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The Ultimate Wheil of Fortune - "From Start to Finish", "Entering the Straight"

In the 3.45 Ayr I have a slight interest in Jordan Electrics who has a few positives but also a couple of negatives. On Betfair and on the Post website, when I looked, only 2 horses were at a bigger price so it definitely does not comply with VDW,s “1st 6 in the forecast” guidance and it is a 7yo which some might see as a negative.

It seem's to love Ayr,so I'm hoping its last 2 runs were to get it right for this, although it does have an entry in The Stewards Cup.
 
Tue 18th Bev 4.20 : Hot Scoop @ 14/1

A 5 fur 0-55 with 13 run three are OH. Hot has the looks of a forlorn hoper and this may prove so here but he shows top off my numbers at +1 and there is a case of sorts to be made. I do feel he will win a race this season but his S/r is so poor that its prob best to wait until as much as possible shows in his favor and in this respect i was put off from the get go when learning that he will exit from the 10 stall. However the going is Soft G-S in places and checking the stats with this included does show his draw in a more positive light and the race was won from the 10 box in 2018.

He has won on G-S and has close placed form on Soft and Heavy so i do not feel the going will prevent. He ran in this race last season and fin 11th of 12 with RI saying " led at fast pce: pushed along over 2f out: rdn and hdd over 1f out: sn wknd " he wore TT + BL ( 0-8 ) and this time has TT + Visor which was the combo deployed for his previous Hcap win. His only other run over CD resulted in a hd 2nd giving a gross 8lbs to the 13/8 fav winner, and he contests this lower grade 0-55 off a net 8lbs lower mark.

Hot has won over 6 fur which might prove helpful here in view of the testing ask and his recent dire form is same as prior to his win last season. I have no problem with the 3lb claimer on top as he has won on Hot and rode winners at Bev. The animal clearly has attitude issues and the real gamble might be his mind set when the traps open, but in a race where i can find no other of betting interest a better than expected price might tempt me into taking a Dog and Day outlook...........B365 have opened at 14/1 and this suits.
 
G Garry

Gordon Robert Michael Hall was born on 24/01/31 at 28 Derwent Street, Lincoln, to Annie Hall. She was born on 09/02/10 in Skegness, parents William and Ethel Hall.

When Gordon Hall first married (03/0/52) he did so from 31 Jermyn Street, Leicester.

When he married for the second time (21/08/76) he did so from 18 Derwent Street, Lincoln.

His mother died at 18 Derwent Street, Lincoln, at which time Gordon Hall and his second wife were livIng at 27 Cromwell Crescent, Market Harborough.

It is reasonable to assume that Gordon Hall visited his mother, so would have had no problem writing to the Sporting Chronicle Handicap Book from Lincoln

Apart from when hospitalised for, I think, quite some while in the Autumn on 2010, the evidence I have is that Gordon Hall lived at 27 Cromwell Street until sadly his condition deteriorated to the extent that he had to move to the care home where he died.

I have no information about Annie Hall's sisters.
 
For what its worth i thought justcallmepete was in with big shout today as is deff improving and micks right the last run was possibly its best so why the ground worry.
That run was in a series qualifier at windsor and guess what it is down to run in the same series qualifier on monday at windsor again, It didnt have best draw that day and one to watch for on monday possibly.
Just thought better bring this back up as see its been heavely gambled tonight.
 
It would please me to know that Tony Peach was not aware of these false identity letters at the time and i hope this was so. I lost track of all matters VDW and did not learn about the former until joining this forum 10yrs ago.
I suppose we will never know all the ins and outs mick mick strange things happen when cash is involved working at many large companies sure opened my eyes to what can go on at times.
 
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I bought it when it was first published and while its worth the read its more a case of i did than how to. I would have preferred a little more meat on the bones Re how he arrived at his selections. There is a more recent Simon Nott - Star Sports interview where he relates that the treatment he received from the likes of Ladbrokes now gets pay back via the back door and this i was pleased to learn. :)

I did it the other way around. I saw the Star Sports interview on YouTube and the subsequent Q&As. That's what made me buy the book.
 
mick mick

I don't think there is any reason to suppose he did.

The first VDW letter was printed in the SCHB of 02/02/78 (item 2 of "The Golden Years..."), and the first G Hall letter a fortnight later, as a response (item 4). Then VDW's letter re staking plans (item 7) and the first substantial VDW letter in the 06/04/78 SCHB, the Erin one, (item 8).

Then a second one, including the "29 from 32" claim, in the 01/06/78 SCHB (item 13).

"The Golden Years ..." includes no letters in the next few months in response to that claim, though there might have been some that Mr Peach did not include and maybe in the Gummy material there is a post that will show there was. My bet, though, is that there were none and that frustrated VDW.

Hence not another VDW letter but an apparent third-party endorsement of the potential of "his system." (Letter from Hall in the 11/01/79 SCHB, (item 14). That was, we can now deduce, to try to stimulate discussion and designed so that VDW could reply (SCHB of 08/03/79, item 15).

This time VDW got the attention he was seeking with, we assume, replies from the likes of JP Hollis, A Duncan and F Chester and the long series of letters and replies got under way.

I can't see any reason why Mr Peach would have suspected Hall and VDW were one and the same then, and subject to checking I think there were no more letters from Hall as Hall. He had achieved his intention, becoming a focus of interest in the SCHB.

