Biggest Recovery?

I remember once going to the tote with about 2grand as a stake - by race 6 I was down to my last R20 - I ended up winning a small swinger and after the last I was up to 10k - those are the days that keep you coming back for more - any similar stories?(I need a reason to log onto computaform again!!out of form through lack of study)

Took a small bank loan(£800 quite a chunk back then ) out when i was 18 to take me and a friend to Paris for the 5 nations.

When my friend pulled out i decided to give the cash a spin instead of handing it back (as you do).

Anyway after a week on the drink and gambling like mad i was skint and placed a 60p f/c at Hackney morning dogs and got it up(£9) and never looked back,ended the day betting 8 out of the 9 winners at powderhall dogs that evening and winning enough to pay the loan back with a few quid to spare..

Bob remember almost going through the card at Powderhall and having 100 pound on Kilbelin Again over 700 mt just married so many years ago, I could have been earning 25 pound a week

Plus when I was a bookie in Bosman St the fav won the July, was dead, changed the result and Space Walk won race on objection, the longest half an hour in my life, if I dont count the bucket shop when I put the kitty on Roberto to win the Derby, and had to also survive an objection, to this day the "Long Fellows" best ride

good thread

Still recovering I'm afraid

I am a small time punter and I promise you there is nothing better than going to a live Clairwood and Greyville meeting. I don't know why but I always take R500 but never gamble more than R200 in total for the meeting. However I love my kzn racing as I only back the long shots for wins and places and have a nibble on the odd fav. Funny enough I must have been to the courses about 50 times in my life but I never look more forward to the lucky last race of these meetings. I always seem to gradually lose my money during the meeting but always make it up in the last with abit of profit just to pay for the food and entertainment for me and my friends that came along with me to the course.

Mr H;

Good thread!

During the early '60's (I think), I had completed matric and was still deciding on what to do in life. However, having served my tutelage under my grandfather, I was into racing from high school days.

This was a Scottsvill meetin and I had been paid a princely sum of R8.00 as temp assistant in my uncle's clothing shop (he was a close friend of Mr Bernstein whose horse Chimboraa won the July).

Went to the Tats (late Harry Legassick) and took a win bet on Falkirk No. 6 (c Barends up)- won.

Next I played the dupla, 10x Sun Bonnet and the fav (the nos were 8 x 12). Paid R50+.

Then took, asked the bookie's clerk for the double 12 x 8 (Spode, trained by Rickaby with Sisera, trained by AWJ Sharpe 50 times.

The clerk, knowing me, laughed and said that I was not in that big league so he wrote out the double 10 times.

The double came in, paying R300+ on the tote.

I collceted the 80-1 limit. That was a lot of tom for a little teenager.

The following week (I don't play at any other gambling), I was the usual tea-maker for the 'cut card' gamblers on Saturdays, at which the 'Don' was an uncle of mine. I was challeged to try my luck at 'call card'. Hesitantly, I decided to give it a bash.

When I got the pack, I held it for over 25 consecutive rounds (betting R2.00 at a time!). That was unbelieveable! I never ever played 'call card' for money again!

That's not all; yes, I had also taken the jackpot (single ticket, no perms those days).

The winning numbers were 6 x 12 x 12 x 8 and only one winner (announced late at night!), paying a mammoth R50 0000+!

Everyone thought I was the sole winner!

When I checked my ticket, I could not explain how I had filled in 6 x 3 x 12 x 8 instead of 6 x 12 x 12 x 8!

You right, that's what makes us come back...for, hopefully, more!

Got divorced 17 years ago and had ten grand left after paying her and my attorneys. Backed my filly in a maiden race and put it all on a horse called "I'm Taking It" in the feature at kenilworth on the same day. Still spending the winnings to this day.

Dyson sparks life-rescuing financial revival

DEBT? What debt?

My recovery from the brink of financial oblivion is complete. And how did I do it? By betting. Betting, my friends, is something that in my humble opinion one should never give up on.

For the average man, the only way out of a financial cul-de-sac is to gamble. A wage slave will always be trapped with the same income and the same expenditure, and his quality of life will remain the same, unless he gambles.

The perceived wisdom is that people should not bet more than they can afford to lose. But my advice to people would be that they should gamble a shade more than they can afford to lose, and then cross the bridge of failure if they come to it, because they are not going to experience a proper high without risking a proper low.

I would like to thank two dear colleagues, Kevin Pullein and Paul Kealy, for giving me the encouragement to end what was a month-long betting sabbatical after the British Open with a few wise words.

In a mountain of debt, and struggling to pay the bills, I had cast betting aside and was seriously wondering whether I would ever be able to getback in the punting saddle. I had resigned myself to a new life as one of those miserable bores who describes betting as "a mug's game" and spends hours looking for special offers in the supermarket.

But KP and PK, perhaps sensing a soul dying in front of them, stepped in to have their say.

Kevin suggested I dramatically reduced my stakes and slowly attempted to build them up again as I got back on my financial feet, before generously adding: "And perhaps you should concentrate on golf, Steve, because you're undoubtedly one of the best in the world at betting on golf."

