Runners and riders

A psychologist called Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University recently did a study of gamblers and gambling. He found that hardened gamblers (quite apart from losing money) really did think differently to non-gamblers. Their 'illusion of control' (as Griffiths put it) included the idea that the fruit machines they played were either lucky or unlucky, or that the object 'liked' them in some way. For all I know punters at horse racing events might feel the same about the animals they back. Whatever approach you take, it's that time again tomorrow, the time when the entire nation (with a few notable exceptions) - gamblers and non-gamblers like me - will have a flutter.



Quite why the Grand National attracts so much attention is something of a mystery. Perhaps it's because - as a race - it really does give the rank outsider a realistic chance of winning. Anyway, if you buy 'The Sun' today you can (as a new customer) get a free £5 online bet. And tomorrow, in addition to the traditional 'runners and riders' pull-out, every Sun reader gets a free £1 bet at Ladbrookes! They've also been assigning selected blogs with some of the leading runners (based on the horse's name) from this year's race and entering them in a sweepstake with a jackpot prize of £250. And based on their reading of Bringing up Charlie, they've given us (and I quote) 'the feisty filly Junior – a horse which I'm sure both you and Charlie can get behind.'



Junior's current odds stand at 20-1 so it's the kind of horse I might well consider backing. Which should be in no way interpreted as a tip!



Still, we'll be rooting for Junior, that's for sure. And - no doubt - expressing a few of what Griffiths called 'irrational verbalisations' at the television as we do.