FAMOUS BETTORS

Phil Bullfamous bettors

This is the man who founded the famous Timeform. However it was gambling and not publishing which made him his fortune. His form analysis methods were all based around the clock, and in that respect he was way ahead of his time, he also added his considerable skill in Mathematics to the mix and these two things combined made him a very rich man.famous bettors
He estimated that he made over half a million pounds during his life from gambling. A considerable sum fifty years ago.
Bull founded Timeform in 1948 with the aim of providing the information he considered vital to his successful gambling. Timeform looked at form on a horse by horse basis rather than a race by race basis which although common now was very innovative at the time.
Phil Bull had a tremendous temperament for gambling, with both wins and losses being treated the same. He treated daily profit and loss as unimportant it was the season as a whole which mattered. His attitude to form study was the same for every race. If having studied a race he decided that there was no bet then so be it. Here is his list of things that you shouldn't do:famous bettors
1. Never bet beyond what you can afford and attempt to make your fortune in a day. It is the long run which counts.
2. Only bet when the odds are value. If you think a horse should be 5/1 if its 2/1 don't back it, but if its 8/1 do back it. If you are correct and you follow this rule in the long run you will make a fortune.famous bettors
3. Make your own mind up don't follow tipsters. If the tips where that good they wouldn't be telling you.
4. Never back a horse ante post unless you have inside knowledge that it will definitely run.
5. Don't bet each-way in either races with big fields or handicaps in general/ One fifth of the odds is not good value.famous bettors

Alan Woodsfamous bettors

Alan Woods, was universally recognised as among the top three punters in the world.famous bettors
Woods, born and raised in New South Wales Australia was the pioneer of computer betting syndicates in Hong Kong and a key man in the development of computer analysis for betting.famous bettors
His fortune at the time of his death was estimated at $670 million.famous bettors
The Woods betting syndicate became a legend in the world of Hong Kong racing, where huge amounts of money are invested into the tote pools.
For the 2006-07 racing season, the Hong Kong Jockey Club recorded a betting turnover of $US64billion ($71.46bn). It has been estimated the input to annual turnover by Woods and his syndicate was about 2% of that figure.famous bettors
"I would not think that estimate is an exaggeration," said John Schreck, former chief steward for the Australian Jockey Club in Sydney and later for the HKJC in the late 1990s and into the early years of the new millennium when Woods' syndicate was operating at full steam.
"To my knowledge, he never ever came racing while I was there. But he employed dozens of Filipinos running around carrying mobiles and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash waiting for instructions on how and what to bet.famous bettors
"There was a time the Jockey Club closed his account but this was through a silly policy adopted from a misjudgment in management. In the main, the Jockey Club was and is sensitive about these people (betting syndicates) being the big customers that they are. I saw these people as professional gamblers and not a problem at all to the integrity of racing."famous bettors
Indeed, the syndicates relied on Schreck, and his fellow stewards to keep racing clean. Their profits, after all, were based on statistics for corrupt-free racing.famous bettors
Woods turned an early passion for playing bridge and a fascination for mathematics into lifestyle at blackjack tables in casinos.
He cut his punting teeth on horse racing when he went to New Zealand in the early 1980s but turned his attention from there to the greater betting pools of punting-mad Hong Kong.famous bettors
Woods teamed up with Benter in Hong Kong in the mid 1980s and together they formed the first betting syndicate whose success depended not on insider tips but on what the computer would spit out after being fed a range of information on the horse, current form, race times, sectional splits, weather, state of the track and jockey form.ffamous bettorsamous bettors

