Back a winner? You bet I did

I KNOW as much about horse racing as I do about sound money management — zip.

Funny, as ’zip’ is usually something the horses I back never do.

But you can’t keep a good mug punter down.

And you can be sure I’ll be popping into my local TAB ahead of Wednesday’s Geelong Cup as I look to shore up my family’s financial future on the back of whatever horse has the punniest name. I’m sure I’ll regret it after. I always do. But while my punting history is rich in regret, horse racing has also provided me with one of the greatest experiences of my life — owning a racehorse.

He was a magnificent beast, at least I think he was a he.

That’s how little I knew when I gambled on racehorse ownership. Well, part ownership. A very small part, to be perfectly honest.

But I was assured it was a wise investment.

This horse, I was told, was a big city champion with a stack of wins to his name.

Maybe a little past his peak, but a champion nevertheless and certainly good enough to dominate the track in the country town in which I was living at the time. But that didn’t exactly turn out to be the case. The old boy huffed and puffed his way into third every now and then. He even got us to our feet with a handful of second placings. But that win I was promised on purchase proved more elusive as time went by. After a couple of years I’d almost given up hope. By this time the horse was entering his geriatric years and looked about done to me. Now, there’s some truly inspirational horse racing stories out there — Sea Biscuit still brings a tear to my eye.

But none compare to my horse giving everything he had in one final push to make good on that promise of a win.

Sure, we had to take him out to an even smaller country town to get it, but it didn’t detract from the joy I felt watching him salute that day.

Not for me, not for the glory, not even for the prizemoney, but for him.

I just wanted that beautiful brown ageing equine to cap off his career in style before retiring to play polocross.

I never did see any returns on the money I spent joining that syndicate. But I don’t regret it. It was great ride and is still one of the best investments I’ve ever made. Sound money management? Yet bet it was.