Zenyatta (foaled April 1, 2004) is a retired American Thoroughbred race horse mare, winner of 19 starts in a 20-race career.Her sole defeat came in her final race, the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic where she lost by a neck to Blame in an attempt to repeat her win in the 2009 event. Big Coupe: Lakerville Unusual Heat Foreverinthegame: Margot Machance (GB) Creachadoir (IRE) Margot Mine (IRE). Mix them together and you might just have a chance, a chance of pulling off a coup. Richard Laws, author of the Amazon horse racing thrillers 'The Syndicate Manager' and 'Gimcrack' returns with a story of punters, trainers, jockeys, racehorses, bookmakers and betting, all neatly wrapped up in lies and secrets.
This list was originally published in January 2010, last update was January 2020, let is know in the comments if you think anyone should be added.
Phil Bull
Phil Bull made a massive amount of money from betting, but not only was he a successful gambler he was also a breeder, owner, writer and publisher. It is estimated he made millions during his career.
In 1948 he launched the now internationally renowned organisation Timeform.
Phil had a shrewd attitude towards betting. He looked at the season as a whole and his form study was the same for every race.
How To Make A Book by Phil Bull
Phil Bull: The Biography by Howard Wright
JP McManus
Multi millionaire JP McManus is a renowned gambler and race horse owner.
Originally from Limerick in Ireland, McManus started betting as a schoolboy before working in his family's plant hire business. He had his own betting stand for a while at Limerick's greyhound track and it wasn't long before he moved into owning horses as well as betting and laying. These days JP owns the largest number of National Hunt's horses.
His first ‘big' win (rumoured to be around £250,000) was at Cheltenham with a horse called Mister Donovan who was 2nd favourite but ended up winning the race. He also won over £1 million from famous Scottish bookie Freddie Williams in 2006 at Cheltenham.
Although McManus is a high level gambler a large part of his wealth is said to have come from international financing and money dealing which he overseas from his base in Geneva.
Still a big player and maybe he should be at the top of this list as he is still very active. Legal internet gambling united states. If there is a book to read about JP let me know in the comments, I'd love to read it.
Alex Bird
The late Alex Bird made a considerable amount of money from betting after the war. It is estimated he had an annual turnover of £2 million from gambling.
His interest in gambling began when he was a child. He learned a lot from his father who was a bookmaker. However, he decided there was more money to be made from the other side and he become one of Britain's most well known professional punters of all time.
Bird had several methods for getting one over on the bookies but his most famous was probably his success on betting on photo finishes which in those days took about 5 minutes to develop. This process earned him a fortune over a period of around 20 years and only stopped when the modernisation of technology meant there was no longer the delay in photo developing.
Alex Bird made his own mind up when it come to betting and rarely listened to anyone – he stuck to his rules and systems. Even now, almost 30 years after his death, there are current systems available that are based on the practices he used.
The odds are subject to change and are correct at the time of publishing: Sunday, March 7, 2021 19:23 GMT. By sure bets, we mean games where we are at least 85% confident that wins will be as we've predicted for each of the teams. While we class the football predictions shown here as safe bets or sure wins, they don't guarantee success. Football prediction bet wins. All football prediction for today wins with fulltime results and sure wins for today matches. Site that predict football matches correctly. Welcome to Feedinco.com, your best guide for sure win football predictions! Feedinco team monitors football predictions today wins relentlessly.
His biggest bet was on the well known horse Mill Reef at Gimcrack. The season after this Mill Reef won the Derby, again backed by Bird who had by then backed 7 Derby winners in 8 years.
One of his last bets was on a horse called Final Shot in 1990 when it won the Ayr Gold Cup.
Patrick Veitch
Patrick Veitch is one of Britain's most successful gamblers who has won over £10 million from betting.
At just 15 years of age this mathematical genius got a place at Cambridge although he never completed his degree, instead he turned to gambling and started his own tipping line.