Jack Ramsdenffamous bettorsamous bettors

Jack Ramsden quit his job as a stockbroker in 1980 and since then has had 13 consequtive winning years as a professional punter. His successful punting like so many other professional punters is based around speed figures and race times. He recently stated I cannot stress too strongly the importance of race times. They bind my whole approach together. There are fewer good times recorded over jumps but everyone seems to know about those horses and they are too short to back.famous bettors
Even cutting out the endless looking up of form books, I still spend two or three hours every day working out my bets. Jack continues, Im constantly on the look out for the 3/1 chance that starts at 8/1. There are 30 or 40 of them a year and they are there to be seen. At those prices you don't have to be right all the time! His premise is that while a good horse is capable of doing a bad time, no bad horse is capable of doing a good time.famous bettors
He is unusual in that he has his own bookmaker, Colin Webster. There relationship is indeed unique, Colin pays Ramsden £ 5,000 a year for his advice and also has the job of getting his bets on with other bookmakers. Another unusual trait of Jack Ramsden is his liking for the multiple bet. His reasoning is that they are an extension of his policy to go for large prices and he reckons that on 4 occassions he has won over £ 200,000 on multiple bets.famous bettors
The other piece of advice from Ramsden is regarding each-way bets. His advice is to ditch them. He states: I analysed my betting a couple of years ago and found that if I had doubled my win stakes instead of having each way bets, I would have been much better off. I think all punters would benefit by cutting out all each-way bets and sticking to singles.famous bettors
Jack met his wife Lynda Ramsden when she worked at the Epsom yard of John Sutcliffe Snr, where Jack, one of Barry Hills's first owners, had horses. Ramsden was working in the City, but the City wasn't working for him. "I was a pretty useless stockbroker," he admitted. The Couple married in 1977 and then started training racehorses in the Isle of Man. I few years later moving over to England and North Yorkshire where they are still based to train.famous bettors

Alex Birdfamous bettors

Alex Bird was the original professional gambler who made a fortune after the war at Britain's racecourses. He learned his trade working for his father who was a bookmaker but soon decided that it would be more profitable to be on the other side.famous bettors
He had many different ways of beating the bookmaker, but probably his most famous was his success on betting on the result of photo finishes. Unlike today photo finishes would take about 5 minutes to develop so there was always an active betting market on the outcome. Bird very early on noticed that when horses crossed the line together an optical illusion meant that the horse on the far side invariably looked like he had won.
He also discovered a simple technique which meant the illusion didn't occur. He stood at an elevated vantage point as near to the winning post as possible, he would keep very still, close his left eye and create an imaginary line across the track at the finishing line. He used this simple system for the next 20 years to make himself a fortune. With a reported 500 consecutive successful bets.
Another favoured method he used to make money was to use his influence in the ring to create a false favourite. He often placed huge bets often as much as £50K at a time however he couldn't get these sort of bets laid in the betting ring so he would employ an army of helpers around the country placing bets in off-course bookmakers. If Bird fancied a horse but felt the odds were to short he would place a bet of up to £10K on another horse in the race. He would then ensure that it was "leaked" that he had placed the bet. Prices would then dramatically alter as the "mug" money poured onto his horse. This meant that the price of the horse that he wanted to back heavily and clandestinely off the course would drift out in the market. His army of helpers would then back the horse off course all over the country.
Alex Bird like Phil Bull was also a keen student of race times unlike the majority of the betting public. It was this interest which alerted him to the ability of Mill Reef. As Bird explains Mill Reef broke the clock on firm ground and won the Gimcrack Stakes in the mud. That's the mark of a great horse. This prompted Bird to have his biggest ever bet of £60k on Mill Reef in the Gimcrack at 4/6. He won easily by 4 lengths and the following season became the seventh Derby winner in eight years backed by Bird. During Mill Reefs career Bird won over £100K on the horse.
In 1990, the year before he died, Bird summoned up one last coup. His friend, owned a runner in the Ayr Gold Cup. He backed it from 40s to 10/1. The result were never in doubt. The name of the horse - Final Shot!famous bettors
These are Alex Birds Golden Betting Rules:
1. Never bet when there is a change in the going. There is nothing to upset form quite as much as a change in the going.
2. Be aware of the overrounds being offered by bookmakers and don't bet when they are unfair. At some smaller meetings bookmakers will sometimes create a book 40% or 50% in their favour.
3. Be an Each-Way thief. Do this by finding races with 8-10 runners which are not handicaps, and where there are only a few form horses in the race. Then oppose the favourite and combine the second and third favourites in each-way combination bets.
4. Look for up and coming apprentices. A good apprentice with a 7lb claim can be worth his weight in gold!
5. Never bet on the first show, you will find that the majority of runners increase in price. Taking second show prices will increase your winnings by 10% over a season.
6. Never bet in handicaps.famous bettors
7. Never bet in 3year old maidens, particularly those only for fillies.famous bettors

