormond Ferraris...he said one morning over a cup of tea...Old man Ferraris horses are so well he's gonna have plenty winnners today(Newmarket Wednsday)...I worked in Wadeville and asked a work mate who was going to the course for the afternoon to play a PA for me....there was R1 change left over... so I told him jokingly to have an all to come bet on Mr. Ferraris's horses(couplings still applied)....he had six winners on the day this guy comes back to work after 5 winners and gives me R5400 and tells me he did not have the heart to put so much money on the next one.....(he was not bookmaker savvy and played the accumlulated winnings on the tote in each race)

I got 2 stories:

1. In the late 80's my father, a small time regular punter, is offered a 1/3 share in a Cape Town Pick 6 ticket from his 2 racing buddies. My pops being the stubborn principled Jewish punter he is says he's not playing races on the Jewish New Year.
His 2 (also Jewish) mates say no worries they understand and they take the bet anyway.

R60,000 later his mates are dancing and celebrating the Jewish New Year in style whilst my father is still happy he never played. Did I say he was stubborn?!

2. I was convinced the 2001 J&B Met long time favourite Free My Heart was certain to run a place, especially with Striker up. So my only betting intention is to take a trifecta and rove Free My Heart with about 6 other horses.

A few minutes before the off I start thinking (for the millionth time) if I've overlooked any runners. I then remember I backed a Bass runner a couple of months earlier at Durbanville as part of a winning 60-1 treble. I then look at my trifecta and start wondering how have I left this out?

The tote queues are crazy so I run into the betting ring and put R20 each way with the late Jay Kramer on the overlooked runner. I then sprint up into the grandstand just in time to catch the race. The whole race Im following Free my Heart who's caught too far back and too wide and only gets going late to run out of the placings.

The noise is deafening as they cross the line with no chance of hearing Jehan Malherbe's commentary. Moments later theres just a stunned silence everywhere, Im cursing Strydom, Kannemeyer and the Met. Next minute I hear the official result: "1st place Bunter Barlow at 50-1". Glen Hatt got up in the dying strides to pip the other Bass runner Trademark on the post.

I look at my ticket just to make sure and as clear as day my R20 each way bet has just arrived. I run to Jay who's smiling from ear to ear, in all my years I've never seen a bookie so happy to pay out. As a student back then I felt as if I'd won the lottery!

Some time in the early nineties at Gosforth Park I managed to fluke 20% of a Pick Six - I think I collected in the region of R15 000 for my R50 outlay; I still remember I had a Millard (Tony) horse - think it was called Royal Thunder - as a banker in the last; as I remember the only real danger was Vintage Award (now a successful broodmare) ridden by Striker. I took a few cover bets, but was so overjoyed when Royal Thunder thundered home that I threw my Computaform high into the air (and never found it again in the mayhem that followed).

I have been trying to repeat that feat (catching a nice P6) with small money ever since ....