well, those of you who were interested in, or at least read, my post on selecting winner for that whole grand national thing will no doubt be expecting a review from me of what went right and, indeed, what went wrong. so here it is.
my prediction, or if you like hope, that five horses would somehow all win turned out not to happen, let me say up front. yes i agree, that would have been awesome if it had. but not to be.
i am not too sure what the odds at the start of the race are called, it could well be starting odds, but anyway whatever they are here they are.
that's smart that is, four of the five i had picked were on the first page of odds, which must, i assume, mean that people agreed with my thinking. only Shakalakaboomboom did not feature. my (considerably) better half, of course, was thrilled to see that the Balthazar King she had earmarked as a winner was on this page too.
we sat and watched this race, then. watching racing is a most unusual thing for us; something that would usually only happen when my Dad is visiting. i imagine, and hope, he finds it relatively amusing that we watched the national, then!
in the build up to the race i notice that well dressed man who was based on a Womble is no longer on doing the horses, but no matter. we were instead treated to an interview with someone who i think is a relatively minor member of the Royal family.
nice one, i guess. for the most part she was talking about horses and horse racing. actually, that was all she spoke of, with particular emphasis on the "risks" of buying a horse. there was, as far as i noticed, no mention at all of anything to do with being (possibly) a minor member of the Royal family.
we also, for some reason, got treated to some footage of inside the jockey changing or dressing room. i was particularly impressed to see that they appear to tie their own shoelaces, which you would imagine puts them somewhat ahead of the average current footballer in the intelligence stakes.
indeed yes i probably have gone ahead and uploaded more pictures than i have text for, look you see, but you people like pictures. i think.
so here is another one.
that there is the horse called Balthazar King; the one that my (considerably) better half was most excited about. for some reason she was quite convinced that this one would do well. well, if not convinced then confident. and if not confident then hoping, i suppose.
blimey, the fella you can see there just above the backside of the horse looks like some sort of mutant cross between David Moyes and Hugh Laurie, now i look.
some images of the actual race? i don't think the ones i took off of the tele with my blueberry camera phone are going to be the best on the net, but if you like, here you go. i seem to recall that this Becher's Brook is quite famous and well known, so here you go.
i would imagine my mate Fraser would be very excited to see something called Becher's in anything at all, let alone a national race. he was really rather enthusiastic about that TV show OZ, look you see, and one of the characters in it was called Becher. i think he was even one of Fraser's favourites. they were all, at the least, interesting, i suppose. quite violent. and sexually active, indeed, whether they wished to be or not.
so how did i get on with my five selections? not, truthfully, not at all well, really. the most important element is, of course, that all horses which started the race are still alive - something of a rarity for this race, i believe. that said, i believe some 60% of the horses i had selected to be joint winners "fell", or otherwise stopped running, before the second or third fence they needed to jump over. oh dear.
a further 20% of my joint choice winners fell a little while later. to the dismay of many, i would imagine, that 20% covered Tea For Three; the favourite to win the race and a horse which about 60% of the entire debt of the whole world was placed on to win. no, pressure, then.
here is a picture, then, of the horses that kept going jumping over the final, or if you like last, fence.
and here is another screen, page two i think, of horses running and their odds. although it might be the third page they showed earlier and somewhere i missed the second one. sorry about that.
onwards to the end of the race, then, or if you like the final furlong. as you can see - and you don't need to have my deft skills in respect of horse racing to work this out - the three in the lead appear to have pulled away from the rest of the horses by some distance.
i wonder what exactly them dudes and ladies stood between the fences are doing? is that either some sort of budget or VIP ticket you need to get to watch the race from there? not as crowded as them grandstands looked, at the least.
anyway, the race was done and 0% of the horses we had selected between us won. oh dear. we had, however, back horses on an each way basis. 20% of my selections came in the top four, which i believe means i get some sort of dividend or return on investment. modesty, however, prevents me from accepting the worship and praise you wish to heap on my skills right now.
well, modesty and the fact that my (considerably) better half appears to have witnessed 40% of her selections finish inside the top four. including, indeed, that King of the Balthazars she was all so keen and excited about.
nice one, well done munchkin!
collecting the return on our investment is a matter for our Uncle Peter, as and when he next pays a visit to the relevant turf accountant. i suspect the return is not going to be all that much, but better than nowt, as they say.
so which horse actually won? one called Pineau De Re, or something. i can tell you that a doctor or something owns it, because the people who do the racing on the tele and that keep mentioning it.
i would not really say i am bitter, angry, resentful or upset that my class predictions for the most part, and let us be honest here, failed. an 80% fail rate to be exact. if i were asked if i will again invest 50p on the basis of something that John McCririk says on a radio station at around midnight, i suspect the answer will be no.
if for some reason you wanted to see a screen of the winners, here in pictorial conclusion, it is.
so that's probably it for me and betting for the remainder of the year. that is, of course, unless my Uncle Peter says i should bet on another one and i do not wish to displease him. that said, it is that London marathon (innit, geezah) next week. let me have a look at the field and the form, maybe i will lay down some coins of money on it. i will indeed do a google thing and see when, or if, that John McCririk intends to go on the radio to discuss his choice for the winner of that, too, and simply listen to my iTwat instead.
i trust you all had some degree of luck on this race!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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