Barney Curleyfamous bettors

Who is Barney Curley? Why he so feared by bookmakers and one of the most is celebrated and respected bunters in their field? The reason Barney Curley has been the annoyance of bookmakers and one of the most renowned punters of modern times can be traced back to a night at a Belfast race track over forty years ago. Barney's father, a grocer by trade, decided to take a gamble. He bet and bet big on one of his own dogs. During the race, the dog fell and broke his neck at the first bend. The sight of his dad walking back up the track, cradling the dead dog, has haunted Barney ever since. The consequences were devastating, yet would be the backbone of the driving force in Curley becoming in a league of his own where punters are concerned. Curley's father, Curley senior, took Barney, the oldest of six siblings, out of school and sentenced him to 15 months of working double shifts at the plastics factory in Manchester. The two Curley's stayed in Manchester working until enough was saved to pay off all his debts from the gamble.
Curley's father taught him what honour and pride was the best way he knew how. "My father wouldn't come back to Ireland until everyone was paid" Barney recalled. This fact was a good lesson even though it really left him scarred. Each and every winning bet he makes is a bit more retribution for the ways that the bookies made him feel that night and suffer for the next 15 months. Barney has secured betting accounts with bookies all over the world. His most wicked pleasure came in the late 1980's. William Hill decided that he no longer wanted to conduct business with Curley. Over the previous two years Barney had taken them for £200,000.
Barney did not get his start in the business world as a punter. At the tender age of 24 he began by managing bands. Eventually, he added to his plate the ownership of a few pubs and betting shops. Later he decided it was not enough and packed up, closing shop, and moved south of the border to start his punting career into overdrive.
"I wanted to prove myself, " he says. "You have to be out of the ordinary to make money." "I fancied myself as a race reader and I thought I could crack the system. My first big win was about &pound80,000 and within 6 weeks it had all vanished. I was drinking. I soon discovered that drinking and gambling don't go together!"
The largest venture Curley orchestrated in Ireland was the ever famous 'Yellow Sam' coup. In this one endeavour he netted almost £300,000. The race was a race that took place at the Mount Hanover Amateur Riders Handicap Hurdle at Bellewstown on the 25th of June 1975. Bellewstown, a small country Track, just north of Dublin, at the time had just one phone line. Curley and his team got work backing the horse off-course in stakes up to £50, while the others involved made sure the phone was occupied. This was pre-modern technology days so it was impossible for the bookmakers to notify their representatives at the track that a coup was underway. Yellow Sam, who had shown little to no form in his nine previous runs, started the complete outsider at 20/1. At the end of the race, Yellow Sam won with a full 2 ½ lengths ahead of the rest
Like all the other professional punters, Barney Curley made a very comfortable living from racing. His house is a seven bedroom mansion near Newmarket, complete with an indoor swimming pool there's a Mercedes in the driveway. Its number plate simply puts it "I BET".
When asked what advice he would give to the average punter, his answer was not entirely positive. "It's very difficult to make racing pay in the bookmakers' shops with their computerised tracking systems and expert analysts. Always go to the course if you can. You will invariably get better prices by shopping around. The important thing is to control your emotions and don't chase your losses. There's always another day. I know my judgement of form is sound enough to pay off in the end." This statement helps separate Curley from a number of his peers. He knows that no matter how seasoned, there is no such thing as a sure bet and knows everyone can lose.
In conclusion, it is clear Curley is a man of skill. He was brought up to know the value of hard work and the importance of the value of ones word. Curley took a hard life and made it successful.famous bettors

