I have been to the dogs - which does not equate to "I have been dogging" - that is a quite different challenge and one that is not on my list. Yet.The dogs are of course greyhounds, and last night 11 of us stepped out of our cosy, cosetted, cotton-wooled comfort zones, and entered a whole new world of traps, totes, trios and testosterone. We very quickly adapted to our new environment, guided along by the helpfulness of the stadium staff and the friendliness of our fellow punters. In fact our lack of experience and professionalism was only exposed by our frequent reference to the dogs as 'horses', and our attempts to bet with 50p!
Our success at betting was varied - those who studied the form doing less well than those who picked the 'nice names' or 'pretty colours'. We had been advised to avoid dogs that wee-ed or poo-ed before a race, but the fact that they all 'performed' on the way to the traps blew that theory out the window. Thanks to the efforts of Grove Ryan Lil, Back By Evening, Uptoujim and Gold Digger among others, we ended up in profit - quite appropriately, I celebrated our success with 4 pints of cider, and started to contemplate giving a retired greyhound (or six) a good home! Time to leave. The highlight of the evening was a £15 win by Denise on a £1 reverse forecast (no idea, before you ask!) and the lowlight was the burger, if that's what it was claiming to be!If you've not been to the dogs, my advice is GO. Just leave your life savings - and your preconceptions - behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment