Newsboy - Daily Mirror
- Thread starter Monty
- Start date
mick
Sire
As you say
M
Monty a fine achievement by the current Newsboy. When i started punting > 50yrs ago the daily newspapers Tipsters where often given star status and the newsboy at that time as i recall real name Bob Butchers was such. I recall a magazine feature with there reporter spending a day with Bob as he explained how he went about finding a selection for every race always working against the strict press deadlines.
One aspect i do recall was that he went through two packs of cigarettes a day which he claimed helped his thought process. My Dad was a loyal Mirror reader and i recall his bemusement when i switched to The Mail because i felt there tipsters and racing coverage where superior but of course The Sporting Life which in those days was a proper punters paper was always Tops.
Things do not always change for the better because back in those days we certainly had proper Bookmakers. !
One aspect i do recall was that he went through two packs of cigarettes a day which he claimed helped his thought process. My Dad was a loyal Mirror reader and i recall his bemusement when i switched to The Mail because i felt there tipsters and racing coverage where superior but of course The Sporting Life which in those days was a proper punters paper was always Tops.
Things do not always change for the better because back in those days we certainly had proper Bookmakers. !
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DuckandDive
Mare
Ah yes, a blast from the past.
Bob only recently passed @ 94 years old! Just goes to show, studying and solving the horse racing puzzle keeps your brain active.
Fond memories of leaning into the Daily Mirror for systems and what have you. Combining elements of Newsboy/Bouverie with Spotform with other data available was good fun.
mick
Sire
DuckandDive cheers for the above some of which i was unaware of. Yes fond memories of those days with my local Corals being like a social club and teeming with " Characters " 
Good to know Bob made it to 94 and perhaps the two packs a day helped.
JennyK
Gelding
"perhaps the two packs a day helped."
Without them, he might have made 100!
Among all the talk about what is, or is not, good for one's health, there is one thing which has strong scientific support, that there is nothing that the ordinary person may do that is more harmful to their health, and more likely to lead to earlier death, than smoking.
Without them, he might have made 100!
Among all the talk about what is, or is not, good for one's health, there is one thing which has strong scientific support, that there is nothing that the ordinary person may do that is more harmful to their health, and more likely to lead to earlier death, than smoking.
pete
Sire
Newsboy's tips were the obsession of my grandfather ... everything he ever bet on has to be tipped by newsboy
I remember one of my aunts getting married in the early 80's .. posh place, big house out in the middle of nowhere.
He ended up not being able to get his bet on that day. It's the only thing he talked about all day long .. to anyone that would listen.
When he found out the next dayvthat newsboy's nap had won at 6/1 and that he wasn't on it. He was devastated. . Never did let his new son inlaw forget it.
Called him all sorts whenever he would come round to house for many many years ... never did let it go ... was even the main talking point of every bloke at his funeral when he did eventually pass.
Thanks for the blast from the past. Am now wearing a smile and getting ready to start my day.
I remember one of my aunts getting married in the early 80's .. posh place, big house out in the middle of nowhere.
He ended up not being able to get his bet on that day. It's the only thing he talked about all day long .. to anyone that would listen.
When he found out the next dayvthat newsboy's nap had won at 6/1 and that he wasn't on it. He was devastated. . Never did let his new son inlaw forget it.
Called him all sorts whenever he would come round to house for many many years ... never did let it go ... was even the main talking point of every bloke at his funeral when he did eventually pass.
Thanks for the blast from the past. Am now wearing a smile and getting ready to start my day.
Pingman
Colt
The leverage system, the Barlow rating system, contest 1 now the mail has stopped, there are so many
DuckandDive
Mare
A few I should imagine.
The EW prefix reminded me of a time when I was managing a betting office in the South West (Vickers). A customer copped a Lucky 15 (20p Win) with bonuses which came to £3500+. I used to put up both Daily Mirror and Daily Mail racing pages along with all the other stuff each day. The relief manager was also in the shop and went over to the display and came back with the new found knowledge that the four winners were all EW and Spotform combined.
He came in to collect in cash the next day, (none of this affordability bollox) and duly placed another bunch of Lucky 15's, and lo and behold, he has 3 winners all running on to a 10/1 poke that just got nabbed on the line. It would of yielded another £3k+ for sure, and yes they were all EW + Spotform combined.
I tried to check the reasoning behind these EW selection. There seemed to be a correlation with course trainer form that had a summary available to check %...etc No reason why they shouldn't be viable today in some shape or form.
One I remember that had a good run, was Newsboy+Bouverie+Spotform when the betting forecast was 3/1+. Not many qualifiers but there was some logic behind it.
There was also a book published over 10 years ago - Better Betting (Chris Forwood) ISBN 978-1-907324-09-3 that covered a process of using the Daily Mirror data.