By his mid 20s Patrick Veitch was already making a lot of money but then came a turning point in his life. He become the target of a criminal and was forced to live in hiding for many months putting his career on hold and leaving him broke. However, following this episode he become more successful than ever and was soon making £1 million a year from his strategic betting methods.
Veitch is a strong believer that there is no short cut when it comes to betting – the only way to win is by working hard at it to get it right.
It is very rare to see Patrick at the races. He uses agents to place his bets and spends most of his time watching and analysing events from his computer.
Harry Findlay
Harry Findlay is a larger than life gambler who has not only made a fortune but also lost a fortune from gambling over the years.
He has always had a love for greyhounds and worked with them for a while after leaving school. Then aged just 20 Findlay spent 11 months in prison convicted of credit card fraud.
These days bets from his home office which is fully equipped with a number of TV screens and monitors often with different sporting events on at the same time.
As well as being a professional gambler Harry is also an owner. He jointly owns the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Denman who also won two Hennessy Gold Cups. Big Fella Thanks was another of his co-owned horses who he named after his beloved greyhound 1999 Coursing Derby winning Big Fella.
Barney Curley
Barney Curley is a professional gambler and trainer from Northern Ireland who has a reputation for being one of racing's most colourful characters.
During his childhood he watched his Father run up huge gambling debts but still took up betting himself.
In 1975 he famously organised one of the biggest betting scams of all time – Yellow Sam which made him over £300,000. He has also appeared in court for illegal lottery after raffling his mansion for £1.5 million.
More recently Barney organised big coups in 2010 and 2014 and 2016.
Terry Ramsden
Terry Ramsden originally made his fortune from investment company Glen International in the 80s. He was worth millions and, amongst other things, owned a string of race horses.
He was also well known for his betting and in 1985 won £2 million on one horse. The following year he had another big win on Motivator in the 1986 Coral Golden Hurdle Final.
Towards the end of the 80s however, Ramsden's company collapsed and he started losing massive amounts on bets – he reportedly lost £1 million on one bet alone. This lead to him going bust at which time he fled to America. He had won but also lost millions of pounds.
In the late 1990s he was jailed for concealing assets during his bankruptcy – one of which was rumoured to be a £70,000 plus win on the horses.
Despite returning to public life a few years later Ramsden has failed to recreate his earlier success and has since been involved in a number of arguments over money.
Pro gambler or rich man who lost it all on the horses? Many think the latter but he was a big player all the same.
Dave Nevison
Dave Nevison became a professional gambler in 1993 after he lost his job working as a currency trader in the City.
He now has an estimated six figure income made up largely from gambling but also from journalism columns he writes. Dave has also written 2 books and has his own horse racing tipping service.
A Bloody Good Winner: Life As A Professional Gambler by Dave Nevison
No Easy Money: A Gambler's Diary by Dave Nevison
Alan Potts
At the age of just 14 Alan Potts started betting on horse racing and become a full time professional gambler after being made redundant from his office job in 1991.
He has admitted it took him many years to become a regular winner and despite making an estimated £50,000 a year from betting in the past, he has also suffered losing runs. Although he is also an owner, author and pundit Potts' main source of income is from gambling.
In 1999 he jointly formed The Golden Anorak Partnership and this is the banner under which his horses now run.
Alan has written 2 books and also wrote for the betting exchange WBX until it closed in 2015.
Against The Crowd by Alan Potts
The Inside Track by Alan Potts
Clive Holt
Legendary punter Clive Holt was first shown that money could be made from betting by his father who kept a couple of greyhounds during the 1960s.
In the early part of 1975 Clive decided he was ready to quit his job working for the Electricity Board and take up gambling on a full time basis.
He started out using a fairly random approach dictated by his finances and he kept no proper records of bets he had placed. He soon made the decision to start recording his bets and this was the first of two business methods he implemented in order to make a better profit. The second was to setup a betting bank.
