John Smith's Grand National at Aintree, 2006
4 years ago, my parents told me about the Grand National in detail and said I could bet a little money on a horse. This was all an attempt to show me how gambling is essentially throwing your money down the drain. I certainly showed them.
I'll explain my strategy for picking horses:
My dad will bring a newspaper home on the morning of the Grand National, normally The Times I expect. I'll look at the odds of all the horses, and circle the ones with fairly good odds, so they have a chance of winning, but will also have a nice pay-off if they do win. Then from that shortlist I'll read the little description of the horses and then cross out the ones which don't sound too good. This method has proved fairly useful.
I'd managed to pick the winning horse of the Grand National 3 years in a row.
2002 - Bindaree
2003 - Monty's Pass
2004 - Amberleigh House
Over these 3 years, from money bet by myself, my brother and my dad we won about £200.
Then in 2005 it all went wrong. I had never bet on the favourite, and had always won, and so I chose to follow the same pattern of picking a fairly random horse but also winning. I was half right. I chose Colonel Rayburn and Forest Gunner (I think) and altogether bet £11, but in fact, the favourite, Hedgehunter, won, which was a shame.
This year Hedgehunter was the favourite to win again, but I chose to stick with not betting on the favourite. I bet £6 on Innox, which had odds of 14-1, and I bet £5 on Numbersixvalverde, which had odds of 12-1.
I don't know if you already know who won, but I won't tell you yet. I want to tell my whole story.
The Grand National this year was on Saturday the 8th of April, which was also the same day we had to drive up to Scotland. I however refused to not place a bet this year as it would be breaking with a tradition which is very dear to me. Gambling. I just can't wait until I'm legally old enough to do it!
So we left for Scotland at about 10 o'clock (in the morning) after having quickly gone to Ladbroke's and placing a £10 bet on Innox to win and a £10 bet on Numbersixvalverde to win. I knew at least one would definitely lose, but it would be worth it if the other one won. I paid £11 of the total £20, my brother Scott bet £4 and my dad made up the remaining £5.
We arrived in Glasgow (in Scotland) at about 4:15 in the afternoon and the race was at 4:15. We were planning to visit my great-aunt Helen (who is partially mad but I don't know how much detail I can go into here) but she was not in. Either out or in some institution. We were hoping to switch her TV on (assuming it has been switched on since the 50's and still works) and watch the race. No such luck. So we drove on in the direction of my uncle Frank's house, where my aunt Jane and cousins Dan, Neil and Fiona also reside. Frank is my dad's brother. We had to listen to the race on the radio which one could argue made it more exciting but harder to follow who was winning. I was hoping Innox would win as the odds were higher and I had placed more money on him (or her?) although equally I wasn't about to complain if Numbersixvalverde won.
The race started and me and my dad really got into it, which may not have been too safe as my dad was driving at the time. I was expecting Hedgehunter to win, even though no horse has won the Grand National twice in a row since the legendary Red Rum who won it in 1973 and 1974, and again in 1977, but with a different jockey.
Anyway, the race had started and all the horses are pretty even. Not very long through I realised the commentators were not mentioning Innox at all and I later learned he had fallen at the first fence.
Damn.
As the horses were nearing the finish the commentators were concentrating on the 6 horses in the lead. They may have been the only ones remaining actually. Among them were Hedgehunter, Clan Royal and Numbersixvalverde. I can't remember the others. But I think that was the order of the 3 in front. Suddenly Numbersixvalverde began to catch up, and the commentators were getting worked up, and I was getting very hopeful. I then hear that Numbersixvalverde has taken 1st place and is well on its way to victory. And then the race was over.
Numbersixvalverde was the winning horse!
Which means I'll be getting £60 tomorrow when we collect our winnings from Ladbroke's.
I'm certainly looking forward to next year's Grand National!
RJ
P.S. If you didn't know, John Smith is the name of the beer which sponsors the Grand National.
