October
DecemberPunters never change
I read with interest ShaneTempleton’s piece on Lord Fury’s win in the Bagot (21/12).
At the time of the race, I had just started working in the public service and was a keen racing enthusiast.
I found that my boss and another staff member had a system for taking daily doubles on the Saturday races.
At that time, when there were no quaddies or big sixes, the daily double was very popular with tote punters. These two had followed their system for a year before they began to invest and had found that it paid a profit.
In those days the first leg was a staying race and the second a welter, usually over a mile.
The system was to take the top three in the weights in the staying race with the top eight in the welter.
The weekly investment was £6, a considerable bet in those days.
They had been betting only for a month or so when Bagot day come along.
Though they were not form analysts, they were both certain that Lord Fury, whose recent form had been wretched, could not win, so they left him out and doubled up on Quite Able, the favourite. Thus they missed a substantial dividend.
While they had no criticism for their own folly, they were savagely critical of Quite Able’s rider, whose name I do not remember.
Punters have not changed in the past 57 years.
Brunswick West (Vic)