Nothing beats a day at the races.My favourite courses are Taree,Muswellbrook,Gosford and Wyong.Newcastle is probably the best track in the country for giving every horse a chance, but for a day out it doesn't cut the mustard.Anyway .......

For years I have been watching bookmakers pull the same old stunt over and over.Midway through the betting,either by a pre-arranged signal or following the leader they will dramatically shorten the odds on,say,Vaduz.Of course poor old Vaduz doesn't have a prayer.Never-the-less there is invariably a rush of punters plonking their hard earned on it.It works for the bookies,it has done for a long long time.

The fascinating thing is that Professional gamblers are pulling the same ******** on state TABs.If there is a final pool of,say $200,000, around about the $80,000 mark they plonk a couple of thousand on good old Varduz.Enough to make it look like a genuine shortener.There are thousands of us average punters watching the betting fluctuations either at home or in pubs and clubs.Bingo,,right on cue we plonk the $$ on Varduz,between us we put another $100,000 in the pool.Then of course in the last ten seconds using ultra fast connections they place their bets on the winner and plunder the pool.

What really stinks about this, is the fact that "for some reason" there is invariably a lag on the final betting pool and we dont get to see where the "real money" is until the race is half over.The only chance we have of spotting the professional $$$ is if the start is delayed.That must really make them squeal.

What is seriously peeing me off is the fact that I cant understand why the betting fluctuations appear right on cue "EXCEPT" for that final minute.We live in a world where George Bush bombed the hell out of Iraq for absolutely no reason.I wonder who else is having a lend of us ?????