I'll never forget taking my 'lucky mascot' Aaron to the bookies because I had a hot tip. I had £160 to put on (not all my money, mostly the jockey's cash) Aaron came with me and was probably thinking I was mad to put such a big bet on, and just imagining how much beer we could buy with the money instead. So anyway we put the bet on in the bookies in Wallingford one that neither of us had been to and there were just a few locals and staff in the place. I placed the bet with the cashier and she even turned around to the manager and asked if she could accept this large bet on a horse called Nottash which was ridden by my friend David Harrison. The manager asked her for the name of the horse whilst looking Aaron and myself up and down and then after checking his paper he smirked and said yeah sure. Well the horse got up and won but only just, and Aaron and I were jumping up and down and making a fair bit of noise. After we calmed down and whilst we were both working out how much I would be getting for £160 at 8/1 which we worked out came to £1440, we heard the dreaded 'ding dong' steward’s inquiry steward's inquiry - please hold all bets till the result of the enquiry is annouced. I had noticed that our horse had bumped the second horse so because I was a little worried I went to the counter to collect my winnings from the girl hoping they hadn't noticed the steward’s enquiry being called. When we were at the counter the manager stood up and glared at us saying he wouldn't payout until the result of the stewards enquiry was announced in case our horse was disqualified. On hearing this one of the locals, an elderly man, shouted to the manager "hey you! pay the lads, you know full well it first past the post in here, and you have to pay even if the horse is subsequently disqualified" the manager got even more irate and shouted at the man " shut your mouth you, they haven't just had 50p on that stupid horse, like you". The argument carried on for a while and I demanded my money. While the manager was opening the safe to get the winnings the same elderly man told me "hey don't forget that they also pay best odds in here". This means you get the best price that the horse ever was, which in this case was 10/1 instead of 8/1. The manager duly tried to only pay me out at 8/1 which meant he owed me another £320, which I demanded pointing out what the man had informed me. He told the old man he was to leave his shop and never come back, as he counted out the extra £320. Aaron and I then went for a couple of drinks to celebrate and he kept bumping into people he knew and was excited telling them what had just happened and I had to keep getting my fat wad of notes out to prove it..... We didn't stay out long because we couldn't wait to get back to Elsa's to tell all the family what had just happened. Remember only the very rich had mobiles back then. I think I only gave him £20 (scrooge) for being with me but most the winnings weren't mine anyway. I hope he didn't go wasting his money down the bookies after this successful introduction to the world of gambling and easy money. If he did he never told me.