THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - SOME 'PRECIOUS' PUNTERS NEED TO SELECT A NEW ATTITUDE

By Graham Potter | Sunday, November 3, 2013

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily

The true-blue, hard-core punters of the past … poker-faced players who could take a punch without a grimace and come back swinging … would be saddened by the ‘preciousness’ of some of their modern day counterparts.

Punting has never been an easy game and over the years it has humbled many a person who thought they had tamed the tiger. So when anybody goes into battle against the bookmakers it is a given that nothing is certain and everything is at risk.

That’s why they call it gambling.

If you can’t take the heat, taking up something more sedate … like knitting … would be a more suitable past-time.

But in this modern day world where political correctness has cast common sense to the sidelines, a new breed of punter has emerged.

If you can’t see them, you certainly can hear them … whining, crying, lamenting a bad result … always blaming somebody else (a bad ride) or something else (a false pace) for their lost investment.

With each wail of indignation they expose their soft underbelly, which those seasoned punters of old would have looked upon with scorn.

Talking favourites … or more to the point, beaten favourites … is their favourite past-time.

You just cannot bet at certain venues they cry, because the favourites get rolled there all the time. Well here is some breaking news … favourites do get beaten.

In fact the accepted ratio of return for favourites has always been one in three irrespective of whether the failures are beaten by bad rides, tactical blunders, luck in the running or by simply not being good enough.

More fall under the latter category than these punters might think, given that top stables invariably have their horses marked up short on betting boards displaying ridiculous percentages … yes, bookmakers have got soft too … so any argument on beaten favourites is set on a shaky foundation. That is even before we go into the multitude of variables that can occur to undermine the favourite during the actual running of the race.

Are there occasions where punters have a legitimate gripe? Of course there are … but that again is an intrinsic part of the game. It’s not going away. That doesn’t make it right. It simply means it is the hand punters have been dealt and you either play or fold.

In an environment where focus, form study and firm resolution can carry the day, whining is not an attractive option.

What is it they say? Never want something too badly because you might just get it!

If these punters get their wish every race would be run at a true pace without any interference or incident with every jockey performing to a premium level. The favourite would win every race (punters would get their money back). The second favourite would finish second etc.

What value would there be in that for anybody?

Me … I’d prefer to take long odds at times and try to make a buck and move on if I’m out of luck.

In other words I prefer it as it is now … that is without the whining!

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