I am not a particularly religious person but the other night there was an interesting question in our pub quiz. “Who is the patron saint of gamblers?” Apparently the answer is St Cayetano. Cayetano became known as the Patron Saint of Gamblers because people would bet him a rosary or blessed candle that he would not do some special favour for them. Saint Cayetano gave his family fortune to help those in need, and dedicated his life to the care of the sick. His Feast Day is August 7.
How much credence you can give to patron saints is open to question, after all St George , the patron saint of England may well have never existed and even if he did it is certain that he never stepped foot on “this green and pleasant lands.” However, I can see why gamblers would identify with Cayetano, after all most of them give their family fortunes to the bookies and dedicated their lives to following sick animals.
One thing is certain; if Cayetano is the patron saint of gamblers then he has a very warped sense of humour. For example, someone pointed out to me a tipster who at the moment is having a very successful time and is hot. Now I could bring his hot run to a complete full stop by simply backing one of his selections. I know from experience as soon as I put real money down it is curtains for the guy. Remember I am the chap who bought a system that had 28 consecutive winning months, I then paper tested it for two more successful months before taking the plunge. What happened? Two losing months out of the next three. Mind you as we used to say in the RAF, if you can’t take a joke you shouldn’t have joined.
I see that the Premier Betting Clubs Lingfield lay system had a 3 out of 3 success rate yesterday. With only one losing bet since mid-December this is looking good. PBC members can get this system for free if they go to the Members Forum, it is a simple system but worth a look.
Since the news that Solwhit has scoped badly and is a doubtful for next Tuesdays Champion Hurdle the favourite Go Native has hardened to as short as 11/4. Since the favourite has not had a run since Boxing Day and this has to be considered a negative I would not rush to back it at that price. The appalling weather of the last few months has played havoc with many trainers plans for getting pre Cheltenham races into their fancied horses. This has been particularly true in Ireland where they lost a great number of race meetings. If I were to place a bet on the number of Irish winners at the meeting I would be looking at a lower rather than a higher number. Of course as is so often the case I could be completely wrong and be left eating my words come a week on Friday. It is that glorious uncertainty that makes Cheltenham and the Festival meeting the greatest horse racing event in the world.
If you think that you might need St Cayetano’s help to get through Cheltenham there are a selection of items such as keyrings, money clips bearing his image available from www.stcayetano.com . (Personally I shall stick to my lucky rabbits foot, even if it was not so lucky for the rabbit!)
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