Characters galore as tipsters of the past recalled

THE days when racecourse tipsters “graced” our racecourses are long gone. But there will be some race-goers who will remember the likes of Ras Prince Monolulu, Gully Gully, Mike and The Captain – a smartly dressed man who was a regular at Chepstow Racecourse, where he used to give out pencils and little notebooks as a way of drawing attention to himself.

He lived in Cardiff and could often be seen on Saturday nights after the greyhound racing at the Cardiff Arms Park in the Sandringham Hotel in St Mary Street.

Gully Gully always sported a teacher's mortar board and black gown and his cries of "Gully, Gully, Gully” would echo around the racecourse.

His red sunburned face could always be found at Chepstow, Newton Abbot and Devon and Exeter during the summer months.

The most famous of these tipsters was, of course, Ras Prince Monolulu.

He used to wear a headband of dyed ostrich feathers, and one of the lines he used to come out with was: “God made the bees, the bees made the honey.

You have a bet and the bookie takes your money.”

There were other sayings, but they wouldn't bear repeating here.

Mike's favourite trick to gather a crowd around him would be to throw on the ground a huge wad of fivers (the old white ones) held together by an elastic band and invite race-goers to help themselves! Oddly enough they never did.

More than once I was tempted, though!

A tipster of a different sort was the religious gentleman who would attend all the Chepstow race-meetings. With banner held high, he would stand for hour after hour by the numbers' board extolling racegoers to mend their ways and save their souls.

However, unlike the "Can I mark your card, guv?'' brigade, who used to hang around the car and coach parks, his advice came completely free of charge.

Meanwhile, West Wales' Ben Jones, riding for Pembrokeshire's Dai Rees, won the opening Mares' Handicap Hurdle at Worcester recently.

Kiera Royal, at ten the oldest of the six runners, came home six lengths ahead of Makety at odds of 11-2.

Dai, well-known on the Welsh point-to-point circuit, is a likeable chap who always has time to answer one's questions when being interviewed.

Another Welsh jockey to ride a winner at the meeting was Pembrokeshire's James Bowen, who scored on 12-1 chance Renardeau. And like Jones, Bowen learned his trade riding in Welsh point-to-points.

One former Welsh point-to-point rider who has been doing well on the Arabian Horse Racing scene is the Vale of Glamorgan's Steve Blackwell, who has had a couple of places with horses he has bred himself.

Steve, who gave up race riding in 2001, started his racing career by riding a winner on the Flat in the 1970s. He rode a winner over the sticks at Cheltenham, and on one occasion at one of the Welsh border meetings he landed a four- timer.

■ Please email your racing news and views to brianlee4@virginmedia.com or phone 02920 736438.