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I always feel like having a ‘cheeky bet’ as we might say is frowned upon a little more than it used to be. More and more often it seems like whatever anyone is doing there is the wag of a finger from someone or other in close vicinity. It’s a shame really as many of my fondest memories involve having a flutter on the races or heading to a local casino with my brothers and cousins;  real family affair. Even playing the best online slots can bring with it memories of big wins and edge of your seat moments.

Growing up it was – and still is outside of this current hiatus we’re all experiencing – something of a family tradition to ‘do the double’ of heading to our local(ish) racecourse (Great Yarmouth) and to then make a beeline for the casino there afterwards. It’s situated in a listed building that’s dripping with history and royal connections and has a nice restaurant there too – so as a combo it works like a charm. I have many a happy memory there of having a healthy win on the roulette wheel or slots or of a family member doing the same. I’m sure it’s the same worldwide really, whether online at www.newzealandcasinos.io or in a brick and mortar establishment, there is always somebody who is ‘quids in’ and having a run of luck you wouldn’t believe. As long as people know their limit and are there with friends, there’s nothing better than seeing what lady luck brings your way.

So the next time you’re faced with someone who likes to shake their head at people ‘chancing their arm’ at their favourite casino game or cheering on an outsider at the races, be sure to remind them that there isn’t much fun to be had in life by always operating with a safety first attitude. In fact, so much in life contains some element of risk, and if you always operate with caution,  many if not most of the best memories and opportunities that life can bring will simply pass you by.

Nowadays, Clive Cox is best known as a Group One-winning trainer based at Beechwood Stables in Lambourn, Berkshire, to which he moved in May, 2000. However, his career in racing began, as a scrawny teenager, when he became apprentice jockey to Peter Cundell, based in the village of Compton on the Berkshire Downs, in the early Eighties. That said, his career as a Flat jockey did not last long and yielded just two winners, one in 1981 and another in 1982, before his burgeoning weight forced him to review his options.

The enforced switch to National Hunt racing did his riding career no harm. After a brief, but successful, spell as conditional jockey to Somerset trainer Stuart Pattermore, Cox returned to Lambourn and joined then-fledgling handler Oliver Sherwood in a similar capacity. He won on his first ride for his new employer, Sacred Path, at Warwick in November, 1984.

Just over three years later, in April, 1988, Sacred Path would also provide Cox with his one and only ride in the Grand National. A confirmed mudlark, Sacred Path had returned from over a year off the course, due to injury, to win the Crudwell Challenge Cup at Warwick in March. Saddled with the minimum weight of ten stone at Aintree and with conditions turning in his favour, after a torrential downpour, Sacred Path was the subject of a public gamble, which forced his price down from 14/1 to 17/2 favourite at the ‘off’. Sadly, while the eight-year-old jumped the first fence well enough, he crumpled on landing and fell.

All told, Cox rode just shy of a hundred winners and recorded his highest seasonal tally, 33, in the 1985/86 season. Indeed, in 1985 he won the Frogmore Chase at Ascot on Admiral’s Cup, trained by Fred Winter and, in 1986, the Mares Hurdle at Newbury on Atrabates, trained by Oliver Sherwood. Nevertheless, by 1988, his riding career was already in sharp decline and by the time he rode his last winner, at Newton Abbott in March, 1990, he had already taken out a public training licence.

Anyone who has a passing knowledge of the highly acclaimed BBC comedy series ‘Only Fools and Horses’ will be well aware of Del Boy’s catchphrase “Lovely Jubbly”, a phrase which according to the Oxford English dictionary is “used to express delight or approval.” It’s a catchphrase well suited to his loveable ‘ducking and diving’ persona and ever present efforts to make it big. That part of his personality is perhaps event more present in the other (well in truth he has a few!) equally well known catchphrase of his “This time next year we’ll be millionaires!”.

This is a theme that runs through the series like words through a stick of rock, the constant push to make it big come what may, and to ‘improve your lot’ through whatever means are at your disposal. It should be no surprise then that there are a few casino themed episodes such as ‘A Losing Steak’ from Sesies 2 (a comedic take on ‘A Winning Streak’) in which Del plays a game of high stakes poker with the narcissistic Boycie. Or course nowadays we’d be more likely to be drawn towards online baccarat real money, but this show was largely set in the pre-internet age.  And who can forget the hilarious scene where Del and Rodney were at the casino until late into the night, only to open the doors and realise they were in the broad daylight. So many funny scenes in this, the most successful UK comedy show of all time.

In our own way, whether at a race track or in a local casino, we all know a few characters like those in Only Fools and Horses. Whether it’s the wheeler dealer Del Boy types, the gormless yet caring Rodney, everybody’s mate Densil or too snooty by half Boycie, the list of these archetypes goes on. I suppose we all try to create a certain image, but some people really are one offs and aren’t meant to fit in. Larger than life types that always bring a smile to your face, or always have a scheme or an idea to make it big. Well, I’m certainly cheering them all on, for the day they do! Nowadays, as stated, we’d all more likely to be found playing online casino like casinosnz , but even online casino sites now more and more reflect real life and so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before we’ll all virtually bumping into larger than life characters. At least we don’t have to worry about social distancing with that one!