Sidney Harrisfamous bettors

Who is Sidney Harris? He is a famous punter that became interested in horses in his mid-forties. Sidney Harris was a stock market trader before he became a professional punter. Sidney made his largest gamble on Black Monday. The 19th of October 1987. As the financial advisors' sat stunned unable to move watching their VDU screens losing their fortunes, Sidney had a lunchtime bet that the market would continue to fall and the public would continue to panic. That day Sidney netted over £60,000. He was one of the few individuals that were able to see a chance for profit from very adverse circumstances.
Since his retirement from stocks he has since retiring from the Stock Market, Sidney has dedicated his life and time to horse racing. Sidney has also developed some remarkably good associates. When Sidney wrote his book, 'Horse Racing, The Essential Guide To Backing Winners', he had been a professional gambler for seven years. He recalled how he became a professional punter on the 26th of August 1993; one day after the 'Largest Bookmakers in the World' made the definite decision to disallow his betting. Their reason for the suspension of his accounts was they believed he was winning too much.
For the most part punters tend to rely on luck. No instance is the saying 'the harder you work the luckier you get', more applicable than in horse racing. According to Harris, 'each punter's journey is unique. Each travels a path that has no signs guiding them.'
Well established and often misguided ideas, will often lead many to repeat mistakes that eventually become debilitating and regularly indulged habits. You must have a defined strategy so you can easily see your mistakes and correct them. It is important to develop a common sense of sorts.
Fundamental Rules For Gambling - Suggestions Harris gives for professional gamblers:
   1. Never back a horse unproven on the going.famous bettors
   2. Never back a horse from an out of form stable.famous bettors
   3. Never back a horse unsuited to a track.famous bettors
   4. Never back a horse ridden by a jockey with a poor track record.famous bettors
   5. Never back a horse whose trainer has a poor track record. famous bettors

Bookmakers and layers look for horses with a minimum of one of the 5 rules above. The horses that have one of the 5 conditions listed do make a above credentials as they make magnificent favorite pick. To put it bluntly, the bunters that can not see past the bookmakers and layers fake hot picks will find themselves backing the losing "favorites".
If you successfully remove horses that have or meet one of the above listed conditions, you will have greatly limited the playing field. Thus you will have saved yourself enormous amounts of time.
Statistically speaking, it is very rare for an animal with such damaging characteristics rarely win the race. Harris remarks that you need to make sure your potential selections pass the above filters, the Fundamental Rules listed above.
Now if you want to think in more positive ways, there are other characteristics in a horse that you should look at.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN PICKING A HORSEfamous bettors
   1. Always back trainers who are in form. To find them look in 'today's trainers' in the Racing Post or on their website. You will be able to look and see if a stable is in form.
   2. Always back a trainer with a good record at a familiar track. Turn to the Top Trainers section for the track in question in the Racing Post or click the appropriate button on the R.P. website and you will see which trainers are likely to be in contention.
   3. Aim to back jockeys with a good track record. Turn to the Top Jockeys section and you'll see at a glance which jockeys regularly do the business at this track.
   4. Check out horses with future 'multiple entries'. Multiple entries are a useful positive factor. A trainer looking for the right race will enter a horse in various races. Horses with multiple entries deserve extra scrutiny. Check the races these horses might have run in. If they've been pulled out of higher grade races and will still be running in lower grade affairs - they start to look interesting!
When asked for advice he would give to an armature or semi-professional punter Sidney Harris expressed, "Horse Racing is fraught with financial danger. You can literally lose your shirt and indeed your house on racehorses. Awareness is the key to finding winners in horse races. Every decent priced winner you'll ever find starts with one clue from a repertory of hundreds of possible clues. Once you find such clues - you're well on your way to uncovering profit."
In conclusion, Sidney Harris is a well educated, self made winner in the punters circuit. He literally has applied his knowledge of business smarts into making punting a profitable business for himself. Follow his guidelines and you too may find yourself successful.

