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[Monty's Pass]

Hello everyone! hope you all had an enjoyable and profitable festival My name is Stu and I'm 34. I've followed Horse racing since my early teens, mainly National hunt and have chosen my username after the first winner I ever had that I can remember, 2003 Grand national hero Monty's Pass who is a mere four weeks away from his 29th birthday which is incredible and extremely pleasing to hear he is still going strong! My Dad always cut the sweepstake out from the paper for the National and that year my Sister happened to pull out 33/1 shot Monty's Pass (I don't even recollect who I had) the significance of this was that she had a guinea pig... called Monty... who had passed away a few weeks earlier... so this is where my cover betting began as I couldn't bear the though of her winning and me losing.. so I told my Dad to chuck a fiver on for me when he went up the bookies (apologies for the 19 year after timing ) as we both won it is a very fond memory and one that probably started my love of horse racing proper. As far as punting goes I used to bet on Football a fair amount along with jumps and the flat and only really bet on Cheltenham the week of or when NRNB came out. After the 2021 festival I decided to bet antepost throughout the year and see how I fared compared to betting NRNB closer to the time. I felt I had a very good week this year with some nice winning bets and have decided to exclusively bet antepost for the Cheltenham festival going forward. I pretty much gave up on the footy a few years ago and I imagine I'll barely touch the flat this season if it all as I don't love it anywhere near as much as jumps. Unfortunately for me I only came across this forum during the week of the festival and since then I've been scouring through the various threads with much enthusiasm, there certainly are some great opinions and extremely well presented reasoning throughout which is exactly what I'm looking for as I don't really have any friends who are into horse racing that I can discuss opinions with and get other perspectives (I need new friends right!?) Last year I mainly relied on podcasts, blogs and your usual horse racing news sites to get my info from and I can already tell that this forum is going to be the best source out there for information and discussion which I'm very much looking forward to being a part of. I don't have any affiliation with a yard or know anybody inside of racing so in that regard my knowledge is very limited. I will however get stuck in as much as I can and hope to learn a lot from bouncing ideas around on various threads. The antepost diary section is one I'm keen to contribute too and I'll likely be starting one up and listing my fancies for 2023 in that very soon and any feedback is welcomed especially constructive criticism as I like having my views challenged as it helps me think things through more thoroughly.

Anyway, I've read through the forum guidelines and look forward to joining in soon and thanks to Kev for allowing me to become a Fat Jock

[BigChaang]

Welcome to F.J , Monty's pass , Great introduction ..

[Spectre]

Welcome on board Monty. It's always good to hear how people got interested and where the motivation and passion came from.

As an aside I met one of the owners of Monty's Pass at a hotel I was staying at in Ascot a few weeks ago. He's also the main owner in the Tide Turns that disappointed in the Boodles. I think he said MP was his first step into ownership. What a way to start!

[Always a Claimer]

Hello all, been a regular visitor to this forum for a few years and thought it was time to get involved properly. I’m
Sam and 36, fortunate to live in the Cotswolds not far from Cheltenham. Got into racing by total accident really…love most sports and was a typical once a year Grand National race watcher - and more for the betting than the racing. Then in 2013 I happened to be off work for a few days sick and watched the C4 coverage of the festival, watching Champagne Fever somehow hang on to win me a nice return in the first got me hooked. I still have no idea how My Tent or Yours didn’t win that…the in running odds would have been interesting. And revenge was served when my first antepost bet (placed that day) failed a year later, same horse mugged on the line by Scudamore in the Arkle (forgotten the name of the horse…)

Have so many fond memories now, from the Annie Power disaster to the unreal Sprinter Sacre returning to win, and have been fortunate to be at the festival most years since 2014, across all days. I have seen some good Supremes now, albeit Constitution Hill was seriously good - stood next to the final hurdle was a pleasure for that. One of my favourite stories was also linked to the Supreme, a good friend from Cork came over to the festival for the first time and was absolutely adamant that Altior was going to beat Min - so confident that he wanted to stake his whole weeks budget. Managed to persuade him that Min was a good thing and to perhaps save half his pot…unfortunately for him he listened to me!!

I am already building my book for 2023 (with some help from some great early shouts) and looking forward to some good chat about the Aintree and Punchestown festivals.

[Always a Claimer]

Posted in error

[Spectre]

Hi and welcome Sam. There's no place to get into racing by accident than Cheltenham. It's almost inevitable you became hooked.

