Harry Findaly: Gambling For Life.
That’s the name of his book written by Neil Harman, published by Sport Media in 2017.
Findlay is by his own admission a Marmite kind of person: you either love him or ‘hate him. To be fair, I’ve warmed to him as I plough through his book about ‘The Man Who Won Millions And Spent Every Penny’.
I guess there are professional gambler books about poker which talks about giant bet but for a gambler in the United Kingdom I doubt there have been many who would fill his boots. Fearless isn’t the word, bordering on insanity some might say. I can’t imagine how he coped with all the stress. One moment springs to mind when he lost £100,000 in one day betting on five odds on shot at Hexham – all beaten. Another occasion, selling his house to Tony Bloom for £100,000 and tied himself up in so many knots betting on a cricket match that all he could hope was to get his money back. The book is full of so many crazy stories he must have felt as if he was on a roller coaster ride he couldn’t get off.
However, there have been many good days. One being the purchase of Denman for his mother with Paul Barber. One of the best investments of his life, an equal share of £60,000, in a beast of a horse, who took the National Hunt by storm.
Denman was a horse going places, even in those early days when winning at Wincaton, beating Victor Darnall’s Karanja by 16 lengths. The jockey on the runner-up, Andrew Thornton said: ‘That’s a f****** monster.’
Harry was convinced Denman was a future Cheltenham Gold Cup winner and was betting on him whenever the opportunity came.
On the 10th February 2006, Bangor-on-Dee, Denman was meant to face Black Jack Ketchum but he was withdrawn when an overnight frost brought concerns. Denman faced little opposition and priced 1/12f. Harry Findlay bet £360,000 to win £33,000. He said: ‘It was the easiest money I ever won!’
His first Chase experience saw him head to Exeter where he faced a worthy challenger in Penzance who ‘sailed the fence’ while Denman missed a stride and ploughed through four foot of birch. What surprised Findaly wasn’t that he landed on his feet but that he didn’t lose any ground on his opponent.
Harry put down his binoculars and said: ‘F*** me, he’s a tank.’
From that moment he was The Tank.
Denman went on to fulfil his ambitions winning the Chelteham Gold Cup in 2008.