His first bet was £67 to £30 on Western Jewel who won comfortably and within 6 weeks he had made more money than he was earning in a year working in electricity. Over the years, although rarely winning more than £1,000 at a time, Holt's profits from betting provided a lifestyle of luxury cars, exotic holidays and a listed country house with acres of land.
A number of books have been written by Clive Holt who was also the man behind Fineform.
Profitable Winners Always Back Winners
Be A Successful Punter
Fineform Winners Guide
Profitable Betting Strategies
Horse Racing Coup Today
Register Today for Free Daily Racing Tips from Top Tipsters.
Horse Racing Coup
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Bookmakers were spared losses estimated at millions of pounds after the third leg of an audacious betting coup came unstuck on Sunday.
The layers were prepared for the worst after the first two horses, Fire Away and Blowing Dixie, obliged at short prices after being backed at big odds, with only Gallahers Cross left to run.
The trio were linked together in a variety of wagers with several bookmakers when betting on Sunday's races opened on Saturday night.
JP McManus
Multi millionaire JP McManus is a renowned gambler and race horse owner.
Originally from Limerick in Ireland, McManus started betting as a schoolboy before working in his family's plant hire business. He had his own betting stand for a while at Limerick's greyhound track and it wasn't long before he moved into owning horses as well as betting and laying. These days JP owns the largest number of National Hunt's horses.
His first ‘big' win (rumoured to be around £250,000) was at Cheltenham with a horse called Mister Donovan who was 2nd favourite but ended up winning the race. He also won over £1 million from famous Scottish bookie Freddie Williams in 2006 at Cheltenham.
Although McManus is a high level gambler a large part of his wealth is said to have come from international financing and money dealing which he overseas from his base in Geneva.
Still a big player and maybe he should be at the top of this list as he is still very active. Legal internet gambling united states. If there is a book to read about JP let me know in the comments, I'd love to read it.
Alex Bird
The late Alex Bird made a considerable amount of money from betting after the war. It is estimated he had an annual turnover of £2 million from gambling.
His interest in gambling began when he was a child. He learned a lot from his father who was a bookmaker. However, he decided there was more money to be made from the other side and he become one of Britain's most well known professional punters of all time.
Bird had several methods for getting one over on the bookies but his most famous was probably his success on betting on photo finishes which in those days took about 5 minutes to develop. This process earned him a fortune over a period of around 20 years and only stopped when the modernisation of technology meant there was no longer the delay in photo developing.
Alex Bird made his own mind up when it come to betting and rarely listened to anyone – he stuck to his rules and systems. Even now, almost 30 years after his death, there are current systems available that are based on the practices he used.
The odds are subject to change and are correct at the time of publishing: Sunday, March 7, 2021 19:23 GMT. By sure bets, we mean games where we are at least 85% confident that wins will be as we've predicted for each of the teams. While we class the football predictions shown here as safe bets or sure wins, they don't guarantee success. Football prediction bet wins. All football prediction for today wins with fulltime results and sure wins for today matches. Site that predict football matches correctly. Welcome to Feedinco.com, your best guide for sure win football predictions! Feedinco team monitors football predictions today wins relentlessly.
His biggest bet was on the well known horse Mill Reef at Gimcrack. The season after this Mill Reef won the Derby, again backed by Bird who had by then backed 7 Derby winners in 8 years.
One of his last bets was on a horse called Final Shot in 1990 when it won the Ayr Gold Cup.
Patrick Veitch
Patrick Veitch is one of Britain's most successful gamblers who has won over £10 million from betting.
At just 15 years of age this mathematical genius got a place at Cambridge although he never completed his degree, instead he turned to gambling and started his own tipping line.
By his mid 20s Patrick Veitch was already making a lot of money but then came a turning point in his life. He become the target of a criminal and was forced to live in hiding for many months putting his career on hold and leaving him broke. However, following this episode he become more successful than ever and was soon making £1 million a year from his strategic betting methods.
Veitch is a strong believer that there is no short cut when it comes to betting – the only way to win is by working hard at it to get it right.
It is very rare to see Patrick at the races. He uses agents to place his bets and spends most of his time watching and analysing events from his computer.