Western War Horse is the name you were searching for. Along with Annie Power and her last hurdle tumble, you've managed to remind me of two very costly races in your very first post!

If you've been lurking for a while you'll have seen that it Fat Jockey is a shared passion of the Festival and a full twelve months of build up. Given your write up I'm surprised you didn't join earlier, but now you're here don't be afraid to get stuck in.

[Always a Claimer]

Hi and welcome Sam. There's no place to get into racing by accident than Cheltenham. It's almost inevitable you became hooked.

Western War Horse is the name you were searching for. Along with Annie Power and her last hurdle tumble, you've managed to remind me of two very costly races in your very first post!

If you've been lurking for a while you'll have seen that it Fat Jockey is a shared passion of the Festival and a full twelve months of build up. Given your write up I'm surprised you didn't join earlier, but now you're here don't be afraid to get stuck in.

Thanks for the welcome Spectre, you are certainly someone whose posts I have read with interest. Passion and humour is absolutely clear from the whole forum and I am really looking forward to be part of the next 12 months and beyond. I’ll try to remind you of some better times in future posts! Sam

[Monty's Pass]

Thank you Big Chaang and Spectre for the warm welcome!
I had hoped to jump straight in after joining but came down with Covid the very next day!! It knocked me for six but all is well now.

Wow that's really cool that you bumped into the owner! what a way to start with a future national winner! great stuff! I imagine owning a horse whether outright or through a syndicate is some thrill. It's definitely a goal of mine to experience that one day in the future in some capacity. I'm sure if one of the monthly yankees lands one year we'd being seeing the FatJockey syndicate in the winners enclosure of many a race course!!

[Kevloaf]

Bump - any new members, this is a good place to introduce yourself to the rest of the gang

[Exotic Dancer]

Hi guys; just signed up today.

Like most I got into racing through family (Dad and Grandad liked a bet) and enjoy trying to find decent priced winners in the better quality races. Am fairly new to antepost betting but have been playing Ten To Follow since the Tote relaunched it so am used to taking a long term view of Cheltenham prospects.

The first horse I really liked was One Man and then a bit later on I used to root for Exotic Dancer as the underdog against Kauto. Am reluctant to pick a new NH favourite after those two sadly passed away at Aintree.

Will try my best to offer any unique insight I have and am looking forward to unpicking the novice chase division once we have some more form in the book.

[Quevega]

Hi guys; just signed up today.

Like most I got into racing through family (Dad and Grandad liked a bet) and enjoy trying to find decent priced winners in the better quality races. Am fairly new to antepost betting but have been playing Ten To Follow since the Tote relaunched it so am used to taking a long term view of Cheltenham prospects.

The first horse I really liked was One Man and then a bit later on I used to root for Exotic Dancer as the underdog against Kauto. Am reluctant to pick a new NH favourite after those two sadly passed away at Aintree.

Will try my best to offer any unique insight I have and am looking forward to unpicking the novice chase division once we have some more form in the book.

I used to try and get Kauto beat all the time, and Exotic was one of my mostly vain attempts.
Nothing better than a strong travelling underdog/loser.
Finally backed Kauto for his 5th King George.
Slow on the uptake

[BagOfHammers]

Hi All, I’m a 22 year old from Gloucestershire. My love for racing first began when attending the New Year’s Day meeting at Cheltenham when I was 17 and have been in love ever since. I had always been a huge football fan growing up but I now find racing the most enthralling of all sports. I have so much to learn and clearly have a huge lack of experiences compared to most on here but love to take in as many different opinions as I can and form my own. Thanks to all those who contribute and maintain this website, it’s invaluable.

[Bulldog]

Hello All

New member but been reading some of the threads for a while now so great to be able to contribute. Been Cheltenham Ante Post punting for 4 years now with the goal of paying for my Newcastle United season ticket.

Happy punting everyone

[BigChaang]

Welcome , Bulldog , BagOfHammers and Exotic Dancer...... .

[FinalFurlong91]

Hi All, I’m a 22 year old from Gloucestershire. My love for racing first began when attending the New Year’s Day meeting at Cheltenham when I was 17 and have been in love ever since. I had always been a huge football fan growing up but I now find racing the most enthralling of all sports. I have so much to learn and clearly have a huge lack of experiences compared to most on here but love to take in as many different opinions as I can and form my own. Thanks to all those who contribute and maintain this website, it’s invaluable.

Excellent choice of username hahaha