Category: Horses

In Britain, what qualifies as an ‘exotic’ bet varies slightly from bookmaker to bookmaker but, generally speaking, the term typically applies to a range of Tote bets, above and beyond standard win, place and each-way bets. In short, an exotic bet is a bet on multiple horses in one or more races. In common with all Tote bets, all the money staked on a particular ‘exotic’ market is pooled together and, after deductions, the remaining pool is divided by the number of winning tickets to arrive at a winning dividend.

Thus, after an unlikely result, or series of results, exotic bets can produce huge dividends for a small initial outlay, which increases their attraction. Of course, exotic bets are more difficult to win than standard win, place and each-way, but it is possible to perm multiple horses in a single race, or multiple races, where applicable, to increase the chances of doing so. Another type of bet worthy in mention is in-running, or live bets. Also known as in-play bets, those looking for live betting opportunities want to take advantage of bet odds during a live sporting events.

Single-race exotic bets include the Exacta and Trifecta, which are akin to traditional forecast and tricast bets, and the Swinger, in which the idea is to select two horses to be placed in the first three, in any order, in a race. Multiple-race exotic bets include the Scoop6, Jackpot, Placepot and Quadpot.

The Scoop6 operates only on Friday and Saturday and requires punters to pick the winners of six designated races, with a consolation fund for six placed horses and an additional bonus fund for winners to play for. The Jackpot operates on similar principles, but is a daily pool, with no consolation or bonus funds. The Placepot, too, is a daily pool, which can be won by picking six placed horses in the first six races of a British meeting, while the Quadpot is a consolation pool for punters who are eliminated from the Placepot after the first two legs.

The late Sir Peter O’Sullevan, who died in July, 2015, aged 97, began his career as racing correspondent to the Press Association in 1944. Three years later, he became lead horse racing commentator at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a position he would occupy, among others, until 1997. O’Sullevan was knighted for services to broadcasting in October that year.

All told, the ‘Voice of Racing’, as O’Sullevan became known, commentated on 50 Grand Nationals for BBC radio and television but, with the possible exception of the so-called ‘race that never was’ in 1993, the last of them, in 1997, was arguably the most extraordinary of them all. Originally scheduled for Saturday, April 5, the race was postponed for 48 hours when police received a coded bomb threat, linked to the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

When the so-called ‘Monday National’ did finally take place, Lord Gyllene, trained by Steve Brookshaw and ridden by Tony Dobbin, made all the running to win by 25 lengths. In his unmistakable, velvet tones, O’Sullevan called home the winner thus, ‘…racing towards the Elbow and Lord Gyllene is sprinting away with the 1997, 150th National. A fantastic performance of jumping this by Lord Gyllene; getting a tremendous reception from the crowd. A terrific performance this; Lord Gyllene carries the colours of Stanley Clarke to victory. Lord Gyllene is the winner of the 1997 National…’

While, perhaps, not quite in the same league as the fairytale triumph of Aldaniti and Bob Champion in the 1981 Grand National, the story of Dream Alliance was considered sufficiently uplifting to be made into the documentary ‘Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance’ in 2015 and the feature film ‘Dream Horse’ in 2021.

Around the turn of the twenty-first century, Cefn Fforest barmaid Janet ‘Jan’ Vokes hit upon the unlikely idea of buying a thoroughbred mare with a view to breeding a racehorse. Jan and her husband, Brian, duly acquired the mare Rewbell for the princely sum of £350 and sent her to the unheralded sire Bien Bien, who was standing at Kirlington Stud in Oxfordshire for a stud fee of £3,000. The resulting foal, Dream Alliance, was born and raised on an allotment on a disused coal tip before entering training with Somerset handler Philip Hobbs as a three-year-old.

Vokes recruited a disparate group of 22 local, working-class people – each of whom contributed £10 a week towards training costs – to form the so-called ‘Alliance Partnership’, supervised by local accountant and ‘racing manager’, Howard Davies. The name ‘Dream Alliance’ derived from the fact that, as Vokes put it, ‘We’re all an alliance, and this is our dream.’

The rest, as they say, is history. Dream Alliance won twice over hurdles in 2005/06 and twice over fences in 2006/07. The 2007/08 season started well enough, with a second place finish behind Denman in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury in November but, the following April, Dream Alliance suffered a near-fatal tendon injury. After revolutionary stem cell treatment and an absence of 18 months, he returned to racing and, remarkably, on his second start back, completed his rags-to-riches tale by winning the Welsh National at Chepstow at odds of 20/1.