I'll explain my strategy for picking horses:
My dad will bring a newspaper home on the morning of the Grand National, normally The Times I expect. I'll look at the odds of all the horses, and circle the ones with fairly good odds, so they have a chance of winning, but will also have a nice pay-off if they do win. Then from that shortlist I'll read the little description of the horses and then cross out the ones which don't sound too good. This method has proved fairly useful.
I'd managed to pick the winning horse of the Grand National 3 years in a row.
2002 - Bindaree
2003 - Monty's Pass
2004 - Amberleigh House
Over these 3 years, from money bet by myself, my brother and my dad we won about £200.
Then in 2005 it all went wrong. I had never bet on the favourite, and had always won, and so I chose to follow the same pattern of picking a fairly random horse but also winning. I was half right. I chose Colonel Rayburn and Forest Gunner (I think) and altogether bet £11, but in fact, the favourite, Hedgehunter, won, which was a shame.
This year Hedgehunter was the favourite to win again, but I chose to stick with not betting on the favourite. I bet £6 on Innox, which had odds of 14-1, and I bet £5 on Numbersixvalverde, which had odds of 12-1.
I don't know if you already know who won, but I won't tell you yet. I want to tell my whole story.
The Grand National this year was on Saturday the 8th of April, which was also the same day we had to drive up to Scotland. I however refused to not place a bet this year as it would be breaking with a tradition which is very dear to me. Gambling. I just can't wait until I'm legally old enough to do it!
So we left for Scotland at about 10 o'clock (in the morning) after having quickly gone to Ladbroke's and placing a £10 bet on Innox to win and a £10 bet on Numbersixvalverde to win. I knew at least one would definitely lose, but it would be worth it if the other one won. I paid £11 of the total £20, my brother Scott bet £4 and my dad made up the remaining £5.
We arrived in Glasgow (in Scotland) at about 4:15 in the afternoon and the race was at 4:15. We were planning to visit my great-aunt Helen (who is partially mad but I don't know how much detail I can go into here) but she was not in. Either out or in some institution. We were hoping to switch her TV on (assuming it has been switched on since the 50's and still works) and watch the race. No such luck. So we drove on in the direction of my uncle Frank's house, where my aunt Jane and cousins Dan, Neil and Fiona also reside. Frank is my dad's brother. We had to listen to the race on the radio which one could argue made it more exciting but harder to follow who was winning. I was hoping Innox would win as the odds were higher and I had placed more money on him (or her?) although equally I wasn't about to complain if Numbersixvalverde won.
The race started and me and my dad really got into it, which may not have been too safe as my dad was driving at the time. I was expecting Hedgehunter to win, even though no horse has won the Grand National twice in a row since the legendary Red Rum who won it in 1973 and 1974, and again in 1977, but with a different jockey.
Anyway, the race had started and all the horses are pretty even. Not very long through I realised the commentators were not mentioning Innox at all and I later learned he had fallen at the first fence.
Damn.
As the horses were nearing the finish the commentators were concentrating on the 6 horses in the lead. They may have been the only ones remaining actually. Among them were Hedgehunter, Clan Royal and Numbersixvalverde. I can't remember the others. But I think that was the order of the 3 in front. Suddenly Numbersixvalverde began to catch up, and the commentators were getting worked up, and I was getting very hopeful. I then hear that Numbersixvalverde has taken 1st place and is well on its way to victory. And then the race was over.
Numbersixvalverde was the winning horse!
Which means I'll be getting £60 tomorrow when we collect our winnings from Ladbroke's.
I'm certainly looking forward to next year's Grand National!
RJ
P.S. If you didn't know, John Smith is the name of the beer which sponsors the Grand National.
posted by Anonymous at
10:17 PM
1 Comments:
Nice win there. I was going to bet on Innox and Hedgehunter but didn't bother. I also have a good track record with betting, with a positive profit of about 5 pounds! So I'm glad I didn't bet. The person on Channel 4 said that Hedgehunter had to win but he didn't! I reckon it'll be a long time before the favourite wins again.
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Anonymous, at 12:28 AM
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