Worst on Track punting experience?

[Moffo]

I think i had mine yesterday

I was in Perth over the New Year and managed to take in the Perth Cup yesterday. Massive crowd, so you think they'd have a straight forward system in place to put a bet on

Guess what you have to do? Fill in a f**king tab card every time you want to have a bet!! you can't go up to the counter and just tell them what you want....unbelievable, i missed 2 races because of waiting in stupid lines. tell you what, it was stoneage mentality!

 

[miccle]

That sucks Moffo - I'm yet to go to any races ANYWHERE that are like that. I thought you were talking about losing big amounts of cash from the title of this thread, but I'll no doubt be able to include a bit of everything next week.Heading to Doomben this Saturday afternoon as the start of my Bucks Party, so I'm sure the experiences will either be in the 'best ever' or 'worst ever' thread :lol:

 

[Moffo]

good luck mate, just steer clear of the horses outside barrier 10 and you'll go alright!

 

[juggalo_strit]

What are the chances that more than half the winners will come from outside barriers today.
:lol: :lol:

 

[innsaneink]

I think i had mine yesterday

I was in Perth over the New Year and managed to take in the Perth Cup yesterday. Massive crowd, so you think they'd have a straight forward system in place to put a bet on

Guess what you have to do? Fill in a f**king tab card every time you want to have a bet!! you can't go up to the counter and just tell them what you want....unbelievable, i missed 2 races because of waiting in stupid lines. tell you what, it was stoneage mentality!

:crazy:

Did u try a pie there?

 

[Foz]

One Melbourne Cup Day at Flemington I put $5 on a horse running at Kembla with a bookmaker on the second or 3rd Floor in the main grandstand complex.The horse was scratched at the barrier.
I went up to the bookmaker to get my $5 back after correct weight was declared and the bookie basically told me to get lost the horse wasnt scratched.I said to him it was and it came up on the TV screen as a late scratching just before the race begun.The bookie checked with other clerks/bookies around him and none of them had it down as a scratching.
Why couldnt they check with the tote?
I didnt really give a hoot about the $5 but asked him how many other people were going to be ripped off.I wasnt nasty about it but they called a bloke over who proceeded to take me down to the stewards room.
The stewards room was on the ground floor and you had to go across where the grandstands joined and down a couple of flights of stairs(on the escalator if you know what I mean)and this bloke was going quite a pace which I struggled to keep up with given there were thousands of people there and I didnt know where I was going.Had a few ales in me too but certainly wasnt anything like drunk but it made the journey a bit longer.
Anyway they took me in the stewards rooms and checked out the betting sheets.Took some time too and eventually he said you are right the horse was scratched(something I already knew).
We then had to climb the escalators again and return to the bookmakers up in the grandstand.The bloke must of been the fittest guy in Australia because he flew back up there.Promptly told the bookmaker to pay me (and he seemed to get some pleasure out of it).I was still dirty I had to go through all this just to get my $5 back.
Missed the next race while I was in the stewards room and you can guess the horse I was going to back won at 7/1.
Maybe they should have made the bookie take the journey with me to the stewards room.Might of stopped him trading (which would cost him more than $5) or at least have made him find out what the late scratchings were.
The horse I backed was about 50/1 but I saw a few other bets placed on it.Guess they never bothered to collect their money or didnt know it was scratched.

 

[juggalo_strit]

Well Foz, the place you put on a bet on with was an agency for a bookie, and not the actual bookie who has lots of $$$
They probably believed you about the late scratching, but had to double chack it all that you were'nt ripping them off.
This is because - if the agency doesn't balance it creates major problems.
It may be hard to understand from your point of view, but i work at the races and i cand understand where this bloke was coming from.

 

[Foz]

I can understand they had to get the fact that the horse was a late scratching right but why didnt they check with the tote(which was about 5 feet away)instead of making a journey(on Melbourne Cup Day)which took about 30 mins all up.Well me and the guy did(guess he was a betting steward)
Yes there were big lines to get to the tote window but surely someone couldve asked one of those tote supervisors who appear to be walking around not doing too much at the back of the tote operators.
Those guys who appear to be not doing much are generally on the ball.
These bookies were only operating on interstate races too so there wasnt anywhere near the action of the Melbourne bookies.Probably was an agent (the real bookie may have been operating on Melbourne but I didnt look)but they wouldve watched the Kembla race like me because there was nobody within cooee of them when this was happening and the race was on because I watched the race on the same TV they wouldve.(and there was hardly anyone there when I got back-betting that is).Plenty of people standing around watching.