22 June 2023 , 16:40
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A sports betting entrepreneur is preparing for a “tear jerking” day after buying a Royal Ascot horse to run on the day of his late father’s birthday.
A week ago Will Armitage. 47, co-founder of Best Odds, bought a 50 per cent stake in Thunderbear who is set to contest Saturday’s £150,000 Jersey Stakes.
The Jack Davison-trained gelding will run in the colours of the late Mark Armitage, a steward at Ascot, after the sale was completed via the ThoroughBid online platform.
“There are multiple reasons why this will be an emotional day on Saturday,” said Armitage. “But it would have been my father’s birthday.
“My father was a steward at Ascot for 30 years or so; a passionate horse racing fan, and that’s how I developed the ‘bug’, as a six-year-old sitting on the kitchen floor, reading about whatever Willie Carson was riding.
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“My father would be asking me what would be returned if I had 50p on and it won at 7-2, and that’s how I started my love of numbers and sport and gambling, in essence.
“Having a horse running in my colours, which were his colours, on what would be his birthday, will be tear jerking, but he’ll be looking down from on high going ‘what have you done?! Why have you spent that much?!’”
Thunderbear, who is trained in Ireland, won a handicap at Nottingham in May, and then finished fourth in a Group 3 race in Naas after being gelded.
Armitage said: “If you saw his win at Nottingham, you couldn’t believe it. He was the outsider of five. Amazing, just absolutely coasted. You’ve rarely seen a horse coasting so well.
“That Naas run was after a gelding operation as well so, sometimes you then see further improvement. We’re hopeful. We’ll see what happens.
“£75,000 is a lot of money, but he’s a cracking horse and we should have a lot of fun, not just on Saturday but going forward.
“It’s incredibly tough to be playing at this big table with the big guns, but a fun day out is the name of the game.”