Hows this for Jackpot Tipping

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Ex Duffs Turf Guide 1968

Colins,with this good supply of Duff's guides,I assume you were a race fan back in those days.
At my first job,my divisional boss used to,as a sideline, write the lead article every week for the only other dedicated racing publication of the day.....Mac's Sporting Weekly.
One of my duties as the new poep was to deliver the envelope to the printers every week!

Some very good mates of mine Phillip Goldkorn,Tony Dumas and Selwyn(surname escapes me) later started SA Racing Mirror with the COLOUR photoform....Do you have any of those ...........they eventually sold to Computaform (as did Duffs I think).

Mercury and Daily News also had extensive racing coverage in those days!

Yes Rob - a victim from about 16 when I first subscribed to Duffs - used some good educational time at school to study form. Then my sister went and married a top trainers brother (DLP) and that cemented the passion - still hooked today. Joined Royal Durban on moving to Durban and was fortunate to meet Ernie Duffield who was a long standing member at Royal then - what a character and larger than life gentleman. Was very fortunate to see many greats racing in SA - those that stand out for me are Sea Cottage, In Full Flight, Sentinel, Yataghan, Elevation etc. I still visit Royal regularly but do not knock around the little white ball any longer - even though the guys there keep on trying to get me back on the course.

Did you emigrate?

No colins,moved to Jhb temporarily 30 years ago,and still here.I was also a member at Royal (my one claim to fame was beating Derek James in the Quarters of the Coronation Cup(1981)-......... but he did have to give me 13 shots .....lol) I am now a country member of Southbroom and still good mates with him!

2 of my biggest wins ever were In Full Flight in the July(I backed him in most of his wins as I rate him the best I ever saw until Horse Chestnut) and co-incidentally Caption in the Bull Brand( the short story: saw him run 2nd in the Bull Brand Trial "no good" to Archangel,but he was a reserve runner ..........got in a few days later and I rushed up Field St and got 50/1 and 12,5/1 a place..........won over 10 times my monthly salary !!!! changed my life for a while............lol

Do you remember Otto Alamandries from Royal...........the MOST addicted punter I have ever met...........he literally lost millions in those days.

In Full Flight....the best horse ever.....If I remember correctly....he won at any course over any distance....pity we could never have any of his progeny.....I can only wonder....
colins...(tu)

Pirhobeta Wrote:

---

> In Full Flight....the best horse ever.....If I
> remember correctly....he won at any course over
> any distance....pity we could never have any of
> his progeny.....I can only wonder....
> colins...(tu)


Imagine how good he must have been as Sentinel and Elevation never beat him(Sentinel got one dead heat) beat them both at level weights in the Bull Brand by over 5 lengths !!!
I'm not so sure his breeding was Sire material ...........he was an absolute freak but his breeding - New South Wales--First Swallow - was not unusually fashionable..............that was why he was so cheap.

Amazing legend, was Mr.Ernie Duffield. How did he manage to put it all together is mind-boggling!!!

Put ALL the present day commentators together and they will not be able to achieve what Ernie did all those years ago without the hi-tech today.

He even found time to write a book " Through my Binoculars ", what a great character of the turf.

mikesack Wrote:

---

> Amazing legend, was Mr.Ernie Duffield. How did he
> manage to put it all together is mind-boggling!!!
>
> Put ALL the present day commentators together and
> they will not be able to achieve what Ernie did
> all those years ago without the hi-tech today.
>
> He even found time to write a book " Through my
> Binoculars ", what a great character of the turf.

what I really enjoyed about him...was his tone of voice.....nothing better than a jockey commentating....(tu)

In the days of transistor radios, no TV, Ernie's voice was booming all over on the first Saturday of July and boy could he rattle them home!!!

' and awaay they go ' (tu)

Very interesting link

app.sliderocket.com/app/FullPlayer.aspx?...5C-F010-0C7B79C40F8F

Well said Chrism - I think that your comment is so apt!!! what a great commentator.

Hope you guys enjoy this reminiscing - I certainly do.

I have the book Through My Binoculars which I think I will pass on to Robyn Louw so that she may be able to write some tales from the book.

I missed a couple of really good horses in my earlier posts - Sledgehammer, Gatecrasher and all the rest that came later.

Otto Halamandres was a real victim who lost a small fortune - warned off from the race course - he used to get Gillie (the car park attendant at Royal Durban) to go and place his bets for him. One day I arrived at Royal and he told me that he had just had a very good bet - got 5/2 about a horse that started I think half that price - I asked him if the horse had won - no he said - but he really got a good price - he was happy to lose as long as he got VALUE !!!

Not sure if you guys remember the old time big punters - as Rob said - Ronnie Skjold-Hamer ( big time Brian Cunningham punter), Bob Stevenson (the biggest punter that I have ever seen) Johnny Phitides (I think that is how it is spelt) who had some really big punts on a horse by the name of Swan River (not sure if he had an interest in the horse or what the connection was) then after that it was the Bag Boys and then not not much after that. When I was bookmaking the best I came across was a gent by the name of Adonis - top class - he could find them at all prices - one day won about R 250 K in 4 races.

Rob - I will pm you on a few things from Royal.