It was Boxing Day 2006...
...and for the first time in our relationship we were spending Xmas with Mrs NTF's family...
...Boxing Day afternoon was earmarked for a bunch of us to go visit her granny... which naturally was a bit of a concern for me... as
Boxing Day afternoon means only one thing for us racing fans... King George Chase time...
...still I thought it best not to rock the boat... and didn't put up a fight... so to visit granny for Boxing Day grub we went...
...but I REALLY wanted to watch the King George... there was a certain KAUTO STAR having his first crack at the race and I REALLY didn't want to miss the action...
...so I decided to put an early marker down... if this was going to be my new family for the rest of my life they were going have to deal with the fact that when there's a big day of racing on, I'm going to be wanting to watch it!!
...once greetings were out of the way I tentatively floated out that I was really wanting to watch the big horse race of the day... there was this potential superstar running and I've been looking forward to it for weeks... so... you know... if it's not too much bother... do you think I could have the TV on Channel 4 Racing for like 20-minutes...
...to my delight it was an instant... 'absolutely, of course you can, we've been made well aware that you are obsessed with horse racing... so no problem, stick the TV on when you need it'...
... which was quickly followed by... 'actually let's do a sweepie for the race, then we can all watch it and have a bit of fun'... this was Mrs NTF's granny by the way... not me... she was straight in there with the sweepstake idea... and I was all for it... let's pull these
people into my world for a bit I thought...
...she then followed up with... 'there's 9 of us here and you said there's 9 in the race... so let's put in £1 each and the winner keeps it all'...
LOVE IT I thought! This is my type of granny!!
...although then I started thinking... 'hmmm... maybe a bit pointless as Kauto Star is probably going to win this easily... so whoever pulls him out of the hat has almost certainly won before the race has started'...
...and I did float those concerns out to the family... but it was too late... a pen, paper and a hat were thrust my way and I was tasked with getting the sweepie up and running... which I did... the runners written down... folded up... stuck in a hat... which Mrs NTF's granny insisted she give a good mix around so that there was no cheating (from me!!!)... which is a fair point... I had considered it...
there was only one horse winning... and I wanted to be pulling his name out of the damn hat!!
Anyway... granny was onto that plan... so she shuffled things around... and got the process running... everyone put their £1 in and then the picking begun... me
first... and I pulled out...
BALLYCASSIDY!! 100-1 shot!! Jeezy Peeps man!! Game over for me...
The hat went round everyone until there was one left... granny was picking last... guess which horse had still to be picked out of the hat?
Yep... it was only KAUTO STAR!!!
She may as well have picked up the £9 winnings right there!
But she kept level headed and was like... 'well you never know... he might fall or something...' which is true... but I felt that was highly unlikely given the form he'd shown that season... and I also felt that somehow we had all been fleeced by granny!!!
To be fair to Kauto Star he did try and make it exciting for everyone by blundering the last fence... but that £9 sweepie funds were only going one place... in granny's pocket!!
Good fun had by all though... although we've never done a sweepie again... I wasn't the only one who thought granny had well and truly fleeced us!!!
