I have fond memories of the Hennessy Gold Cup (Now the Ladbrokes Trophy). I’ve traditionally done well at this race and it’s the race I traded live at the IX Investor show for Betfair in 2006. I’ve posted this summary, or something similar, before. But it’s definitely one of the highlights of my trading career so far so it’s worth a reprise for those that haven’t seen it before.
Betfair at a financial market expo
Seeing a betting company at a financial investment show was a shock for many people and lots couldn’t understand why we were there, so we had real trouble getting people to come near the stand. I famously had a full-blown row with somebody who came over to berate us for attending. He hadn’t bothered to investigate that we were actually talking about trading and not traditional betting. I wasn’t going to let him get away with that!
After failing to get the message across I decided on a plan. I rolled up my sleeves and started to trade live for everybody. A slightly unorthodox setup, but it worked. As the profits flowed in, it inevitably brought people to the stand to try and understand what market I could possibly be trading on Saturday. I found a photo last year while archiving some data that somebody took at the show, it was a good day. There is nothing like acting on the spur of the moment!
From that point on the stand was heaving and interest grew over the day. As more people came to the stand, it drew more people in. I didn’t really get the chance to leave after the point. It was an exhausting experience, but a great one. I felt it we could reach these people the race markets could turn over millions rather than the hundreds of thousands they currently were.
Back then I was pondering just how long the opportunity would last. Now, with a few more years behind me, I find myself pondering just how long I’ll last! I’m keen to make sure I tick off a load of things on my bucket list and won’t be happy until I have. So I don’t want to leave it too late to do that or not do it for the sake of a decent trading month. So I’ve started to get pickier.
I hope to get to Newbury to enjoy the big race in person one year. Till then I’ll still have to enjoy it from behind my screen as I will again this year.
