‘The Dodger’ lives on in legend as a much-loved pro punter
Having reported on the horseracing scene for more than half a century, I have met and interviewed many racing personalities, be they rogues such as the late John Bowles – who was warned off the turf for a ringer scandal that shocked the racing world back in 1978 – or the legendary flat-racing jockey Sir Gordon Richards, the first jockey to be knighted.
And on another occasion I interviewed Princess Anne after her horse had won a point-to-point at the Golden Valley Hunt races in 2009. I have even interviewed a countess whose name escapes me, but whose horse was a winner at Bonvilston in the Vale of Glamorgan some years ago.
One racing character I struck up a friendship with around 30 years or so ago now was Simon McCartney, affectionately known at National Hunt racecourses up and down the country as “The Dodger”. Simon was perhaps one of half-dozen or so racegoers known as professional punters and it was a sad day when he died aged 69 following a road accident when travelling from Stratford
races in the July of 2002.
Simon, who had been battling throat cancer before he died, had told me that he had inherited his love of horse-racing – well, jumps racing as he didn’t like the flat game – from his father, who was a streetcorner bookmaker before the days when betting shops were legalised.
This was back in the days when one would write out a bet on the back of a cigarette packet or a scrap of paper and put down a non de plume should you have any winnings to come back. You couldn’t put your name on the betting slip because if the police nabbed the bookie, they would know who struck the bet.
Simon went racing every day and there wasn’t a National Hunt track in the country that he hadn’t visited.
He was just 16 when he went racing for the first time and he had told me that his favourite racecourse was Hereford because of its friendly atmosphere.
London-born Simon used to drive around 1,000 miles a week to get to the races and he was tagged “The Dodger” because of the way he used to dodge through the race crowds to get to the bookmakers before they had the chance to rub off the odds he was after from their boards.
He told me that he never backed his horses each way and that he would rather back two horses in the same race if the odds were to his liking. Although he was as cool as the proverbial cucumber when it came to putting his money down, he believed in giving his horse and jockey every encouragement when they jumped the last fence or hurdle in front. And his roar of “come on, my son’’ was heard at racecourses throughout the land.
Simon was well-respected by owners, trainers and jockeys because he never asked them if their horses had a chance. In fact, sometimes they would ask him what he thought about their horses’ chances!
Simon was often interviewed on television and he has been written about in a number of horse-racing books.
Some years ago now, when I informed the famed Sporting Life racing correspondent Jack Logan, alias Sir David Llewellyn, that Hereford had been the Dodger’s favourite racecourse, he said that they should have named a race there in his memory. Sadly, as far as I am aware, they never did.
■ One-Day Event
Meanwhile,the Llangeinor Pentyrch Hunt are holding a one-day event of three elements – dressage, show-jumping and cross-country – on Sunday, September 15, 2019 at Ty Wrth Coed, Merthyr Mawr, near Bridgend. The event is being aimed at all abilities, with three classes – one with fences at a maximum of 70cm, then a 80cm class and finally a 90cm class for the more experienced competitors.
This will be the first time the hunt has staged this kind of event and they have already received sponsorship from a number of local businesses, notably Watts & Morgan, Cotts Equine Veterinary Practice and Premier Forest Products. There are classes for all capabilities and apparently generous prize money on offer. ■ Brian’s Blast from the Past
In the Western Mail dated May 26, 1987 under the heading “Sweet Diana lands prize”, I reported:
“Clifford Dawson’s eight-year-old mare Sweet Diana made every yard of the running to land the RMC Group Ladies Championship at Chepstow. Sweet Diana, who was enterprisingly ridden by 28-year-old Jill Grinyer, came home 20 lengths clear of Majetta Crescent, ridden by Carol Lee. Mrs Lee was given the horse last year as a present from Cardiff saddler John Ayres. Seventeenyear-old Pip Jones from Caerphilly, riding John Parfitt’s Eggington, was challenging Majetta Crescent for second place when falling at the last fence, leaving Aqua Verde to claim third spot.”
For the record, the Landrover Gentleman’s Championship was won by 29-year-old farm worker Philip Schofield on Ken Dunn’s Cal Mal.