How to Win at the Point to Point

The opening to one of Saki’s stories, “A Matter of Sentiment”, describes brilliantly how difficult it can be to place a bet without having followed, for months or even years, the form and breeding of the horses involved. So how should you place your bets? 

For the swots 
If you’re taking it all very seriously, there are a few books worth reading: “The Sure Thing”, by Nick Townsend, which documents the extraordinary story of Barnel Curley, who won £300,000 on his own horse in 1975, and then reportedly cost bookies around £2 million in 2014. Other tomes include “Against the Odds: A Comprehensive Guide to Betting on Horseracing”, or “The Definitive Guide to Betting on Horses”. Of course for most of us mere mortals, betting is likely to be a far less lucrative business, and far more likely to be a true gamble, one based on liking the colour of the horse, the silks or simply being amused by a name. Most of us, too, will be having rather too much fun with friends on a day at the point-to-point to spend serious time selecting likely winners. 

Colour coding
You could, for example, place all your bets on the horses with the longest odds – in all likelihood, you’ll lose every penny, but if just one of those equines takes it home, you’ll cover your day’s expenses. Certainly, if you’re not in the know, far more fun not to bet on the favourite. Some simply bet on whatever the person in front of you in the queue does, then at least you’ll have someone else to blame. You could of course assign a number to each horse and roll a dice, or simply pick the name out of a hat. Why not, indeed, put the names on a darts board, and pick them by throwing for the horse you’ll bet on? 

Another trick is to spy on the owners’ having their picnics… perhaps you could place your bet based on whether they’re the pork pie and beer type or the Champagne and salmon type… or choose according to what the owners are wearing, in which case you’ll probably want to go for those wearing sensible tweed skirts and unbranded wellies, rather than the Spanish leather boot and trilby types. Equally, perhaps the horse that is the best turned out is likely to win no other prize on the day, while the one that looks like a shaggy pony dragged from the field that morning has nothing to prove?

Saki’s story does perhaps hold the key. After endless secret scheming – for Lady Susan disapproves of betting - and attempts to talk to the stable boys, who might have insider information, no-one wins, except Lady Susan, who has placed a bet for the first time in her life, and did so purely on the name of the horse…