Harry Findlay
Harry Findlay is a larger than life gambler who has not only made a fortune but also lost a fortune from gambling over the years.
He has always had a love for greyhounds and worked with them for a while after leaving school. Then aged just 20 Findlay spent 11 months in prison convicted of credit card fraud.
These days bets from his home office which is fully equipped with a number of TV screens and monitors often with different sporting events on at the same time.
As well as being a professional gambler Harry is also an owner. He jointly owns the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Denman who also won two Hennessy Gold Cups. Big Fella Thanks was another of his co-owned horses who he named after his beloved greyhound 1999 Coursing Derby winning Big Fella.
Barney Curley
Barney Curley is a professional gambler and trainer from Northern Ireland who has a reputation for being one of racing's most colourful characters.
During his childhood he watched his Father run up huge gambling debts but still took up betting himself.
In 1975 he famously organised one of the biggest betting scams of all time – Yellow Sam which made him over £300,000. He has also appeared in court for illegal lottery after raffling his mansion for £1.5 million.
More recently Barney organised big coups in 2010 and 2014 and 2016.
Terry Ramsden
Terry Ramsden originally made his fortune from investment company Glen International in the 80s. He was worth millions and, amongst other things, owned a string of race horses.
He was also well known for his betting and in 1985 won £2 million on one horse. The following year he had another big win on Motivator in the 1986 Coral Golden Hurdle Final.
Towards the end of the 80s however, Ramsden's company collapsed and he started losing massive amounts on bets – he reportedly lost £1 million on one bet alone. This lead to him going bust at which time he fled to America. He had won but also lost millions of pounds.
In the late 1990s he was jailed for concealing assets during his bankruptcy – one of which was rumoured to be a £70,000 plus win on the horses.
Despite returning to public life a few years later Ramsden has failed to recreate his earlier success and has since been involved in a number of arguments over money.
Pro gambler or rich man who lost it all on the horses? Many think the latter but he was a big player all the same.
Dave Nevison
Dave Nevison became a professional gambler in 1993 after he lost his job working as a currency trader in the City.
He now has an estimated six figure income made up largely from gambling but also from journalism columns he writes. Dave has also written 2 books and has his own horse racing tipping service.
A Bloody Good Winner: Life As A Professional Gambler by Dave Nevison
No Easy Money: A Gambler's Diary by Dave Nevison
Alan Potts
At the age of just 14 Alan Potts started betting on horse racing and become a full time professional gambler after being made redundant from his office job in 1991.
He has admitted it took him many years to become a regular winner and despite making an estimated £50,000 a year from betting in the past, he has also suffered losing runs. Although he is also an owner, author and pundit Potts' main source of income is from gambling.
In 1999 he jointly formed The Golden Anorak Partnership and this is the banner under which his horses now run.
Alan has written 2 books and also wrote for the betting exchange WBX until it closed in 2015.
Against The Crowd by Alan Potts
The Inside Track by Alan Potts
Clive Holt
Legendary punter Clive Holt was first shown that money could be made from betting by his father who kept a couple of greyhounds during the 1960s.
In the early part of 1975 Clive decided he was ready to quit his job working for the Electricity Board and take up gambling on a full time basis.
He started out using a fairly random approach dictated by his finances and he kept no proper records of bets he had placed. He soon made the decision to start recording his bets and this was the first of two business methods he implemented in order to make a better profit. The second was to setup a betting bank.
His first bet was £67 to £30 on Western Jewel who won comfortably and within 6 weeks he had made more money than he was earning in a year working in electricity. Over the years, although rarely winning more than £1,000 at a time, Holt's profits from betting provided a lifestyle of luxury cars, exotic holidays and a listed country house with acres of land.
A number of books have been written by Clive Holt who was also the man behind Fineform.
Profitable Winners Always Back Winners
Be A Successful Punter
Fineform Winners Guide
Profitable Betting Strategies
Horse Racing Coup Today
Register Today for Free Daily Racing Tips from Top Tipsters.
