Event Reports

Wakefield MAG Goes to the Dogs IV - Friday 24th March 2015

Twenty five Wakefield MAG members, family and friends met at Kinsley Greyhound track for our 4th 'Wakefield MAG goes to the dogs' social event. This was our first visit for three years and to say we were all a little bit giddy is an understatement.

Having Fun

We had five reserved tables, and once we were all settled inside it was off to the drinks bar (£4 a pint ... Ouch !!), off to the food bar (good selection and good quality too), and off to the bookies to place the bets on the evenings 13 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.

The great thing about the dog racing is how cheap it all is. The £12 entry bought us a programme, 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.

Not winning much :-(

The cheering of the races got more vocal as the evening wore on (no correlation to the volume of beer consumed, obviously). Most of us just about broke even, made a modest profit or a small loss. For Mark, Martin, Chas and John though, they all lost every single race. Lorna and Becky came out best, being about 20 quid up at the end of the night, with Lorna even winning £66 on a reverse forecast bet.

Sharon and Terry's table

Sharon and Terry's table had a novel approach to the process .. they all placed the same number and value of bets, and any winnings were pooled into the table, to be shared out at the end of the night. This tactic won them £56.96, shared between 8, so £7.12 each, so no better or worse than most people managed by themsleves.

Chas, our relentless fund raiser and never one to miss a raffle opportunity, ran a raffle to win £12 (the entry fee). This netted £15 towards the branch funds, and provided a free night for the lucky winner.

Dogs Racing

All in all, a great night out with our Wakefield MAG family. Gambling ... pah ... it's a mugs game ... but it was still an hilarious night. Some quotes posted on Facebook the following day:

Will we go again ..... absobloodylutely !!!!