For those who have little understanding of horse racing they may think a cliff horse is a horse that stands on the edge of a cliff.
In truth, these beasts are more likely to have you standing on the edge of a cliff contemplating jumping and finishing the whole sorry business. Obviously, if anyone feels they are struggling with thoughts of suicide or self harming, they should seek professional help.
In essence, a cliff horse is one that you just can’t stop betting. Unlike Pegasus, it doesn’t sprout wings and fly off into the sunset with you perched on its back. You drop like a stone.
If you bet on a horse every time it runs in an unrelenting fashion you need to think you are caught up in such a scenario. It happens when you fancy a horse to win a race, place a bet, and it loses. You say: ‘Next time that will be a winner.’ So you bet the next time, then the next, live in a world of hope and dismay, carry on betting, the same horse, until one day you realise the beast is never going to win.
Every punter has bet on such horses.
It’s a good reason to question why you continue to bet on the same horse. I would suggest, at a push, you bet on the same horse twice. It isn’t third time lucky. A bookmaker must have come up with that maxim realising it was a money spinner.
I’ve studied two-year-old horse racing racing to the extreme and I have an understanding of why the cliff horse exists and why it’s a killer. The research details these horses are the proverbial loser waiting to happen. This must have a psychological underpinning, a behaviour related to attachment theory.
My studies have revealed that if a two-year-old horse doesn’t win in its first three starts in maiden company (not nursery) they have a horrendous strike rate. In fact, the only real hope they have is if starting favourite and then they can struggle.
What is the best approach to not bet on cliff horses?
Question what you are doing. Without an answer to a question, you are unlikely to make the right decisions. You are floating in the air at the mercy of your emotions and knee jerk reactions. It is a poor way of working and it will plague you for as long as you put up with it.
Here’s the answer to the question: Bet on a horse twice then stop.
Never again.