Shouting The Odds: A fascinating throwback to the betting shops of the 1990s

Shouting The Odds: Betting to flee the past, by Jon Franklin

£12.99, published independently and available through the Racing Post shop

Having been a betting shop manager for 15 years, I was really looking forward to reading Jon Franklin's Shouting The Odds. And I wasn't disappointed.

Franklin's debut novel transports the reader into my familiar world of the mid-1990s betting shop through the main character of 23-year-old postal worker Andy Cooper. First setting foot in a bookies by chance, locking up his bike and running into the nearest place for cover as the heavens open outside, Andy enjoys a run of beginner's luck, sparked by a winning first bet on a young Frankie Dettori and gradually becomes a regular, experiencing not just the highs and lows of betting on horses but of friendship and camaraderie from the terrific cast of characters he meets in the shop.

Andy's journey to get to the betting shop in the first place – the start of the novel sees Andy and his father Ron return from a football match to find his mother Marie has died, with Ron wrongly blaming Andy for her death and turning to drink as he forces his son to grieve the loss of his mother alone – feels slightly rushed.

However, the moment the focus switches to the betting shop is where Franklin is in his element, as you'd expect from a man whose first job was for William Hill and who worked in betting shops for many years. Franklin was manager of a Hills shop in West London before a change in career saw him become a racecourse photographer for 20 years, having continued to work part-time at a Hills shop in Nottingham – on which the shop in Shouting The Odds is based – while doing his photography course at university.

From Andy's good run at the outset, the novel goes on to provide dodgy gambles, tips and potential romance. But the most enjoyable part is the story of the syndicate created by customers and staff from the betting shop as they club together to chase the Tote Jackpot after successive rollovers. The feelings in one unforgettable chapter will be familiar to many. Indeed, all the stories and characters around the betting shop really resonated with me and brought back memories of working in a demanding but fantastic industry.

Franklin isn't afraid of tackling the dark side of working in a betting shop either, with the staff falling victim to the familiar scam of the 'slow count' and fellow regular Big Les knocked over in the scammers' rush to make good their escape. This is clearly a world the writer knows inside out, which is all too rare when betting is tackled in novels.

With so many cliffhangers, the novel has the feel of one that could make a good TV series and the questions keep coming. Will Andy and his father manage to rekindle their relationship? Will Andy back any of his beloved Frankie's Magnificent Seven at Ascot? I hope you enjoy finding out the answers as much as I did.
Sam Hardy

Click here to buy Shouting The Odds through the Racing Post shop

Point-to-point analysis a must for punters

The Point-To-Point Recruits 2021/2022, by Jodie Standing

£12.99, published by Marten Julian

Jodie Standing has hit upon a previously unexplored niche with the annual autumn-published The Point-To-Point Recruits, and the 2021-22 version, which is the fourth edition, is once again essential reading as the jumps season starts to move through the gears.

Punters and tipsters have for some time had masses of information available for their research, with lifetime form, race replays and statistics right there at the press of a button. However, there is very little to go on when a point-to-point recruit turns up in a bumper or a novice hurdle, and Standing's excellent analysis helps fill that blind spot.

86 lightly raced horses from the British and Irish pointing fields have made the cut, and for each individual there is in-depth analysis about what they have done in the past and what can be expected in future.

Standing also looks beyond the obvious. Of Pull Again Green, who for the pointing world was a relatively inexpensive purchase at £35,000, Standing states he "has enough pace to win another bumper for Fergal O'Brien", and the five-year-old did just that at 9-2 at Uttoxeter at the end of last month.

There are lots more golden nuggets of information to explore, and value-seeking punters will be delighted at what they get for the price.
Ben Hutton

Click here to buy Point-To-Point Recruits for a discounted price of £10 through the Racing Post shop

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