No wonder punters so often feel like mugs

THE official Newcastle United social media channels announced on Wednesday that they “have partnered with Saudi Arabia’s national carrier Saudi Airlines as the club prepares for a warm weather training camp in Riyadh this December.”

Who would have thought it? But Newcastle United is not Saudi state-owned, of course not.

A BIT niche this but there was a horse named Braganza Boy entered for a handicap hurdle race at Hereford earlier this week.

In his 12 previous starts, Braganza Boy had never won, had completed the course on nine occasions, been beaten a total of 200 lengths, and had last been seen as a 34-length ninth in a minor event at Stratford.

Such was his form, his opening odds of 14-1 for the Hereford race seemed very miserly.

But the five-year-old, trained by Henry Daly, was then backed almost as though he could not be beaten.

He went off at odds of 9-4 and duly won.

It’s called an old-fashioned gamble and it’s always nice to see the bookies getting a bit of a pasting. Maybe those who backed Braganza Boy with such gusto could have been people who had been ‘in the know’ or maybe it’s just that every horse, like a dog, has its day.

No wonder the everyday punter trying to study form often ends up feeling like a mug.