Oh ho! It's Grand National Day today... one of my favourite days of the year. My step-dad took me to the bookies on Grand National Day when I was 16 to place my first bet. I won that time and kept winning (small amounts) most years, that is until I met Sam and then my betting luck seemed to shift to him as it's usually him who wins now. (However, he's away so perhaps it's my time to win. Thank you for the money!)
After our morning routine, I put Eve into the baby sling and off we went, down to the bookies on Whiteladies Road. Sam and I have been going there to place our bets for The National in the mornings for years now, bit of a tradition, even though we could do it online, it's so much more fun amidst the atmosphere of the betting shop.
(Ok, so I had to write my bets down outside the shop as children are not allowed in the bookies - thought I might get away with it seeing that she's a baby! - but it was still fun).
I worked at Ladbrokes for a couple of years whilst I was at University at Oxford Brookes. It's so long ago that it was before they brought in the computerised tills - crikey, I sound like an old Grandma already! We had to add it all up in our heads, and add on the tax onto the betting amounts. I'm not that great at maths, but somehow I seemed to get a good understanding of the patterns when adding on tax. It was good fun working there, and there was never a dull moment that's for sure. It's a really fast paced industry to work in, and I got to meet a lot of very interesting and different people. I couldn't believe how many people literally live in the bookies from the moment it opens until the moment it closes...
During my time in Oxford I really enjoyed going to 'the dogs' (dog racing track) with friends quite a few times - you always gotta have a bet on 'the red dog!' It's a shame there isn't a dog track close to Bristol, but there we are, I have others things to do these days anyway.
The infamous Becher's Brook jump
The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race which was first officially run in 1839. It's held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool. It's a handicap steeplechase over 4 miles 3 and a half furlongs, with horses jumping 30 fences over two circuits. It is the most valuable jump race in Europe, with a prize fund of £1 million in 2014.
Anyway good people, if you fancy a bit of fun today, and perhaps you've never tried it before, betting on The National is such a joyous thing to do. The betting shops have made it super easy for the general public to bet on The National - you simply have a paper slip with all the names of the horses printed and mark down which ones you want to bet on, and whether you want to bet 'each way' (horse comes in first four places), or 'to win'. It's as easy as that. In the olden days of my time at the bookies it all had to be written down by hand.
Of course you can bet online and will be offered free bets of perhaps £20 to £50 if you sign up.
Just before posting this I saw an advert for a 'Horse Tracker' app - it's a free app which tracks your horse throughout the race, so that you know exactly what is happening:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/channel-4-horse-tracker/id618192154?mt=8
Another of my weird routines or superstitious ways is that I never look at the names of the runners until I walk into the bookies. I don't know much about horses or the jockey or the form, I purely go with the names of the horses and my gut feeling - it's more fun that way. I don't usually put on more than £20 - spread across a few different horses with different odds - you never can tell, a horse that is 100/1 could possibly win it - that's the craziness of The National - really anything can happen!!
To get a free matched £50 bet at Ladbrokes:
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