Clive Holt

Clive Holt is a legendary punter. He talks so much sense that his word should be written in gold. He goes racing at least four times a week and prefers midweek to a Saturday. Clive bets on the racecourse only, not in the shops. Like many of the successful punters, William Hill closed Holts account in 1978. Coral soon followed suit closing his account as well. He admits it is difficult these days for him to place a bet.
Clive Holt has come a long way since the day in the past when a friend of his told him The Holt was running at Ally Pally. His friend suggested that he back him. In the more than 30 years that have past since that first day, Clive has made a comfortable living. Holt attributes his interest in betting back to his father. His father kept a couple greyhounds in the 1960's and showed his son that there was money to make in betting on them. The first business principle Clive Holt learned about punting was that betting in singles was a fairly easy way for him to make a profit.
By March of 1975 Clive had realized he was ready to punt full time. No need to work anymore just bet. He mainly was betting in doubles, trebles, and the likes of those. Clive himself will tell you his approach was haphazard at best. His pockets dictated what he could and couldn't bet on.
When Holt was starting out, he did not keep proper records of the bets he made. He only worked on a week to week basis. He usually was only able to keep the same amount coming in as he had going out. Thus he was left with the same amount to bet weekly. He really had no way to track the percentage of return he was making. This did bother him so he decided to finally do a thorough job and track all bets. This was the first time he treated his hobby of betting as a business venture.
Thinking back Clive said, "It probably had the greatest influence on my future success. As the figures and the percentages built up before me, it was clear that I was becoming more and more analytical." With the figures in front of his face he could see he was clearing almost 50% profit on an outlay. Had he bet on singles, he would have cleared a bit over 60%. With this fact, and the fact that there were fewer singles available he figured he should increase the outlay on single bets. Importantly, he had shorter losing streaks and was more in control of his money.
His second business venture that he applied to make a difference and net a better profit was setting up his betting bank. It took Clive seven years from the first day he stepped into Haydock Park to feel confident enough to bet full time and quit his day job. Clive recalls, "I set off for Chester on the 6th May 1975 in a new Ford Ghia Capri, in a new suit and in a new job. My first bet was &pound67 to £30 on Western Jewel with Roy Christie on the rails down to a ticket number. The horse won by two lengths and was never in any danger."
That was the beginning of a streak that Holt himself was surprised with. In the following six weeks he would make more money than he did in a year working with the Electricity Board. Betting has been a very rewarding career for Clive. He claims he's never been a big time hitter. Holt usually does not hit more than £1,000 at a time but with the rather modest start he had, it is clear he has grown greatly as a skilled punter.
Clive himself will admit that he has enjoyed the success of betting he has become accustomed to and his tangible belongs can show anyone that. He has such items as, Lotus, Jaguar, De Tomaso, Pantera, BMW's, and many other luxury cars. Winter holidays in the Caribbean, Africa, Australia, America, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Canaries - plus the Mediterranean of course. It has provided his wife and four children with a Listed Georgian Country House complete with Coach House and Stables, set in acres of parkland, close to the norths major training centre.
Clive will be the first person to admit he knows that had he not quit his job jointing electricity cables to bet full time, most of his worldly possessions would not have been obtainable. His life would have been woven on a much different cloth. Surprisingly, Holt has never had the desire to bet purely to have an interest in a race per say. He claims that he would not have a problem not placing another bet ever if he could find another, equally rewarding and challenging career.
When asked what advice he would give to the new professional's apprentices he said, "One vital ingredient for successful punting is that you've got to be confident that your selection can win. Horses with good recent form, preferably winning form, running against limited opposition within their class, when at their peak, progressing or improving - do win the majority of races, all year round. They are a constant source of winners for anyone to exploit. Almost every winner worth backing falls into this category which is broadened even further by the four Pros: PROVEN, PROGRESSIVE, PROMISING and PROFITABLE."

