I’ve been blogging for over 10-years. I have a few horse racing niche sites. Many have achieved several million page views. However, I can’t say I’ve had an ultimately successful website that has hit the headlines. Well, I say that but once or twice High Class Equine was mentioned in the local press and I’ve written for horse racing magazines. Also, back in the day, my brother had a couple of articles published in The Weekender: Systems, a popular read from Nick Mordin. The story to be told is that blogging has always been a passion and helped me meet some very interesting people.
All gamblers.
I’ve met many and varied people. A few who were on the edge of being unhinged. One I will not mention by name loved to swear as much as he did pick winners. He was a character always with a sob story in an endeavour to borrow money. In the end I just unfriended him on Facebook and he never contacted me again. Some people are best to be avoided and don’t add to your life. There’s enough to think about gambling let alone considering other people’s problems. That may seem a touch uncaring but its not. A real friend doesn’t ask for money even if they are struggling for cash. Gamblers, especially, know the score.
To be fair, most people I have worked with or who have followed my website have been kind and generous.
For Instance, I used to be good friends with Mark who run the website Patient Speculation. He eventually found an investor and set up another website which sadly didn’t take off. I bought the old website from him for a couple of hundred pounds (a token offer in ways) and I still run it to this day. It has made me good money over the years. I am still in contact with Mark although we have never met in person. His local course is Leicester so it would be good to venture there some day. That’s the thing about meeting fellow racing fans, it’s always a day to remember and worthy of the time.
Perhaps one of the best people I have ever met is Jerry Banks, a professional gambler from Lowestoft. This Suffolk man is knowledgable, kind and generous. It’s funny how we must have conversed for years before saying ‘let’s meet for a day’s racing at Great Yarmouth’. Now we have regular meet-ups and it’s a real occasion meeting at the pub before racing, go to the course, a bet or two, then go somewhere to have a decent meal and go home. It is a bit of a gathering with me bringing along a few people and Jerry often brings his friend Mark.
Jerry has some brilliant stories about the good old days of betting at independent bookmakers at Lowestoft where he’d see a few regulars turn up with a plastic shopping bag full with money. It’s crazy to think in those days a bookmaker were willing to take a good bet rather than today’s ‘turf accountants’ who limit punters to betting a quid.
Last year while at Great Yarmouth I met one of the subscribers to my mailing list, Richard, who lives nearer to Beverley than most. I said: ‘Let’s meet at 3pm at the finishing line.’ I see an unfamiliar face, walked up and said: ‘Richard?’ We had a good chat for half an hour and went our separate ways. It was lovely to meet-up in person and just have a good, old-fashioned chat about horse racing and life. It’s surprising what you can learn about someone in a short conversation.
Going racing has always been a family and friends affair. That combined with a visit to the Grosvenor Casino it really is a beautiful time. Some of us win and some of us lose but we all go home happier for having a day out.
If you run a blog, a social media page or a mailing list try to have an in-person meet-up and you will be pleasantly surprised how it adds to your day if not your life.
I wonder who I will meet next?
It could be you!
My love of horse racing was inspired by my late father, Colin, who enjoyed summer holidays at Great Yarmouth. We used to stay on the Ladbroke’s caravan park at Caister-on-sea. Such wonderful times. To this day we head to this Norfolk racecourse as merry pilgrimage in memory of family and friends who are sadly no longer with us.