All the papers had their own ratings and spotform and computerman in the express and the 78 ratings in the mail and the star also had there own.
if you look now they are completely different now, all the papers carry the same generic ratings probably from the press association and don’t have any in house compilers, the racing offering in the papers is cack compared to what we had 20 years ago just like everything else in the world.
gerry
Mare
I picked out my grand national bet on the wednesday from the sporting chronicle and i scored them out one by one as i picked through them i still remember it as clear as day asking my dad can i score these horses out as i go he said carry on son.
So sat there scoring them out as i went along and was finally left with 5 horses so i said i will leave it at that and look tomorrow and study form of these 5 see what one to bet.
He asked me do i want to half with him on littlewoods coupon first 4 in national he said you pick three and i will pick three, I said but i still have 5 and not sure what two to leave out well he said go with them then and i will pick one we will cross six , much is that i said he said 15 quid.
What that's too much don't forget i only made about 25 quid then.
There was no winners on littlewoods it would have paid 100grand and you guessed it by now my 5 horses where first second third fourth oh and fifth unreal could not write it oh wait i just have.
Was gutted and as you see still go on about it only saving grace was i bet winner so finally did analyse more to get right one good old RUBSTICK beat ZONGALERO in photo.
So sat there scoring them out as i went along and was finally left with 5 horses so i said i will leave it at that and look tomorrow and study form of these 5 see what one to bet.
He asked me do i want to half with him on littlewoods coupon first 4 in national he said you pick three and i will pick three, I said but i still have 5 and not sure what two to leave out well he said go with them then and i will pick one we will cross six , much is that i said he said 15 quid.
What that's too much don't forget i only made about 25 quid then.
There was no winners on littlewoods it would have paid 100grand and you guessed it by now my 5 horses where first second third fourth oh and fifth unreal could not write it oh wait i just have.
Was gutted and as you see still go on about it only saving grace was i bet winner so finally did analyse more to get right one good old RUBSTICK beat ZONGALERO in photo.
Couldn’t agree more, Outlander, about the quality of newspapers we had back in the day.
Sporting Chronicle had Split Second and a source of big priced winners, Kettledrum. Sporting Life with ratings from Dick Whitford, Phil Bull’s right hand man.
Every Saturday I used to trot down to the newsagents and pick up both the Chron and the Life and spend the morning studying the form before tuning into John Rickman on ITV or Peter O’Sullivan on the BBC. We seem to have more sophistication in the form angles today, certainly not in the presentation on the TV channels which make me cringe and reach for the mute button. Then, after racing, back to the Chron and Life to work out where I went wrong and a glance at Dad’s Daily Mirror to see that the SF and F selections had gone through the card at decent prices. Happy days. They’ll never come back, unfortunately, but I loved them when I lived them.
Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.
Sporting Chronicle had Split Second and a source of big priced winners, Kettledrum. Sporting Life with ratings from Dick Whitford, Phil Bull’s right hand man.
Every Saturday I used to trot down to the newsagents and pick up both the Chron and the Life and spend the morning studying the form before tuning into John Rickman on ITV or Peter O’Sullivan on the BBC. We seem to have more sophistication in the form angles today, certainly not in the presentation on the TV channels which make me cringe and reach for the mute button. Then, after racing, back to the Chron and Life to work out where I went wrong and a glance at Dad’s Daily Mirror to see that the SF and F selections had gone through the card at decent prices. Happy days. They’ll never come back, unfortunately, but I loved them when I lived them.
Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.
ARAZI91
Mare
There was also a book before that "Better Betting" - called "Winning Ways" 1976 - Sceptre Hodden & Stroughton
Newsboy(Bob) , Templegate and John Forrest (Sunday Express) were all involved
Still have a copy (as i do with the majority of betting, gambling & horseracing books) and can post it up if anybody want's a look - it is terribly dated
but so are most handicapping/betting type bookslast decent one was Mike Maloney's - Betting With An Edge
Amazon.com
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DuckandDive
Mare
Worth a perusal if you have the time.
ARAXI91, Never liked Bull, whenever I saw him on course or on TV. He always struck me as a deeply unpleasant man. I'm not surprised with your revelation of him there regarding Dick Whitford who was a very quiet academic type. Always enjoyed his Annual Rating Books which I bought whenever they came out. Never made anything out of them, mind you.
ARAZI91
Mare
ARAZI91
Mare
M
Monty - been called many things and generally thick skinned but ARAXI sounds like some low strength supermarket cream used to treat a very bad skin condition
already it is making me itchy
the "handle" comes from here as does the year (not when i was born btw)
bear in mind that you may need to pick your jaw up off the floor after watching
always loved the Yanks getting trounced in their own back yard but it's the revelation in their voices that they could have been watching the next Secretariat and that he may be European lol
unfortunately a very bad injury scuppered that
already it is making me itchy
the "handle" comes from here as does the year (not when i was born btw
)bear in mind that you may need to pick your jaw up off the floor after watching
always loved the Yanks getting trounced in their own back yard but it's the revelation in their voices that they could have been watching the next Secretariat and that he may be European lol
unfortunately a very bad injury scuppered that
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