JP McManus

J.P. McManus can say among his closest personal friends are the greats like Tiger Woods. He himself is a millionaire several times over. How did he begin?
Well, his extraordinary fortune all began with a race. Originally from Limerick, he is now worth roughly £255m. Most of it has come from his various gambles and foreign currency trades. This makes him Ireland's eighth richest man. McManus now is living in Switzerland and has more than 100 racehorses which he mainly runs in jump races. He also holds a sizable share of Manchester United. In addition, McManus also co-owns the Sandy Lane Resort in Barbados, along with fellow millionaire and former Celtic's major shareholder Dermot Desmond. He got his first tastes of gambling as a schoolboy long before going to work in his family business.
It wasn't long before he got his own betting stand at Limerick's greyhound track. His early trials in the betting ring had earned him the nickname the Sundance Kid. Such is his pulling power that he managed to attract some of golf's biggest names to Limerick for his own tournament, the JP McManus Invitational Pro-Am.
Woods, David Duval, Tom Lehman, Lee Janzen, Colin Montgomerie and Mark O'Meara attended in 2000 along with a handful of lucky locals. The tournament itself and the celebrity auction afterwards raised a massive £13m for charity. In fact, McManus' is very generous when it comes to his local charities.
JP McManus at Cheltenham Many of McManus' most memorable exploits have involved his racehorses, especially at Cheltenham. McManus is a National Hunt supporter and his horses race in the green and gold colours of his home GAA club, South Liberties. His best-known horse Istabraq is the triple Champion Hurdle winner. The gelding, which now is retired, became a much-loved figure with Irelands racing fans.
McManus's greatest memory and moment in his racing career he admitted was "This is my greatest moment in racing," admitted McManus was when he won the first of his three Champion Hurdle races with Istabrag. McManus does have one regret, even with all his miraculous accomplishments in racing, he regrets that Limerick has not won an all-Ireland senior hurling title since 1973. So you see there are things that money just can not purchase