Why did he want that, given as far as I know he never tried to capitalise on it, for example by advertising tips or methods for sale, as one of his followers, Jock Bingham, did later? The most likely explanation, I think, is that he was interested in horse racing, had some genuinely interesting things to say and wanted to an extent to step out of the anonymity of an everyday sort of life in a respectable but perfectly ordinary job, living in a respectable but perfectly ordinary home in Market Harborough. Given his interest in racing, gaining some attention though the letter pages of the SCHB was his way of doing it. And given that here we are, discussing him and his letters and articles forty plus years later, means that if that was his aim he succeeded beyond anything he could have imagined.

I've met several people over the years who have had seemingly ordinary lives and ordinary jobs, who got the most satisfaction from what they did outside their 9-5 work; in amateur dramatics, abridging books for the BBC and becoming the acknowledged expert in a tiny corner of philately. Plus I've no doubt there are countless folk who get through the week at work thinking mostly about the cricket, football, golf or whatever they are looking forward to at the weekend. Come to that, it is why I am currently halfway through the seventh book in in a series about the fictional lives of a couple of secondary school teachers, maybe hoping that one day Steven Spielberg's office will get in touch to buy the film rights!
 
G Garry

Gordon Robert Michael Hall was born on 24/01/31 at 28 Derwent Street, Lincoln, to Annie Hall. She was born on 09/02/10 in Skegness, parents William and Ethel Hall.

When Gordon Hall first married (03/0/52) he did so from 31 Jermyn Street, Leicester.

When he married for the second time (21/08/76) he did so from 18 Derwent Street, Lincoln.

His mother died at 18 Derwent Street, Lincoln, at which time Gordon Hall and his second wife were livIng at 27 Cromwell Crescent, Market Harborough.

It is reasonable to assume that Gordon Hall visited his mother, so would have had no problem writing to the Sporting Chronicle Handicap Book from Lincoln

Apart from when hospitalised for, I think, quite some while in the Autumn on 2010, the evidence I have is that Gordon Hall lived at 27 Cromwell Street until sadly his condition deteriorated to the extent that he had to move to the care home where he died.

I have no information about Annie Hall's sisters.

I wonder whether they'll put up a blue plaque on each of these properties.

You're a mine of information JennyK JennyK

:)
 
Not really VDW, and certainly not hidden form, but I've had a little bet on Aghadowey (7.20 Killarney).

Impressive debut as she had to get herself out of a pocket before rocketing home to split two rising stars in Warm Heart and Shamida.

I can't understand why she's not odds on. Maybe I will after the race!
 
G Garry

Gordon Robert Michael Hall was born on 24/01/31 at 28 Derwent Street, Lincoln, to Annie Hall. She was born on 09/02/10 in Skegness, parents William and Ethel Hall.

When Gordon Hall first married (03/0/52) he did so from 31 Jermyn Street, Leicester.

When he married for the second time (21/08/76) he did so from 18 Derwent Street, Lincoln.

His mother died at 18 Derwent Street, Lincoln, at which time Gordon Hall and his second wife were livIng at 27 Cromwell Crescent, Market Harborough.

It is reasonable to assume that Gordon Hall visited his mother, so would have had no problem writing to the Sporting Chronicle Handicap Book from Lincoln

Apart from when hospitalised for, I think, quite some while in the Autumn on 2010, the evidence I have is that Gordon Hall lived at 27 Cromwell Street until sadly his condition deteriorated to the extent that he had to move to the care home where he died.

I have no information about Annie Hall's sisters.
Annie Hall was living with her elder sister Dorothy Ward at 28 Derwent Street when giving birth to Gordon.
Annie was gifted the boarding house she worked at for many years, 398 Newark Road, it was left to her.
When she retired she moved back to Derwent Street, where two sisters lived, Dorothy and Joan. Dorothy died a few years later.
Annie died in 1989 and was not found for a few weeks, they could not determine the death because of decomposition.
Gordon’s second wife Brenda worked for his mother at the B&B.
Gordon signed his life over to his local lawyer in 2010, he was cared for at his home for most of that time, until just before his death, where he was taken to the care home, because he needed round the clock care, his carers only visited him at home.
Grandfather William Curtis Lincoln Hall, was the first person to have a taxi in Skegness.
 
I know i am a skeptic but maybe he had all this booklet writing in mind right from the start, because the time he wrote up with his second ID was the same time as another booklet was about to be published so someone mentioned, i dont know myself because i never purchased any of them and the plot goes on.
 
DuckandDive DuckandDive

Sorry, I can't help you there. With any VDW selection there is some positive to be found, in RB's case running well from a long way out of the handicap, but as far as I can remember he was the only horse without a win among his selections.

Thanks anyway.

If someone didn't know anything about VDW and was curious to learn, the information on this thread is more helpful going forward.
 
JennyK JennyK or anyone, in the passage below, (taken from the old GOGT RF thread) Rivage Bleu was a maiden but was a VDW selection. Just interested to know why there was a deviation from assessing winning form.
DuckandDive DuckandDive

From memory, the best I can come up with is that Rivage Bleu was one of 6 horses identified by using yet another field narrowing method called the Best Bet / Next Best Bet method.

I can't recall where this method was mentioned (in which booklet) but it was one of the last set of selections outlined by VDW.

I think the other 5 horses were Travado, Arthur's Minstrel, Ever Smile, Valiant Warrior and Killeshin.

From what I can remember it was another "tipster" based selection method - but I stand to be corrected about that, as I'm just going from very creaky memory.

Rivage Bleu's and Travado's races took place on 21.11.1995.
Arthur's Minstrel's and Ever Smile's races took place on 16.02.1996
Valiant Warrior's and Killeshin's races took place on 17.02.1996.

Rivage Bleu's race was a Novice's Handicap Chase at Cheltenham - it is correct that Rivage Bleu did not have any winning form.

Hope this helps.
 
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