[HPFGU-OTChatter] Neil in Trelawney-style prediction shocker!

[Sister Mary Lunatic]

Way to go, Neil!  See, there IS such a thing as magic!

SML

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Resentment is like taking poison
and expecting the other person to die.
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-----Original Message-----
From: Neil Ward [mailto:neilward at dircon.co.uk]
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2001 3:48 PM
To: HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [HPFGU-OTChatter] Neil in Trelawney-style prediction shocker!


By virtue of my job, I received an invitation to this year's Grand National
(the longest and most watched steeplechase of the year).  The race is
sponsored by one of my clients, Martell, and they very kindly flew myself
and a guest to Aintree (Liverpool), wined and dined us - along with 350
others - and allowed us to watch the races from their VIP lounge.

I am not a gambler (apart from doing the National Lottery each week) and I
am not interested in horse racing in the slightest, but it was one of those
invitations that I was in no position to decline.  I decided to bite my
tongue about the potential cruelty to the horses running in this rather
boisterous race, and attend.  Further to this, I decided to pick a horse and
bet on it.  I thought, 'If I become a gambler, I can always sue Martell...'

There were 40 runners, and I decided to choose one that had some link to
Harry Potter.  This made the choice easy: it had to be a horse called Red
Marauder - a bit of an outsider, but not incapable of finishing upright.  A
very helpful turf accountant explained what all the different bets were and
suggested that I try an "each way bet" on my chosen horse.  This meant that
I placed 10 each way on Red Marauder at 33-1, and that I would win
something if it won the race or if it was placed in the first four.

The going was very soft (in other words, it was raining cats and dogs and
the course was a quagmire) and the race was a complete shambles; some said
they only ran it because it would not look good to cancel it in light of the
foot and mouth scare.  Horses fell and refused hither and thither, and
halfway through the race there were only seven still in it.  By the time the
end was in sight, there were just two horses left in one piece, with a rider
still in the saddle.  You know what's coming, don't you? (especially if
you're in the UK and saw it on the news)  - Red Marauder won the race!!  I
could hardly believe my eyes as it passed the winning post.  I was
speechless.

I won 193 from my 10 bet, so, you could say that Harry Potter made me
rich.

Neil

PS - Dame Maggie Smith was there.  We didn't speak, but I wondered if she
had chosen Red Marauder too.

________________________________________

Flying Ford Anglia

"Krum, his red robes shining with blood from his nose,
was rising gently into the air, his fist held high, a glint
of gold in his hand." ["The Quidditch World Cup", GoF]

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