Horse Racing Coup
Everyday Monday to Saturday we will email you a selections from the Daily Punt and guest tipsters.
Enter your email address below and click the button to register
When you subscribe to the Daily Punt list we will email you 6 days per week with free horse racing tips and related material (systems & strategies etc). These emails will sometimes contain promotional messages for other services and occasionally we will email you with other marketing messages in line with our Privacy Policy
Bookmakers were spared losses estimated at millions of pounds after the third leg of an audacious betting coup came unstuck on Sunday.
The layers were prepared for the worst after the first two horses, Fire Away and Blowing Dixie, obliged at short prices after being backed at big odds, with only Gallahers Cross left to run.
The trio were linked together in a variety of wagers with several bookmakers when betting on Sunday's races opened on Saturday night.
All three were sent off short-priced favourites after being snapped up at double-figure odds.
Paul Binfield, spokesman for Paddy Power, said: 'I don't want to reveal figures, but our liabilities would probably be on a par with others in the industry.
'The trading room at Power Tower breathed a huge sigh of relief when Get The Appeal foiled the gamble and crossed the line in front.'
After the victories of Fire Away and Blowing Dixie, the eyes of the racing world were focused on Gallahers Cross, trained Daragh Bourke, in the bet365 Handicap Hurdle at Musselburgh.
The race may only have carried a winning purse of £4,288, but it was worth an awful lot more to those in on the gamble and those punters would have been sitting comfortably for most of the two-and-three-quarter-mile contest.
Gallahers Cross travelled well up to the second-last flight, only to find little under pressure, and the 4-5 favourite faded into fourth place as the Paul Nicholls-trained Get The Appeal made all the running under Harry Cobden.
Gallaghers Cross BEAT
The last leg of the monster gamble fades in 4th..pic.twitter.com/ngzZINAua1
Until then the three-horse gamble was very much on.
Fire Away, who was available at 22-1 when betting opened, went off the evens favourite as he kick-started the gamble in the bet365 Novices' Handicap Chase.
Having his first start for Laura Morgan, the eight-year-old romped home by 19 lengths in the hands of Richie McLernon after taking the lead after the third-last fence.
'We've had him 11 days. We bought him from Daragh Bourke,' the Leicestershire trainer told Musselburgh's Twitter account.
'He had a couple of horses for sale. He was one of them. I did go to buy the other one, but we bought him instead.
'Fingers crossed, he can win a few more.'
Backed down from 9-1 to 4-6 favourite, Blowing Dixie brought up the second leg in the Betway Casino Handicap at Southwell.
The Iain Jardine-trained five-year-old looked to benefit from a drop in class when defying top weight by a smooth two and a half lengths in the hands of Andrew Mullen.
'He's travelled through the race really strong and I wanted something to take me further, but I was there three out, so I let him get on with it,' Mullen told Sky Sports Racing.
'He's very honest. He likes Southwell. He's got course form round here and he came good today.
'I spoke to Iain this morning and he said ‘I think I've got him as well as I can and if he turns up, he'll be hard to beat'. He was right.'
Not all bookmakers fell foul of the attempted coup. Simon Clare, head of PR at Ladbrokes Coral, revealed they managed to 'dodge a bullet'.
'Our trading team who were on duty last night spotted the path of bets quite quickly and it was clear they were connected, so they reacted quickly and turned off the multiples for those three selections,' he said.
'We were aware something very organised was going on, but we managed not to face anything too scary.
'We saw what other people were saying and had our trader not spotted it and left it another half an hour or an hour, given the huge odds in play, you would have been facing huge liabilities.
'It's hard to know what other firms were facing. We managed to dodge a bullet.
'Actually, for us, it was much more of those favourites winning was more of a nightmare for us than the attempted coup.'
At the request of the British Horseracing Authority's integrity department, the connections of all three horses were interviewed by the race day stewards before their respective races.
Related Horse Racing Links
