Back in the mix after all these years

By Ian Carnaby

By and large, I think the old advice about never betting odds-on holds good, though I was around when Glasgow bookie John Banks - who played both sides of the fence - was in his pomp. “I never mind betting at 1 to 3 when I know full well the price should be 1 to 6”, he once remarked.

Well, very few of us have the wherewithal to bet at 1 to 3 and make it count. Not only that, but hearing your heartbeat above the roar of the crowd can be a mite disconcerting. The last time it happened to me was when Opera House pipped Zoman (and I do mean pipped, as in ‘would have been called a dead-heat a few years ago’) in the Rogers Gold Cup at the Curragh in 1992. They raced wide apart and I went for a walk while the print was examined, although all gamblers have a pretty fair idea of the outcome, of course, and it has nothing to do with pessimism. If you experience enough desperate finishes over the years, you come to recognise a short-head setback, even with 50 yards to go.

Zoman did not start at odds-on but he was my last significant loser and the stakes have been a good deal smaller these past 15 years. I remember him for all manner of reasons. I was at Chepstow when he made his winning debut as a two-year old and the people close to Paul Cole’s yard sent him off 9 to 4 favourite in a big field. As for the fateful bet, which was four figures on the nose and we’ll leave it at that, I felt slightly unlucky because the Rogers Gold Cup was a Group Two and he went on to win the Prix d’Ispahan a fortnight later and the Budweiser International, both Group Ones.

He was one of my favourite horses - it’s hard to resist anything out of a mare called A Little Affection - and I remember his 24-race career quite clearly. Sometimes things happen to bring back a particularly poignant memory, such as his brave effort in the French 2000 Guineas, which was only his second-ever appearance on a racecourse. He went down by a length and a half to Linamix in a very fast time and I thought the winner must be a world-beater. (In fact, he turned out to be very, very good, especially at Longchamp, but not quite a champion.)

What made me remember his defeat of Zoman was a remarkable occurrence at Limerick Junction - of all places - this week. You may be forgiven, with all the talk of jockeys’ titles and Paddy Power Gold Cups, for failing to notice that three winners in a row, successful in the three divisions of the Christmas Racing Festival Maiden Hurdle, were all sired by Linamix. They were Moon Mix, Marseillais and Windix and at least two of them won very easily indeed. The old boy is nearly white now but often passes on his original colour and all three of Monday’s winners are grey. In my opinion, there is money to be made from backing short-priced favourites in Irish bumpers and maiden hurdles, especially away from the big weekend meetings, and you could do worse than study all of Linamix’s progeny from now on.

In a way, everything came full circle before the second division because Edward O’Grady’s Marseillais, irritatingly second more often than not, would have needed to put his foot down a rabbit hole to avoid winning this time. No such orifice presented itself and he strode away to score by 18 lengths.

The problem, of course, was that he hovered around 9 to 10 in the ring, which put an old gambler’s self-control under severe pressure. Then, mercifully, he went even-money (it would never happen on a Saturday) and we could all join in, even those of us who have become boring and faint-hearted in middle-age. Say what you like, there is something about roaring home a Limerick Junction winner in deepest Bedminster, strange glances and all.

It didn’t quite make up for Zoman v Linamix, and there wouldn’t have been enough in the shop, or in Bedminster, to make up for Zoman v Opera House, but it still felt good. Life in the old dog yet, perhaps.