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Anyone even half way familiar with the racing calendar will surely recognise that we have some exciting months of racing ahead of us. With Royal Ascot in June (18^th – 22nd) and the Aintree Grand National on 13th April it’s good of Betway (in the video above) to remind us that as soon as March we have the one and only four day festival of racing that is Cheltenham to look forward to. It won’t be long until the Cheltenham Roar echoes out and the unmissable feast of racing action begins.

And what exciting races the four days will bring. With the Champion Hurdle (after winning the event last year a 1/3 Constitution Hill looks hard to stop), Arkle Chase (I like the look of the Barry Connell, trained and owned Marine Nationale – currently Cheltemham festival odds of 5/2 ), and of course the Cheltenham Gold Cup (many see this as a Galopin Des Champs formality, but there are plenty of other contenders), to look forward to over the four days of racing, anyone fancying a bet has no shortage of opportunities to do so.

Of course the beauty of racing is that we all have our own approach to betting, whether largely fun based or more diligent and well argued – and an element of luck can sometimes tip the scales too (hopefully in our favour rather than against). With plenty of free bet offers available from bookmakers in the run up to Cheltenham, I, along with millions others will no doubt be soaking in the action come 12^th March (Champions Day) and enjoying the days that follow.

It’s always insightful reading professional gambler book. True, a lot don’t actually tell you the secret to their success but you can always glean information from within the tall stories and never lose prose. Yes, I’m a little harsh with those words because, in truth, most books detail the bad days too. I guess readers love to hear about the big wins. I have finished reading three class books which detail a trio of contrasting professional gamblers. They are Dave Nevison, Harry Findlay and Patrick Veitch.

They are very different characters and with contrasting personalities.

Let’s take a look at the characteristics of each.

Dave Nevison:

Dave is a very likeable man, with wit and wisdom. However, he learned his trade as a professional gambler very much on course. In fact, it was his friendship with Eddie ‘The Shoe’ Fremantle which changed his approach from outright win bets to looking for value and often betting on a number of horses in the same race. He was a big gambler often investing large sums trying to win the Scoop 6. To my knowledge he bet predominantly horse racing both codes and made a good living often reliant on a big win from the Scoop 6 pool. Dave always comes across as a relaxed character who enjoyed having fun on and off the racecourse. He was also a racehorse owner and made use of this information. In the latter years of his career and the publication of No Easy Money, suggested his fortunes and prowess as a successful gambler had dwindled. This may have led him to working as a racing pundit. His two publications were very well received.

Harry Findlay:

If there is one gambler who lived on his wits it’s Harry Findlay. A whirlwind of a gambler if you have ever seen one who bet large sums of money. A £200,000 bet wasn’t anything to this man. He loves all sports especially greyhounds but there really wasn’t a sport he didn’t have an opinion and put the money down. I really don’t know how he coped with the pressure of such gambles and the roller-coaster ride of highs and lows must have taken its toll on this larger-than-life character. A big man with a bigger personality and stories you really can’t believe (all true). To me, Findlay bet in a half reckless manner, but that’s the way he gambled. The story where he went to a National Hunt meeting as he was feeling bored and started betting small money (for him) and after backing every odds-on loser came home losing £100,000. In truth, this was small change to the man who didn’t just bet on sport but went to the venue to live every moment is a brilliant reminder of a man who literally loves sport and being part of the action. It was a shame how the infamous Rugby World Cup bet knocked the stuffing out of the big man. However, he’s the type of bloke to dust himself down and get back to business. I used you think he was simple an odds-on backer with a big mouth but I warmed to him reading his book. A very good read.

Patrick Veitch:

I would say out of the three professional gamblers that Veitch was the most successful and balanced character. He was most definitely the most astute. He predominantly bet on horse racing and an owner too. Veitch was definitely an introvert rather than the true extrovert seen with Nevison and more so with Findlay. He put down big bets on single and each-way trebles. He had a few big wins on the Scoop 6 too. Veitch started his gambling alongside selling racing tips and his story is interesting. He struggled with a threat to his life which no doubt had a big impact on him but time would see everything came good for the man who gave up a Oxbridge education for a life of gambling. A man of his word, intelligent and had betting, gambling and winning down to a fine art. Very much the most professional of the professional gamblers detailed in this post. It is reputed he won £10M.

This post details how varied gamblers can be in personality and betting approach. There really is no right or wrong to success. There will always be winners and losers. The story behind each gambler is as fascinating as the big wins themselves.

Born in Cape Town, South Africa on May 17, 1954, Michael ‘Muis’ Roberts is, nowadays, a trainer based in Summerveld, KwaZulu-Natal. He retired from the saddle, on medical advice, in May 2002, having injured vertebrae in his neck in a fall at Wolverhampton the previous September.

Nevertheless, Roberts is best remembered, internationally, for his back-to-back victories on Mtoto, trained by Alec Stewart, in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in 1987 and 1988. Indeed, Roberts has no doubt that Mtoto was the best horse he rode. He once said, ‘He [Mtoto] was three to five lengths better than Lando [on whom Roberts won the Japan Cup in 1995] at 2,000 metres, which is the true test of a great horse.’

Roberts won the South African Flat Jockeys’ Championship 11 times, on the first occasion while still an apprentice, but, having moved to Britain in 1986, described Mtoto winning the Eclipse as the ‘turning point’ in his career. In 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991, he rode 122, 107, 128 and 118 winners, respectively, but, in 1992, took a retainer for Sheikh Mohammed, in the days before Godolphin. That season, Roberts rode 206 winners from 1,086 rides, at the healthy 19% strike rate – the highest of his career on British soil – to win the British Flat Jockeys’ Championship for the one and only time.

In so doing, Roberts became just the sixth ‘foreign’ jockey to win the title and just the fifth jockey in history – after after Fred Archer, Tommy Loates, Sir Gordon Richards and Pat Eddery – to ride 200 winners or more in a single British Flat season. Seasonal highlight included winning the Nunthorpe Stakes at York on Lyric Fantasy, trained by Richard Hannon Snr., and the Fillies’ Mile at Ascot on Ivanka, trained by Clive Brittain.