Twenty four Wakefield MAG members, family and friends met at Kinsley Greyhound track for our 3rd 'Wakefield MAG goes to the dogs' social event. We were there early to reserve our tables, those there even earlier had sloped off to the nearby pub for a quick pint (at a slightly more reasonable price than the dog track).
Once we were all settled inside it was off to the drinks bar, off to the food bar, and off to the bookies to place the bets on the evenings 14 races. Some of us tried to study past form to make an assessment of likely future performance, others bet on the same numbered dog in every race, whilst others just randomly picked a number for each race (or a combination of all 3 tactics). No matter what we did though, no one seemed to be luckier than anyone else. Even Eddie's friend (a self-proclaimed semi-professional gambler), just about broke even - says it all really, it's all down to pot luck !!!!!.
The cheering of the races got more vocal as the evening wore on (no correlation to the volume of beer consumed, obviously). Martin was on for a dead cert win, until one of the dogs employed a deliberate blocking tactic by running straight in front of his dog, scuppering his win. The calls for a penalty or black flagging fell on deaf ears from the race organisers !!!
The great thing about the dog racing is how cheap it all is. The £12 entry bought us a meal, a free drink, a £1 Tote bet and 2 entries to the Jackpot accumulator (which none of us got even remotely close to this year). The bets are cheap so even if you lose them all, the cost is comparable to an evening around town. Most of us just about broke even, made a modest profit or a small loss. Pete came out best, being about 20 quid up at the end of the night.
We all had a try at the final races jackpot bet (guess all 6 dogs in the exact order of finishing), with the promise that whoever won, we would share the £250 jackpot equally. "A waste of money" cried Eddie's friend, "the odds are all against you". "We don't care" we all chanted back, "it's a quid for a bit of fun". Needless to say, we didn't win, it was a waste of money, but it was a lot of fun !!!!!
A great evening, hugely enjoyed by all, and we are planning a return visit later in the year.