— IRIS (@IRISRacing) 20 January 2019
Jockey Mikey Sweeney performed something of a miracle recovery, while riding Ask Heather in a Killeagh Point to Point race yesterday. After almost falling at the last fence and looking to be out of contention, Sweeney showed what’s possible when you (literally) hang on in there.
On the face of it, it’s easy to dismiss the idea of superstition as mere fantasy or magical thinking. However, whether you’re aware of it or not, the likelihood is that you yourself partake in some sort of superstitious thinking or behaviour. Cast your mind back: when was the last time you purposely avoided a black cat, knocked on wood or avoided the cracks in the pavement? Chances are that you and others have indulged in at least one of these fairly recently and all of the aforementioned actions can indeed be filed under superstitious thinking.
A 2014 study amongst registered voters in the U.S revealed that 37% of Americans believe that finding a penny and picking it up is good luck, whilst a further 23% are of the opinion that the number seven is lucky in some way. The last stat is particularly interesting from a betting standpoint and it got us thinking about the relationship between superstition and gambling. Are the two connected and, if so, how much of a role does superstition play when it comes to punters picking their horses and other bets?
Before delving into superstition and betting, it’s important to understand the actual meaning of the term; after all, not all beliefs or rituals can be classed as superstitions. Stuart Vyse, author of Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition believes that giving some sort of “magical significance to a ritual” is when your actions start encroaching into superstitious territory. But if our behaviour has virtually no logical connection to the outcome of an event, then why do we act in the way we do?
For many of us, not having control over a situation is a frightening prospect and the more that a situation feels out of our control, the more likely we are to dream up ways in order to control the outcome (no matter how farfetched). When attempting to explain an individual’s beliefs, it’s also important to take into the account the events leading up to any superstitious behaviour.
It follows that the large majority of superstitions come from personal experience. The age old cautionary tales involving black cats and finding pennies are entertaining enough but they serve no purpose unless one has experienced either bad or good luck relating to these events. In betting terms, if an individual has enjoyed a sizeable and unexpected win, then it’s only human nature to try to analyse what has been done differently – once again, this comes down to our willingness to dissect and explain events which feel out of our control.
If the only thing that you’ve done differently during the day of your biggest ever horse racing win is have eggs for breakfast, for example, then why not have eggs in the morning the next time you place a wager? In fact, there is evidence that superstitions can increase your confidence and performance and, so, to this end, believing that those eggs were a contributing factor to your success may not be such an outlandish idea after all. Nevertheless, as long as it’s still possible to differentiate between events that are and are not out of your control, then believing in a superstition here isn’t inherently detrimental to your chances unless it becomes the sole focus of your thinking.
Source: Pexels
In order to understand why superstition and otherworldly beliefs have been ingrained into us as a society, it’s important to briefly look at superstition outside of the gambling arena. In the times of Ancient Egypt, cats were considered to be good luck and many online games based on this era still make use of cat symbols in order to represent a significant jackpot.
The music industry also has a long standing relationship with superstition and, over the years, there has been a number of hits involving common beliefs. Songs such as Broken Mirror, Black Cat and Voodoo Child by Travis, Janet Jackson and Jimi Hendrix, respectively, stick in the mind and who could forget Superstition by the great Stevie Wonder?
Indeed, the song Superstition has once again found its way back into the mainstream in recent times, with Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) duetting on the track with Wonder back in May. Childish Gambino is also making waves on his own and is one of the favourites to take home the Triple J Hottest 100 crown according to Oddschecker with his poignant track, “This Is America.”
A number of celebrities across various different platforms and industries have all confessed to being superstitious. Lindsey Lohan, Audrey Hepburn and Keith Richards are just a handful of stars who have been known for their their quirky and superstitious antics – Richards insists on being the first person to break the crust of Shepherds’ Pie when on tour and that doesn’t seem to have done his music career any harm whatsoever.
As we’ve already established, the right amount of superstition can increase both your performance and confidence. Whilst luck obviously has a huge part to play in any success that you may have, the role that confidence plays within the betting arena cannot be understated. When it comes to choosing between taking a punt on two competing horses for example, going with one’s gut can be the deciding factor; professional gamblers have often stated that trusting their instincts has brought them just as much reward as studying form. However, in order to throw caution to the wind, a certain amount of confidence is required and a genuinely held belief in a superstition could be enough to tip the balance.
A commonly told joke in gambling circles relates to two punters discussing superstition. One asks the other, “Are you superstitious?” to which the other replies, “I used to be but then I was told that it’s unlucky to be superstitious and so I stopped”. Whilst this scenario is entirely made up, it perfectly encapsulates the attitudes of many gamblers towards superstition – whether we realise or not, as punters, we all have little our own little quirks and things we believe in. Whenever we lose a bet, we are always quick to blame some external force out of our control so it makes sense that following a win, our first instinct is to try and theorise what lead to this outcome and repeat it ad infinitum.
When it comes to it, there’s nothing inherently wrong with believing that a certain pair of socks or a specific meal brings you a bit of luck. Indeed, if this translates into a new found confidence then superstitions such as these can definitely be a help more than a hindrance. As long as you are careful not to get too caught up these beliefs and are brave enough to admit when the situation is out of your control, then you shouldn’t have any problem.
Here’s to hoping you all had a great Christmas and New Years period. The year was filled to the brim with top class racing, including a photo finish Aintree Grand National win by Tiger roll, and an action packed Cheltenham Festival which saw Native River fight off his rival might Bite to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup at odds of 5-1. It was the 90th annual running of the Gold Cup, which is held over four days annually at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Let’s focus less on the highs though, and more on obscure and unusual – in line with our usual wacky take on things. Both 2018 and the beginning of 2019 has had its fair share of zany times and so it would be remiss of me if I didn’t highlight a couple of standout moments.
Early in 2018 the Betfair trading platform experienced a first. While there’s been a few horses that have lost at odds of 1.01, and it’s not even unhead of for two horses in the same race to both reach 1.01 at some point during the event, three horses reaching those odds certainly was unheard of. That was until it happened for the first time in the site’s 18 year history in February of last year. This strange situation came about following disarray at the final fence when leader Northern Girl fell into the path of Dulce Panem , leading to Along Came Theo heading the group. To put a cherry on the cake, the eventual winner of the race, Pookie Pekan, overtook the favourite in the final furlong, at odds of a mind boggling 1000-1.
The other of our wacky racing stories relates to horse names. We’ve featured articles before relating to funny horse names (some of which were refused by the Horse Racing Authority due to their crude or unacceptable nature) and it’s an issue that has come up once again. This time though, the horse in question, Fukuto, trained by David Bridgwater at Stow-on-the-Wold, was given the thumbs up by the Racing Authority. However, they have only done so on the condition that the horse’s name is pronouned ‘Fu-Koo-To’. That’ll no doubt be to the relief of some and disappointment to others. I for one look forward to cheering the horse on!
Funnily enough, Bridgewater himself stated that “I bought him only because of his name!” “I couldn’t believe it when I saw what he was called– I had to have him.”
Derek ‘Tommo’ Thompson is no stranger to giving us TV Gold. Here he is doing it yet again in a recent AtTheRaces broadband. His compliment to a beautiful lady being interviewed on the horse racing channel doesn’t quite go to plan!