Then a few days later, Paul, a man not known for lavishing praise on anything except the latest chunk of equine flesh which has caught his eye, cornered me by a lift shaft and barked: "You will start winning again soon because you're good. You're not stupid."

So, buoyed by the knowledge that I was good, not stupid, and one of the best in the world at something in the eyes of an extremely intelligent man, I opted to tentatively dip my toes back into the punting pool.

It was a good decision. On Sunday, August 16, I had £40 on Tottenham to beat Liverpool at 3.55 on Betfair (money which should really have been going to one of several people to whom I owed money) and from the moment Sebastien Bassong's bullet header flew past Jose Reina at White Hart Lane I've not looked back.

The following week, having missed out on 80-1, 25-1 and 10-1 golf winners I had tipped in RPSPORT during my time in the punting wilderness, I had £20 on Simon Dyson to win the KLM Open at 36 on Betfair, along with £200 on a Man United to beat Wigan, Man City to beat Wolves and Arsenal to beat Portsmouth treble on Betfair at 2.7.

The treble copped £340, Dyson's triumph netted £700, and I quickly slammed £300 on England to win the Fifth Ashes Test at 1.28 when the Aussies had been set an impossible victory target at The Oval.

I was building huge momentum and Dyson's heroics, in particular, gave me real hope that I could blast my way out of some savage financial trouble.

As a new week dawned, I had £50 at 2.08 on Betfair on Sunderland to beat Norwich in the Carling Cup and laid £100 of Liverpool at 1.46 against Aston Villa.

I was riding the crest of a wave and even had the confidence to spread bet. I opposed a labouring Thomas Bjorn with Barry Lane in a £10-a-point Johnnie Walker Championship first-round 18-holer on a mate's Sporting Index account and made £320 when the struggling Dane shot 82.

Debtors were rapidly reducing in number. A £300 double at 1.58 on Betfair on Chelsea to beat Burnley and Tottenham to beat Birmingham maintained the momentum (having been on an all-day, all-night hot date, it was not until reading the paper the following morning that I realised Spurs had won with the last kick of the game!), then the same stake at 1.7 on Man City to beat Portsmouth never looked in any danger.

The second half of August was great, but the first half of September has been sensational.

I had £100 at 25 on Betfair on Steve Stricker to win the Deutsche Bank Championship - which has to go down as one of the most important winning bets of my life - and another ton at 16-1 with Hills on England to score a total of seven or more goals in their matches against the feeble opposition of Slovenia and Croatia.

The genial Hills telephonist had to get permission to lay the bet and was away for such a long time that I presumed I was in for a knock-back, but he eventually returned to confirm I was on for the full amount.

I was disappointed with the two-goal haul against Slovenia but did not give up on the bet completely and a wonderful Wednesday night watching the Three Lions destroy the Croats with my best pals in a public house was one of the highlights of my year.

With England 4-1 up and about 15 minutes to play, I decided to have a little cover shot, ringing my colleague Mark Langdon to get him to put £400 on there being no more goals at Wembley at 2.12 on Betfair. Obviously if Croatia had scored another goal and England failed to do so, I would have shipped a monkey rather than a ton, but aggressive hedging has always been part of my make-up and I could not see the home defence being so sloppy again.

When England scored their fifth goal only a few minutes after I had put the phone down to Mark, my immediate reaction was one of disgust that I had just thrown £400 away, but then I gradually came to the correct conclusion that winning £1,200 was a tremendous result and the hedge was sensible.

A £250 chunk on Sunderland to beat Hull at 4-5 in a Coral shop bolstered the coffers further and then the icing on the cake was the £500 I put on Tiger Woods to win the BMW Championship at 2-1 in a Weymouth branch of Ladbrokes.

The Tiger bet completed my comeback and allowed me to free myself of all debt at last, although work commitments forced me to leave Weymouth on Sunday night, meaning I could not collect the winnings myself on Monday morning.

I left the £1,500 voucher with my best mate and after much faffing around (he was told on the Monday there was not enough money in any of the three Ladbrokes shops in Weymouth to pay him out and was asked to come back Tuesday afternoon), the booty eventually found its way tomy dad and my final debt was expunged.

It hasn't all been a bed of roses, though. Agonising near misses in recent weeks - £30 at 85 on Betfair on Martin Erlandsson to win the Johnnie Walker Championship, £57 at 36 on Steve Stricker to win The Barclays, £65 at 40 on Bradley Dredge to win the European Masters, and most recently £100 at 40 on Dyson to win the Mercedes-Benz Championship - have had me shaking with disappointment. If those four had all won, I would be hunting down the magical £30,000 figure again!

But overall I've got to be delighted with my fightback. My financial position is stable again. And my boss has promised me I'll be working as a full-time writerfrom home by Christmas rather than as a production journalist and general office workhorse.

In fact, you know what? I think life might actually be worth living again.

Well, that's until I have everything I own on Tiger to win the Masters again in April!

That was from www.racingpost.co.uk

I know many people who live off PA's...

Dylan how are things looking in Cape Town? (weatherwise)

HOT HOT HOT... LOL:)

ok that gets a chuckle out of me too.