Place your bets

My son was eighteen today, and he got up bright and early to celebrate by going to the bookies. I'm sure that legions of his Presbyterian ancestors as still spinning in the ground as I write this, but he placed an accumulator bet on several soccer results,saying that horse racing was a mugs game. He then bought himself some beer at the supermarket - happily flashing his ID when he was asked his age.

Sadly his bet came off the wheels early doors, but that didn't stop his old mother/mug picking out the winner of the Grand National! I picked Silver Birch because his form looked good on the type of ground they'd be running on today, and because I wrote a poem recently about silver birch as they are my favourite trees.

I got odds of 40-1, and placed the massive sum of one pound each way. So I won forty odd quid plus my original stake back. (sorry something has eaten my pound sterling sign on my keyboard)

I'm well chuffed, though obviously not setting a very good example to my boy - although this is my once a year bet - honest! I learned about horse racing years ago from a boy friend of my sister's - he was racing correspondent for one of the big nationals and used to come to our home town for race meetings.