A larger than life throwback to the days of old-school punting: Gary Wiltshire's new book is a remembrance of an age long since past

Fifty Years In The Betting Jungle: Confessions Of An On-Course Bookmaker by Gary Wiltshire and Paul Jones
£20, published by Weatherbys

To have a life that's defined in the public imagination by one single event must be a mixed blessing. Perhaps if you were Edmund Hillary, it wasn't so bad; the first man to climb Everest has quite a ring to it. If you were Gary Wiltshire, though, you might get a shade cheesed off at being known for all eternity as the man who did his absolute conkers on Dettori Day at Ascot in 1996, losing all his money, his house, his cars, his living, on one ultimately disastrous roll of the dice.

Dettori himself emerged from the day of the Magnificent Seven with his name immortalised in the record books and a second career in light entertainment assured. Wiltshire, meanwhile, became the polar opposite of a glorious success, lost £1.4 million, took four years or more to pay off the debts and faced the certainty of being asked to relive the fateful afternoon on an almost constant basis.

You could say he's been living off the moment for the last 29 years — he wrote another book on the subject called Winning It Back 14 years ago — or you could say that he's survived the traumatic losses and the damage to both his bank balance and his health, and deserves every ounce of our attention for his new collection of tales.

He's the Belly From The Telly, he's larger than life, a former 37st throwback to the days of old-school punting – before the "faceless keyboard players of today" took all the romance out of it, as he says – and while what we get from Wiltshire, now tipping the scales at a svelte 23st, isn't exactly heavyweight stuff, it's impassioned and jaunty, settles a few scores, rights a few wrongs and celebrates a world that, for better or worse, is now so far up the list of endangered species that it's practically extinct.

Fifty Years In The Betting Jungle by Gary Wiltshire

Now into his 70s, Wiltshire began his life in the betting ring – what his TV pal John McCririck described as "that seething mass of greed and humanity" – some 50 years ago, and a good deal of this book is devoted to the people and the shenanigans he encountered there. There are the 'characters' and their nicknames; the strokes; the big bets and the whites of people's eyes; the winning days and the inevitable calamities.

It's very personal stuff. In fact, if you knew Wiltshire back in the day, you might find yourself name-checked, along with the usual suspects (Barry Hearn and the Kray twins) and the less usual ones (Susan George and Sir Rhodes Boyson) as the memoir buzzes along at a breezy pace.

It's said in the preamble that this was a book conceived on impulse, with just six weeks' notice before its desired publication date, which does show at times, but the finer points are in some ways incidental in a book that makes no pretension to literary sophistication.

There are poignant moments – most notably Wiltshire's relationship with Fred Done, after the benevolent bookie stepped in to save his life – and flashes of honesty about the effects of the author's compulsive lifestyle on his relationships and family life, but mostly it's punting escapades, fortunes won and lost, memorable days on the track and the eternal struggle between the diamond geezers and the wrong 'uns.

Oh, yes, the Magnificent Seven makes a reappearance, but only in the penultimate chapter (with a bit more intimate detail for good measure) and not by way of an easy rehash. That may have been the day that defined Wiltshire's life, but it wasn't the only day he lived, and many of the others have been full of colour, which shines through here.

It's not Proust, but it's a remembrance of an age long since past.
Peter Thomas

Fifty Years In The Betting Jungle is available to buy here

Granny National by Rachael Blackmore

A potential source of inspiration to a new generation

Granny National by Rachael Blackmore and Rachel Pierce (illustrated by Tom Snape)
£12.99, published by Penguin

Perhaps Rachael Blackmore's retirement this year shouldn't have come as such a surprise.

Many sportspeople like to dip their toes into a second career before calling time on their playing days and Blackmore had made exactly that move this year when publishing her first novel, Granny National, in conjunction with author Rachel Pierce.

The book is about a young girl, also called Rachael coincidentally enough, who has adventures on her family farm with cousin Tom and 'bestie' Frankie, before deciding they should turn their attentions to trying to fulfil her grandmother's dreams of becoming a jockey.

You might have guessed that it's not necessarily aimed at Racing Post readers. Different press releases put the advised reading age at anything from eight to 12 and, with two daughters in the right range, it made sense for me to volunteer one of them to do the honours and give their thoughts. After all, painful experience of children’s reviews has taught me that the only reliable arbiters of children's entertainment are the kids themselves (we've now learned that, when the broadsheets look down on something as "depressingly puerile", it means it's going to be hilarious and they'll love it).

It turned out this was very much a job for eldest daughter. At more than 300 pages, it's probably beyond anyone aged in single figures reading by themselves and will take a lot of evenings if you're reading it to them. But my 11-year-old took to it really happily and gives an extremely positive verdict – it's funny in places, the characters are engaging, the grandfather is even stricter than her own and it's even given her an idea for how to run the family Grand National sweepstake next year.

One can only hope more children of around that sort of age, and slightly older too, are willing to give Granny National a go. If they do, then Blackmore will have succeeded in selling the magic of racing to a whole new generation who will also be inspired when they find out more about the woman behind the book.
Dylan Hill

Granny National is available to buy here

Manvers Road Star by Jon Franklin

Compelling tale of the highs and lows of syndicate ownership

Manvers Road Star by Jon Franklin
£12.99, published independently

Fiction featuring racing usually tends to fall into one of two categories – either the sport is given somewhat perfunctory treatment or it is overblown with grandeur and Hollywood stylings. Thankfully, Manvers Road Star does neither, and instead tells a heartwarming yet realistic tale of the highs and lows of syndicate life. 

The novel serves as a sequel to Jon Franklin's 2021 debut work Shouting The Odds, in which postman Andy Cooper finds friendship and fortune in a betting shop in Nottingham in the 90s, and he is one of several familiar faces to return in this follow up as our protagonist uses his winnings to invest in a racehorse alongside his old comrades. 

The filly is dubbed Manvers Road Star after the betting shop where the friends all met, and soon a plan is hatched to pull off a Barney Curley-esque coup by getting their new runner well handicapped before targeting a spring sprint at their local track. 

The stage is set, but – as those involved in racing intimately know – things rarely go to plan. The unexpected phone call every owner fears from their trainer arrives on the morning of Manvers Road Star's handicap debut, and the nine friends are left to pick up the pieces of a plan gone horribly wrong. 

What comes next is a tale of resilience and camaraderie, played out against early mornings on the gallops and evenings deep in the betting ring at Wolverhampton. There is a horse, a race, and a punt to be had, but above all Manvers Road Star is about nine friends figuring out the highs and lows of first-time ownership. 

It may not always be a fairytale ride, but breezing through the book in one day may well leave you tempted to find a syndicate of your own. As a former William Hill betting shop manager and racecourse photographer, Franklin's love of the sport shines through on every page.
Catherine Macrae 

Manvers Road Star is available to buy here

Read more reviews here:

Dancing to his own tune: how a Kentucky bloodstock legend walked out on the family firm and became a Derby hero 

Tale of pioneering female jockey an inspiring example of resilience in spite of the odds - and Lester Piggott 

Sunday Review: A comprehensive view into the inner workings of one of Britain's biggest stables 

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