OBE UNPLUGGED - IT IS A TOUGH GIG BUT THE LIFE OF A PUNTER IS CERTAINLY NEVER BORING
By Mark Oberhardt | Monday, December 17, 2012
Mark Oberhardt has been a racing and sports reporter for 40 years. He has written racing for the Courier Mail, Brisbane Telegraph, Sydney Sunday Telegraph, Sportsman, Australian Associated Press, etc. He has also written many sports columns including the Courier Mail’s The Ear. Mark has also been a regular on RadioTAB for 20 years. Mark’s personal blog, Obe Unplugged, will appear every Monday on HRO.
MY favourite line from the books of the great Damon Runyon - actually my favourite line from any book - involves a gambler telling his mate to be careful because the faro table at the local illegal casino was rigged.
His mate in effect replied: "Yes, I know but it is the only game in town." (For those that don't know faro is a type of European card game which was very popular in the USA in the 1920-30s).
I can't help but remember the line every time a disaster befalls yet another punter on the horses.
Surely, the toughest breed in the world are punters and in particular Australian punters.
Now, I am not for one moment suggesting horse racing is rigged. In fact, it is about the only way you can get me fired up these days is to suggest all racing is a con game.
It would be silly to suggest there aren't the occasional scally-wags who set one up. But about 99 percent of the thousands of horse races run in Australia each year are run on their merits. Racing people realise that horses are not computers or machines and things can go wrong.
If races were to be run exactly as the current crop of "experts" predict on their computers it would be a pretty dry old and sterile world.
It often reduces you to tears, but the punt is one thing - never boring.
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I can still remember clearly a race at Albion Park back in the 1970s when there was a huge plunge on a horse named Even Share. It was about 10-1 into 1-2 and yes I got the 10-1.
A horse went through the barrier and was 100m in front when the rest of the field jumped. Even Share gave him 100 metres start picked him up at the tea trees and won by six lengths.
However, it was declared a no race and Even Share came out the next week to win by 10 lengths but was a 1-5 shot.
I reckon his trainer Tony Mazzaglia was never the same.
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It started what has been a long line of disasters for yours truly.
Over the years there have been jockeys falling off 10 metres from the line when six in front, the power failing when my pacer as seven in front with 200m to go, protests being upheld, the wrong numbers being listed in form guides, etc etc.
I mean even during my mediocre football career I lost two grand finals after the bell.
One to a 60 metres penalty kick from the sideline and another on an intercept pass when a bloke ran 80 metres and scored under the posts.
In other words setbacks at the track are nothing new to me. It all makes me perfect placed to give the annual award for the unluckiest gambler of the year.
It is an award given in those dreadful end of year columns. But I am regarded as such a good judge in the hard luck stakes I have now been asked by three separate publications to give my nominations.
I was all set to give it to those who backed Mazuka at Townsville a few months back. The weight bag fell off on the home turn and the horse was disqualified.
There have been plenty of cases of jockeys weighing in light but in my 50 odd years on racetracks I had never seen that one before.
However, my old mates Harry Pratt, Tony Glynn and Michael Byrne came with a wet sail to snatch my nomination for unluckiest punters of the year.
They love racing and are the type of blokes who have been around for years buying and leasing horses. They also decided to breed one in Isenvenger who raced at Murwillumbah on Friday.
The boys got $10 the place and it rattled home to finish third. All very well because it not only meant some prize-money jumped in but also gave their broodmare a kick along.
Of course it is now history half the barriers opened at different times and it was declared a no race.
Next time the horse steps out in a maiden it will probably be $3 to win not $10 the place. But the boys took it like the true punters, they just got on with picking the next winner.
There is an old saying that all horse players die broke, but at least they can say life has never been boring.
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Incidentally, on the subject of breeding and it was good to catch up with the team from William Inglis last week. They were in town promoting their summer and Easter Sales.
The lads reckon that Australian horses which have gone to stud are about to grab the headlines. A couple of well-known names such as Wanted and Manhattan Rain are tipped to be stars as first season sires.
There could be a move away from the imported sires, but one import I will be interested in following is the dirt track champion from the USA in Big Brown.
I can hardly wait to see some of the names his progeny will be burdened with.
But on a serious note it will be interesting to see how the Big Browns are received in the sales ring. Certainly on his American form they should be chased by many.
How that translates to Australia should be one of the highlights of a most interesting set of upcoming yearling sales.
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