new member and my 'unluckiest' bet

[downthehatch]

Dear Fellow Gamblers
just thought i would say hello, regarding gambling, well it has made me a poor man, and perhaps now i have found this forum i will be able get my story off my chest, although it makes pretty grim reading, however before that i would like to recall the day i very near won something quite life changing.

this was some 3 years ago and i had a seven horse accumulator, six of the horses won, with some at very nice prices such as 10-1, 6-1 the seventh horse was the red hot favourite in a six horse race and it died half way through the race!!
i would have won nearly £80,000. talk about you cannot win them all
Cheers in hope Dth

[watsonsbay]

Without going into too much detail, I had the first 5 in the Tote Jackpot
one day, with a 6 figure rollover.
My selection in the last was a non runner, .....soooooo the Tote rules
say I'm on the returned favourite.
That was fine because, without my selection, I would have wanted to
be on the horse that opened up favourite.
It started to drift in the betting, and the second favourite started to
shorten up.
Well, the 2 of them went off joint favourites, the one I would have chosen
went on to win BUT, if there are joint favourites you're on the lowest
racecard number and that wasn't my one.
How close was that? £80,000 so near, and yet so far.

Watsonsbay

[watsonsbay]

Gold Cup Day 1999

The power of intention.

One of the greatest examples of what I now know to be my ability to manifest happened when I was down at the Cheltenham Festival in 1999.
There was a big Tote Jackpot rollover on Gold Cup day and, having looked at the card the night before, I decided that despite the big fields and ultra competitive Championship races it was definitely winnable and that I would work all the following morning sorting out the 6 winners required, hopefully in a manageable (and affordable) perm.
In case you’re not familiar with the Tote Jackpot it’s a ‘pool’ bet that requires you to pick the winners of the first 6 races on a chosen race-card each day.
The pool is all the money bet on the Jackpot that day and if you’re the only winner you scoop the pool (less the Tote’s cut). If there’s lots of winners the pool is shared and if no-one picks all 6 winners then that money is rolled over to the next day, and so on.
I like it as a bet because you can choose when to play it, and there is obviously an advantage in only starting to play if the pool has grown to a reasonable size.
So, I sat downstairs in the Rising Sun hotel with my Sporting Life and worked on the form, analysis, tips, information and whatever else I could think of and as friends drifted in and others stopped by on the way to the bar and asked what I was doing I told anyone I spoke to that there was a big Jackpot to be played for and that I thought I could win it.
Belief, conviction, and action.
There were two key races that day – the Gold Cup itself and the Stayers Hurdle.
In the Gold Cup I’d had very good news months before regarding a horse called See More Business trained by Paul Nichols.
I was on at 14/1 and his price had contracted to as low as 6/1 or 7/1 before a couple of bad runs had seen his price drift out again as the big race approached to a best price 16/1 that morning.
I was still hopeful and took the bold decision to make him a banker in my Jackpot perm, my only selection in the Gold Cup.
The 2nd race, the Stayer’s Hurdle, seemed, to most people at least, to revolve around 3 horses who were each priced around 3/1 that morning though there were about 16 runners in the race and I had a feeling that there were certainly several other possible winners.
In the end I put six selections in this race in my perm; two of the 3 fancied horses and 4 others at prices ranging up to 40/1.
In the last and vital 6th leg I had narrowed it down to just 2 of the runners and I did feel that I had got the race sorted.
It was nearly time to leave for the course and I felt that I had almost everything in place – just another couple of calls to make, one of which was to prove absolutely critical.
In The Rising Sun on Cleeve Hill the buzz of anticipation of another cracking day’s racing was all around, and my Irish friends were into their second jug of Bloody Mary and jokingly giving me a hard time for ‘wasting’ the morning chasing the ‘impossible’ Jackpot.
Even so I felt confident and it was only when I made that final call for that last piece of the jigsaw to fall into place that a tiny seed of doubt crept in to my mind as I was faced with a real dilemma.
Some of the best information I receive is from people way smarter and better informed than me with horses that they consider bad value favourites or shortish priced fancied runners which they believe should be taken on and opposed.
On this day, one of the two horses I’d picked out in the last leg of the Jackpot was given as exactly that.
Not overly fancied by connections, too short a price and a ‘negative’.
What to do?
I looked again and decided to put my 3rd best option in instead, with nagging thoughts of getting the first 5 winners up and watching in horror as this rejected selection won the last and I blew the chance of a major return.
Having made the decision, I phoned my selections through to the manager of one of my betting shops for him to put the bet through our Tote machine and thereby reduce the cost of my perm by the commission we’d receive back.
It still only came to £100 or so to 10p stakes and I had covered everything I’d wanted.


