#BettingPeople: Professional Backer – he doesn’t like the term ‘gambler’, Paul Chandler-Burns started his betting life working for Tote Credit. Based in Newmarket he’s been making money backing horses, betting on golf, football and reality TV for years. He was once a full time professional but now spends a lot of his year at sea working in entertainment on cruise ships. Here’s how he does it.
#BettingPeople: Edward Chanin was an aspiring young jockey who dreamed of being the next AP McCoy. He had a job with Philip Hobbs and had not long ridden his first winner under rules when on the 19th of December 2001 his suffered a near fatal schooling accident. He was airlifted to hospital but his parents were told that he ‘had no chance’. Edward defied the Drs, not just once, but on several occasions. After six months in hospital his wheelchair was hoisted onto some bales of hay and he was hea...
#BettingPeople: Mick Fitzgerald won pretty much every big race in his riding career, including The Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1999 on See More Business and the 1996 Grand National on Rough Quest the highlights of his UK 1303 winners. His career ending fall was in the 2008 Grand National. He has since become a familiar face on our TV screens working for Channel 4 then ITV Racing as well as At The Races and Sky Sports Racing. In this interview, he talks frankly and in places emotionally about the stat...
#BettingPeople: Dave O’Reilly has spent a lifetime in the betting industry, working with Mecca, Ladbrokes then rising through the ranks with Paddy Power. In that time he survived robberies and other hardships with the humour and big personality he’s become known for. Now a freelancer he spreads his time between opening betting shops, commentating live at the dogs and off tube for Ladbrokes, works on-course for AK Bets and in his spare time, marries people.
#BettingPeople: Former jockey with Martin Pipe, RODI GREENE is now a BHA Jockey coach and has trained some of the top riders active today. In this interview, he talks about the importance of his role in nurturing new talent coming into the sport as well as his own riding career.
#BettingPeople: PAUL JACOBS is a record breaking 6-times champion horse racing tipster, sports commentator and voiceover artist who has been in the broadcasting business for 25 years on both local and national radio, tv, in the press and online. In this #BettingPeople interview he discusses his career as a tipster and broadcaster, his success as a tipster, and the methods which have helped him win five Racing Post NAPS competitions. Meeting Paul Jacobs, with Simon Nott.
#BettingPeople: David Nicholson describes himself as a Gambling Industry Entrepreneur, he’s been gambling since he was legal to do so, ran with the Vegas poker crew in his 20’s won well and played hard. He’s now enabling big syndicates, dealing in crypto, opening businesses in Africa and more. Meet David Nicholson.
#BettingPeople: Racehorse trainer and former jockey Nigel Hawke talks about his riding career, from the glory of winning the 1991 Grand National on Seagram to a crashing fall at Newton Abbot that could have claimed his life. He also talks about buying Grand National hero Tiger Roll for a mere £10,000 and his training career based at Thorne Farm in Devon.
#BettingPeople: Gary Woodgate has been at the sharp end of Star Sports since jumping ship from an established career with Ladbrokes. In that time he has helped the firm to a meteoric rise from its humble beginnings taking credit bets on the telephone of a residential flat to one of the UK’s largest independent firms renowned for taking huge bets. In this four part interview, he tells his story. Meeting Gary Woodgate with Simon Nott.
#BettingPeople: Harry Stewart-Moore is a litigator Partner in the Gardner Leader Dispute Resolution team. His high profile cases have included representing ex-jockey Freddy Tylicki in his successful ground-breaking claim against a fellow jockey for negligent riding and high-rolling punter James Longley. In this four part interview, he talks about his career and the post bet battles between punters and bookmakers.
#BettingPeople: Tony Elves was the Newmarket correspondent ‘Warren Hill’ for the Sporting Life, then the Racing Post, he’s known, the great and good and not so good from HQ in those years. In this interview, he talks of his life at the epicentre of horse racing, the ups and the downs.
#BettingPeople: Dylan Cunha was the youngest trainer to win a Grade 1 race in South Africa, trained a winner at every racecourse in South Africa, was an unashamed gambling yard, gave it all up to become an airline pilot, runs ultra marathons for fun and has now become licensed to train in the UK and has set up at Lower Yard, Phantom House Stables Newmarket with a team of talented youngsters both equine and human ready to race this turf season.
#BettingPeople: Craig Edwards became a snooker professional at the age of 19 and was rated in the Top 64 in the world. At that time he played alongside all the greats from the 1980s and was only narrowly beaten 5-4 by Steve Davis after leading 4-3 in a major. He now bets successfully on golf and snooker, also running a tipping service that has proven very profitable. In this interview, he talks about his snooker career and his strategy on betting.