Freddie Williams

Picture it, its November 2005, the location, Cheltenham racecourse, time, about an hour prior to the first race of the day, its opening day of the Paddy Power Gold Cup meeting. Under a grey sky with steadily dropping temperatures the crowd gathers thru the gates. In the betting circles, the bookies are pitching. Pompous men such as Barry Dennis, noticeably having his leaving the provision to his people, flings louder enquiries back and forth. Gregory and John Hughes are there; Andy Smith and John Christie are there; Mickey 'The Asparagus Kid' Fletcher, face like a 'Wanted' poster, scowls from the sidelines. But Scotsman Freddie Williams, a famed drama actor, hasn't yet arrived. Somewhat miniature in stature he may be, yet he's known as the biggest bookmaker at Prestbury Park.
Freddie delaying his entrance sits comfortably in his Jaguar hundreds of yards away in the members' car parking lot. His daughter Julie, and other members of his on-course team are already in place on the pitch. Freddie The softly spoken boss confers with them by phone, always monitoring the early activity and estimating the moves of the day.
At the Cheltenham Festival in March 1999, JP McManus, the Sundance Kid of racing legend, a colossal £100,000 each way at 7/1 on his own horse in the Per tempts Hurdle Final. This wasn't some transaction by chance. It was a very deliberate, planned action in the hand-to-hand combat in the heat and gun-smoke of the Festival. Shannon Gale, trained by Christy Roche, finished fourth and JP collected £175,000 from the each-way part of his wager. If he had finished first, Freddie Williams would have had a payout in the ballpark of the £900,000. To clearly understand what makes him such an accomplished man we need to take a look at his whole life. What makes his story so interesting is not just his enthusiastic embrace of customary betting and his detest for the cautious, corporate approach of the big betting-shop chains but also credit that this is a man came from a modest beginning and earned the right to be a player on the greatest racing stage of them all.
Freddie was born in 1942 in Cumnock, East Ayrshire. His father was a miner, like his father before him. Freddie, like the rest of his male relations and colleagues, would have gone down the pit himself had he not failed the medical exam at the age of 15. Instead he became a mining engineer.
After a few years Freddie went to work for a soft drink company. Everyone knew bet in those days, and the backbone of gambling in the mining communities was 'pitch and toss'. Horse racing, especially jump racing, was exerting a far greater allure.
I was lucky to earn a pound a week at the time. I kept my money in a tin box. There were illegal betting offices all around Ayrshire and I put every dime I could on Pas Seul. He made it to the last stretch but then he fell.' Williams laughs sorrowfully at the memory. 'Kerstin stayed on to win the race.
Pas Seul made no mistake the next year, though.' Freddie's was not alone in his love of a punt.In fact it was shared by his workmates at Currys.
He bought his first bookmaking pitch at Ayr in 1974, followed by one in Hamilton and one in Musselburgh. He would go on to own seven betting offices. After Currys was bought out again in 1991, Freddie, already worth over a million, started his own bottled-water business called Caledonian Clear.
Some of competitors like to say that it must be very nice to try bookmaking when you have another job paying your bills.However, Freddie emphatically denies racing job is some sort of sideline. 'Bookmaking is my livelihood and my passion in life.' Freddie has said.
The enthusiasm and nerve Freddie brings to his job is something the Southerners had not witnessed for themselves until the massively overdue reforms that allowed racecourse pitches to be bought and sold at public auction in the late 1990s. The old-fashioned system of Dead Man's Shoes, the bookmaking pitches were restricted to successive generations of the same family, was a sort of Masonic protection swindle that shut out new money and new faces from the ring.
The Scotsman got an early start on 1st January 1999 and again in March. It didn't take McManus to seek him out. As well as conflicting Shannon Gale, the bookmaker also accepted Nick Dundee. Dundee was the Irish banker of the week. The young novice ran in the colours of McManus' close friends John and Sue Magnier. But Freddie didn't fancy Nick Dundee. 'I was going 11/8, One gentleman wanted £80,000 on, and I laid it to him, but I didn't take down the price. He looked at me for a moment then asked for the bet again. So I laid him another £110,000 to £80,000, but I still not taking down the price.'
It was a close-run race. Then it happened Nick Dundee's legs buckled landing over the third last fence. Plus, presumably, the sound of one Scottish heart beating faster. Freddie was not always so lucky.
Although the bookie and punter seem to be natural enemies, they also tend to respect each other alot. 'We're friends,' says Williams sincerely. 'John was in business as a bookmaker for 15 years. He had a good bet on Dawn Run when she won the Gold Cup in 1986 and that helped him to change his life. However, he told me that if she'd lost, he'd have been skint the following week.'
Freddie admits, 'Festival trading is totally draining, which is why I stay in a nice, quiet hotel. When you get back, all you want to do is eat and sleep. I'm afraid I'm well behind in the entertainment stakes.'
There was plenty of entertainment on November '04, though: The Rising Moon, running in the McManus colours, was the medium of a £100,000 plunge at 3/1. Half an hour later, JP's Spot The Difference won the Sporting Index cross-country chase. Someone stuck on £28,000 at 7/1 for a payout of nearly two hundred grand.
Next year at the Festival? JP will be there, as will Freddie Williams. It just wouldn't be Cheltenham without the champions of the betting ring.