So on down to Prestbury Park with it’s magical atmosphere, colourful characters, wonderful horses, great races and, today, the prospect of tremendous results if only See More Business could do the business in the Gold Cup to land my ante post vouchers and keep me on track for that big Jackpot return.
The first race went to plan as one of my 3 selected duly won, a grand horse called Katarino who went on to win many races including a big hunter chase again at Cheltenham for the Waley-Cohen family.
Only 5 more winners to find!
My mobile rang and above the racket around me I just about heard the voice of a guy who I’d met playing golf a few months before and who’d said, when I’d told him that I was into horse racing and a bookmaker too, that he always took a table on Gold Cup day and invited his best clients, most of whom knew virtually nothing about racing and betting, and that if I was going to be there I’d be welcome to join them all.
To be honest, I’d forgotten all about it, but when he heard that I was at the track he insisted that I come down to their hospitality area and have a drink at least.
Never one to turn down a little top class hospitality and a glass or two of Champagne, I wandered down in time to be introduced to everyone and be burdened with the ‘he’s in the know’ tag.
“What do you fancy in the next” was the obvious question I was asked and I had to tell them that I thought that it was the most difficult race of the day and that I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bit of a turn up. I also added, just to confirm how difficult I thought it was, that I’d put 6 selections in my Jackpot perm. Not much help to them really, but an honest summary of my thoughts.
I did tell them that I thought See More Business was a good bet in the Gold Cup and tremendous value at the price.
Jumping the last in the Stayer’s my Jackpot hopes were looking distinctly dodgy as the one joint favourite I’d left out of my perm hit the front and was powering up the hill pursued by one of the outsiders, but not one I had in my 6!
As is often the case, however, that final furlong at Cheltenham can see the complexion of a race change dramatically and from out of the clouds Anzum came flying at the death to snatch the race at a ‘jackpot busting’ SP of 40/1. I had it! I was still in!
So, back up to the table and another glass of Champagne, and one of my friends guests, a rather large lady I seem to recall, asked if there were any other ‘fun’ bets we could have in the Gold Cup, seeing as I was so keen on See More Business to win it.
I suggested that she pick one horse, we’d add it to See More and two others that I’d considered and go for the Trifecta. £12 each for a bit of a fun bet. Only the first 3 in the correct order required!
She had a quick look at her race-card and told me she’d decided.
“I want this one” she said, pointing to Go Ballistic, a 66/1 outsider.
Well, my immediate reaction was to say “That’s got no chance, pick something else” but I thought better of it, actually, rather arrogantly, thinking to myself that my three could quite easily finish 1,2,3 and we’d win it anyway!
Well, as they approached the last fence in the Gold Cup there were two horses in it and the one that picked up just in front was………Go Ballistic!
My banker in the Jackpot and well backed ante post hope was being beaten by a rag picked by someone who could write all she knew about horse racing and betting on the back of a postage stamp!
All that work, the ‘wasted’ winner of the first race and Anzum at 40/1!
My emotional rollercoaster was on a distinctly steep decline that looked terminal until Mick Fitzgerald got hold of See More and managed to conjure a great finish out of him.
I shouted him home throughout the final furlong that seemed to last forever and as he passed the post in front my first thought was what a nice ante-post result it was, then I remembered that I was still in the Jackpot, and then I looked back thinking “What were the other 2 we put in that Trifecta?? I’m sure one of them was Florida Pearl and that’s just gone past the post in third.”
Sure enough he was, and I gave the lady the ticket, told her to keep it very safe and go to the nearest Tote window to collect our winnings.
Lots of others on the table had backed my Gold Cup hero too, which was great, and when my new found friend returned with several of those plastic wrapped wads of cash that the Tote had given her, she was just over the moon as we shared the dividend of over £4000, and got into another bottle of Champagne.
After finding the winner of the next race in my jackpot selections too, Castle Mane in the Foxhunters Chase, I got a call from my shop manager who’d found the running totals from the Tote which showed hardly anyone was left in the Jackpot so the potential return, even to 10p stakes was looking huge.
Only another 2 winners to go.
Everyone in the hospitality area was now willing on my selections in the 5th leg and when one of them, Space Trucker the 7/2 Favourite, duly obliged I had another call from the shop saying that the only tickets remaining in the 6th leg were mine and that the Tote had been on asking if I would allow publicity if the last leg was a winner.
No reason not too I thought so that was agreed.
I had another quick look at the 6th race and decided, looking at what I’d marked off in the paper, that there was only one other horse that I could possibly entertain as a potential winner and so I decided to go and back that to cover any disappointment that might result from having another ‘5 out of 6’ day in the Jackpot, for which you get paid precisely nothing by the way!
£200 at 10/1 on Stormy Fairweather would help ease the pain a bit, just in case.
I watched the race outside and I remember one of my two morning picks starting to look distinctly tired going down the far side and thinking “Oh no! I’ve only got one left now”.
I can’t remember much about the final 2 furlongs and the run up to the line except that my other morning pick had never really looked like winning and the feeling of ‘so near and yet so far’ and indeed ‘another 5 out of 6 yet again’ had crept into my brain.
At least Stormy Fairweather had vindicated my decision to have a covering bet by winning at 9/1. If only, if only.
Still, I thought, See More Business has won the Gold Cup, landing some good ante post bets, we’ve landed the Trifecta which was immensely satisfying and I had a ‘consolation’ ticket in my hand which had won another £2000 so I should be grateful I thought to myself, and I was, as I headed down to the betting ring to collect.
My mobile rang as all those thoughts and emotions were flying around my head and people were milling all around me in the ‘betting jungle’of Cheltenham on Gold Cup day.
It was John, the manager from my shop.
“Well done! The Tote have been on asking about publicity again”.
I thought for a moment and said “Well that’s not very bright is it! I haven’t won the Jackpot. Thankfully I’ve had a decent bet on that last winner because he was my only other danger”
“You have won it!” John insisted.
I still was adamant that I hadn’t and the Champagne was not helping me think too clearly by that point.
“You had two in the last, the favourite and the winner” John explained.
I still couldn’t understand because I knew what my two morning selections had been , they were marked quite clearly in my Sporting Life, but then suddenly, the “aha” moment hit me.
That last phone call had put me off one of my selections and I had indeed made that final agonising decision to switch to my 3rd best in the race. STORMY FAIRWEATHER. You beauty!
The emotional rollercoaster of the day took a massive swing upwards as the reality began to dawn on me.
I’d won the Jackpot, only for 10p stakes admittedly, and I was the only person who’d found all 6 winners that memorable day, Gold Cup day 1999.

Watsonsbay

[jingjangjong]

I once won a tenner on lotto LOL

[donjoaoresort]

Sorry to hear

John
Don Joao Resort

[bigdavestar]

Some incredible stories here, I once had 5 numbers on the lottery in a jackpot only draw! It was for the Queens Jubilee would you believe and I won nothing! Any other draw and i'd have been looking at about £50,000 (back then anyway!)