Royal Ascot

Not long to go now until the biggest meeting on the Flat, and one that I still enjoy, though it doesn’t excite me like it used to in my twenties, may be that’s me getting old – at 35!
I remember taking Ascot week off work for around six or seven years in the nineties, plenty of time to prepare. Superform annuals at the ready and the overnight declarations scribbled down off Ceefax. By the time I’d finished studying in the evening – whilst watching the action during the day – it would be time to buy the Evening Standard for the first sighter at the tissue prices – pre-internet you see.
Later that evening when all the form study was done, sometimes a good eight hours – I loved it – the early-price races for the following day would come up on Channel Four Teletext at about 10.40pm after the last dog race. Sometimes a horse I’d picked for a big handicap like the Britannia would flash up on teletext as 16-1 when I had it about 8-1, the excitement would then start, a restless night ahead with more betting thoughts…£40 win £10 place, or may be £25 each-way. Sod it, I’ll have a thump and have £80 win £20 place, which would give me a serious betting bank for the rest of the week…and so on.

Up early next morning, buy both the Sporting Life and Racing Post, see what the tipsters went for, especially in the era of Henry Rix and Mel Collier at the latter title. In 1996, I remember fancying Double Bounce for the Wokingham the previous season and backed it on the Thursday at 25-1 – it was run on the Friday back then – after he received a favourable low draw. By 5pm Thursday evening he was 14-1. The tipsters went for it on Friday, but I was already on. Felt good.
Double Bounce finished third after a rough passage and I got my money back as I was on win and place, but what I loved about that bet and many others over the years was the preparation, the studying. Being ready.
I don’t have the opportunity these days with a busy schedule and part of me has done it for too many years, but the trends for all the major races are in the book so anyone with internet access and a few spare hours can get an edge by doing some studying in advance – it often helps. Amazing to think there is even archive footage available at the click of a button now to watch a horse’s last race, and I used to rely on ‘stayed on, nearest finish’ from my Superform annuals – create an image in my head. Getting access to all these clues is a lot simpler these days, but finding the winners isn’t any easier, and that’s what makes it rewarding when the puzzle is cracked.

I’ll be back for the first day of Royal Ascot, and if there is time I’ll preview a race from a trends perspective.