#BettingPeople: Dave talks about going straight to the top of the business working for Colin Webster, firstly at the dogs then the rails on course. He starts the interview by talking about taking on the big and shrewd punters on course, how his boss would deal with that business and his betting the life stuff. Meeting Dave Brewer with Simon Nott.
#BettingPeople: ‘Sir’ Robert Cooper is celebrating his 41st year as a broadcaster having worked on radio and TV. In this interview, he talks about his career including some of the colourful characters he’s met along the way.. Meeting Robert Cooper with Simon Nott.
#BettingPeople: Simon Prout is an owner, punter, businessman and founder of the 69 Club. In this interview, he talks about his trials, tribulations and triumphs as an owner. He also talks about his syndicate ‘The 69 Club’ and has some strong opinions on a few topics. Meeting Simon Prout.
#BettingPeople: Jane and Dave Hazell had been betting on course for over 25 years. In this interview they talk about the fun and occasionally fraught times they have had on the racecourse. Meeting Jane and Dave Hazell.
#BettingPeople: Welsh trainer Tim Vaughan has enjoyed a successful career, training over 800 winners to date & training Grade 1 winners in the UK and Ireland. A former Champion Welsh point-to-point jockey, he became the youngest National Hunt trainer to record 100 winners in a season in 2012 & has gone from strength to strength since. Meeting Tim Vaughan with Simon Nott.
#BettingPeople: Roy Harknett left his Enfield home aged just 14 to work in Derby and Grand National winning trainer Willie Stephenson’s yard. In this three part #BettingPeople interview Roy talks about his youth working in yards, then returning as an adult in his 50’s to ride out again and drive horseboxes all over Europe.
#BettingPeople: Johnny Lights was an omnipresent larger than life professional gambler on British racecourses for decades, one of the biggest players, and later, layers on the rails. He’s suffered from ill health for the last 13 years but was keen to tell his fascinating story.
#BettingPeople: Andrew Black helped change the world of betting when he Co-launched Betfair in 2000. Nothing has been the same since, for Black, who amassed a personal fortune and the betting industry which for which the ramifications were huge. The man that changed the game. In five parts.
#BettingPeople: Brett Lloyd started out working with racecourse bookmakers and getting a few marks. Everything changed for him when he got involved in the early days of betting in running, owning horses, landing gambles and buying sports cars with cash followed. He also worked as a bookmaker on the trotting circuit and on the rails at Cheltenham.
#BettingPeople: Lincolnshire Greyhound Trust (LGT) has become one of the most successful and respected greyhound homing centres in the country. After their Epping branch recently and successfully homed a greyhound called Goldie to the boss, Ben Keith, we at Star Sports thought it was about time we went to find out more about the charity, with great thanks to homer Liv Noble for giving us her time.
#BettingPeople: David Smalley worked in academia and horseracing in tandem, in racing as a Starting Price Reporter and Columnist. He’s just written a book on his life ‘A Head Full Of Jolly Robins’. In this interview he talks about his varied life in ‘the game’.
#BettingPeople: Jordan Hopkins has established himself as a serious judge of French racing form. His free tips on social media have attracted a growing following. So much so that he’s now recognised as a card that moves markets. He’s also sought after in the bloodstock industry and an authority in the studbook too.
Roland de Wolfe is one the highest staking punters in the UK, he came to prominence as a top poker player after a modest career started with him writing about it in gambling magazine ‘Inside Edge’. Roland circulates in high rolling circles where he’s happy to make five figure side bets on live events with like minded friends. Feared by the bookmakers and up until now preferring to operate in anonymity, Roland has made the decision to show himself, answer some questions and dispel some myths. in ...
Racing Post/SIS Betting Shop Manager of the Year 2022 – James Maloney, the manager at Star Sport’s flagship in Mayfair talks about his career in betting shops, youth spent at racecourses, dog tracks and the bookies, in three parts… with Simon Nott.
#BettingPeople: Ron Wadey is a contemporary of Fred Done when he started building his betting shop empire in Warrington, he eventually sold out to Ladbrokes for eye-watering sums and then embarked on a new career as a racecourse bookmaker where he still bets with his son Colin. Meeting Ron Wadey, a no nonsense Northerner, with Simon Nott.
#BettingPeople: Dave Edwards saw active service with the RAF in Afghanistan during his military career. Now his on battles are on the exchanges, successfully trading on predominantly football and horseracing. In this four-part interview he explains how.
#BettingPeople: Ken is known to racing fans nationwide as the paddock judge expert on ITV Racing. He’s also been a mainstay of William Hill Radio and the Racing Post Weekender. In this four-part interview, Ken tells us what to look out for as clues to winners in the paddock and tells us about his background in the racing game.
