Betting on losers is hard and sometimes tests your faith, so I decided to sit in the middle of town and listen to the fanatical street preacher shouting ‘why be a sinner when you can be a winner‘ at passers-by.
To be honest, he was a welcome distraction from betting on all the sh*t second favourites tailing off last and ex-jockeys paid serious money by bookmakers to promote them all.
Sinner, Winner! The preacher guy shouted while wearing a ‘Jesus’ baseball cap, shoving bibles towards anyone that dared to walk within a few feet.
A winner, now you’re talking mate: did he mean the 5f maiden coming
up at Kenilworth?
It was his next excerpt that really got me: James
1.12 ‘Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood
the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who
love Him.’
Are all these losing betting slips part of the ‘trial’? I wonder how much 2nd favourite-tails-off-last ‘trial’ I’ve got to endure to get this ‘crown of life’ he promised. Are ‘loving God’ and ‘backing winners’ mutually exclusive? The week ahead would no doubt reveal all.
Monday 11th November – Flamingo Park
ALRAUNE at 15-8 FAV in the 7f Handicap looked to have a smashing chance given his very good second last time out and form figures of “1 – 2” at the track. He finished last but one and sinner looks more likely after I smashed up the TV remote.
Tuesday 12th November – Turfontein
You think I’d learn. I was going straight in for it with the Alec Laird trained FIREWORKS at 9-4 FAV in the opening maiden. She’d finished a staying on 4th over a mile last time and upped 1f in distance looked a very smart move. Who was I kidding? She tailed off last, barely able to keep up with the 40-1, 33-1 and 28-1 opponents.
Wednesday 13th November – Greyville
This crown of life is mine I thought, as the third race PIANEMO had a great chance given that he was the highest on Merit Ratings and his trainer was going through a purple form patch.
I went for a bit of a touch at 7-1,
but really I guess it wasn’t my lucky day. He finished tailed off last with 66
lengths from him to the 11th placed horse in front of him. I’m
hoping all these losses are tokens towards that crown of life.
Thursday 14th November – Turfontein
I don’t know what I was thinking when I went for the Tarry second string RETURN FLIGHT in the 7f Pinnacle Stakes. I do love a Pinnacle Stakes, but on the one occasion where I tried to be clever, her 4-6 stablemate Celtic Sea absolutely obliterated her opposition, looking jet-propelled to win cheekily by a few lengths (could have been 20). I’m still ‘enduring under trial’.
Friday 15th November – Fairview
It’s funny how the code name for Fairview and ‘favourite’ are exactly the same (‘fav’) – just saying. Getting on a last-placed runner at Fairview isn’t hard for me, and that’s exactly what I did when backing last-time-out-winner VOICES OF LIGHT for the Greef yard at 5-2 Fav.
To be fair, the favourite did beat one home (the complete outsider), but that put an absolute seal on this week’s betting.
I went to go and find the fanatical preacher guy, to ask him why God was punishing me with last placed nags but he’d moved on. Or perhaps he’d gone skint too backing all the same favourites and second favourites I had and jumped off the multi-storey car park.
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2nd December 2019 at 3:15 am
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