Keeping Up Tradition...

Saturday was a good day in other ways for me as well.

It was Grand National day. That day when everybody and their Granny picks a horse and heads to the bookies to stick their money on.

My Dad loved the horses. One of his legacies is that he taught me a bit about form and how to calculate odds and weight! This is right up there with him teaching me the finer points of the offside rule and how to arm wrestle!

When he was alive Dad tried on 2 different occaisons to go to Aintree for Grand National day. The first time he booked he had an accident a few weeks before the event, he tore his cruciate ligaments and damaged his knee so badly it ended up in him having to retire. Needless to say the trip was cancelled! The second attempt didn't happen either...that was the year it was cancelled due to a bomb scare and although he made it to the hotel near Liverpool he didn't actually get to Aintree!

This year Mum had booked to go with a load of pals. I'm pleased to say it was 3rd time lucky and she made it! So she has been able to tick that box on her To Do list!

So we, like millions of others, headed to the Cream Cookies (as my Dad would call them) and bunged our money on after a quick view of the form and headed home to watch the race.

I'd picked my usual 4 as had Better Half, with the kids picking one each based on nothing more than a number. The race didn't start well with one of mine going at the first fence. I was a bit pissed as it was one of my more faniced nags! Another, my outside shot, fell a few fences later and Better Half didn't fare much better when one of his went as well. 10 year old had picked one of mine...one of my fallers...so she was out and 6 year old's hadn't been mentioned, which gave the impression it was dragging up the rear!

Into the home straight though and it was all different. One of mine had hit the front but was tiring a bit and Better Half's was finishing strongly. They hit the finish line and I had gotten third at 33/1 with Better Half getting second at 14/1. As we'd stuck our bets on each way, we had a wee windfall coming back, in total it was £40. Not bad for a wee flutter.

I have a good wee history in the National. I can only recall one year when I haven't had a horse in the top 4. Saturday kept up my tradition of doing well!

Jenny xx

p.s Bizarre but true. I picked the horse that came second due to the fact that the jockey shares my married name and as such my daughters surname. It's not a common surname and so it catches the eye when you see it. My step daughter told me on Saturday night she won money back as well...she'd gone and backed the same horse due to the surname connection!