Zeljko Ranogajec

Zeljko Ranogajec is the Billion Dollar Man of betting. He is most certainly Australia's and probably the worlds biggest gambler and strikes fear into the heart of every bookmaker.
Ranogajec is one of the gambling world's most secretive characters and a sure thing to come away from any race meeting in the money. Ranogajec, 43, and his army of contracted researchers have been analysing races throughout the country for months in preparation for the Melbourne carnival, including the big race, which is expected to attract $100 million in bets. Having crunched the data from thousands of races, he will put big bucks on the horse statistics say should finish first.
Contemporaries say no one else in Australia - maybe the world -has reduced the odds so successfully. Mr Ranogajec, of Balmoral on the North Shore, boasts a gambling turnover of about $1 billion a year. "That's one thousand million dollars," IASBet bookmakers owner Mark Read said. "A profit margin of just 1 per cent would net $10m. "He has agents betting for him with the bookmakers but he basically controls the totes. "Zeljko claims he's the world's biggest punter; I think he's right."
An estimated $200m of that $1bn is bet on horse races in Australia.The rest is gambled on casinos, other sports and overseas races. When The Daily Telegraph visited his home yesterday , a neighbour said he was rarely there. "He owns it but he doesn't live here," the neighbour said. For Mr Ranogajec, home is the former residence of failed entrepreneur Brad Cooper. Mr Ranogajec's partner Shelley Wilson is listed on the property transfer, which shows Cooper's Coronation Ave home was bought in July 2001 for $5.96m.
It's a long way from Hobart, where Mr Ranogajec was born in 1961 to Croatian immigrants.
He first set out to be a lawyer but soon realised he could cash in on his memory and intellect.But his talent for counting cards soon had him banned from casinos including Wrest Point in Tasmania and Jupiters on the Gold Coast.
In 1998 his betting activity was restricted at Sydney's Star Casino; card-counters like him increase their stakes as the odds improve. Being blacklisted meant he had to diversify, turning to racing and lotteries around the globe. And what a gamble that proved: of the $11.7bn bet on racing in Australia with totes in 2003, he was responsible for up to $500m - 5 per cent.

Paul Cooper

There is more than one way to skin a cat so the story goes, and being a professional gambler can be achieved in many different ways. Paul Cooper had his own unique way of gambling for profit, and he used his knowledge of draw bias at British racecourses coupled with an unusual bet called the Tricast to win over £400,000 on a number of bets at Thirsk racecourse.
Cooper noticed before virtually any one else that horses drawn high over the straight sprint course at Thirsk appeared to have a distinct advantage. There are a number of racecourses with distinct draw biases around the country. Chester and Beverley probably being the most prevelant but the difference at Thirsk was that the bias was just as marked on fast ground as it was on soft ground. The reason for this was that the watering system at Thirsk left a lot to be desired, and it left a strip of ground next to the stands rail which was unwatered and therefore significantly faster than the rest of the track.
Cooper would perm those 5 or 6 horses drawn highest in tricasts, and therefore the ones who would be running on the favoured fast ground these 5 or 6 often included several complete outsiders and when his bet came in which it did more often than not the return was massive.
Cooper is certainly not a £10,000 win single guy, and is fascinated by the returns which you can get from multiple bets. He believes that the Lucky 15 is a value bet. A Lucky 15 is a Yankee (6 doubles, 4 trebles and an accumulator) plus 4 win singles. The major bookmakers normally often some form of concession with the bet. For instance if you only have one winner they will double the odds. So one 7/1 winner means that you will just about get your money back.

Here are Paul Coopers tips for successful betting on the horses:

   1. Always stay cool, calm and collected when making a selection. Don't let your emotions affect your selection.
   2. Only bet when you believe that you are getting good value.
   3. Look to back horses with winning form, be very wary of maidens.
   4. Concentrate on Sprint races the form is often more reliable than longer distance flat races.
   5. Try and find a small competent yard to follow. You will get much better prices on their horses than those of the larger stables.
   6. Don't back odds on favourites.