How to deal with punting the wrong horse at the Cape Met

I’ve always considered myself a ‘glass half full’ kind of guy and it’s seldom my style to look back and cry over the proverbial spilled milk, but it’s only correct and proper that I take ownership of the bitter disappointment of Saturday’s run by See It Again in the Cape Met.

Last week this article preached that there would be more upsets at AFCON but I didn’t foresee any such problems for the odds-on favourite at Kenilworth.

Whilst I was spot on with my soccer prediction, with Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, and Cameroon all sent packing on the weekend, I must hold up my hand and concede I got the second part of that equation wrong.

ALSO READ: Sink or swim: Budgeting decisions needed for successful punting on Cape Met day

I have previously quoted renowned American psychiatrist M. Scott Peck in this column and I must do so again. Peck wrote: “The difficulty we have in accepting responsibility for our behaviour lies in the desire to avoid the pain of the consequences of that behaviour.”

This week I’m in the most worstest of pain.

I make deliberate use of a grammatical error to remind myself that Double Superlative and not See It Again gave Nic Jonsson back to back Met winners on Saturday.

M. Scott Peck has a solution. To heal the pain I must employ the four tools of discipline. Let me give it a go and see if I feel better!

Step 1. Experience the pain first and delay any form gratification.

This is easily achieved for in truth there is zero gratification to be delayed. I built a solid argument and an even more solid book around See It Again winning the Cape Met. There is scant consolation in knowing that the shortest priced favourite in the history of the Cape Met ran, using the likely line-horse Rascallion, something like 7.75 lengths below his Merit Rating.

Under normal circumstances I could argue that winning a R1 000 betting voucher in the Sporting Post ‘Best Quartet Tip’ competition was gratifying but even that feels like a hollow victory when I failed to catch the quartet myself.

I believe a couple of my followers on social media made good use of my Met selections. It cost just R24 to box my prediction of See It Again (9-20 Fav) to beat Double Superlative (33-1), Rascallion (12-1) and Without Question (50-1) and it returned a whopping dividend of R17 779.90.

I’m delighted for the Clocking the Gallop faithful who took cognisance of my tips and cleaned up, but I can’t help thinking that had See It Again produced his best I would have tipped the Met quartet straight-line.

ALSO READ: Double Superlative delivers a 33-1 Met shock

As it is I am attending to Step 1 and experiencing the pain.

Step 2. Accept responsibility.

I think Dear Reader, you will concede that this article is serving that purpose.

I take full ownership of my loss and unlike others you won’t hear me questioning Piere Strydom. The fact is Piere just had no horse under him on Saturday. See It again was a flat as a gravestone.

Peck warns that Step 2 will be emotionally uncomfortable. Peck is right.

Step 3. Dedication to reality.

Again I am under no illusions here. So as to face the truth, I have retained every losing ticket. Even the least smallest. Now I’ve given you a double Double Superlative.

This was a wretched result for me and entertaining any falsehood around all those doomed doubles and tapped-out trebles represses reality.

ALSO READ: Double and Danny: From the school of hard knocks

Step 4. Balancing.

This final step is about being equipped with the capacity to express disappointment effectively.
To this end flexibility is the key. Dealing with loss is essential for every punter so having a skill set to free one’s frustrations in different ways depending on the unique circumstances is paramount.

M. Scott Peck would be delighted to know that I haven’t kicked my cat, screamed at my kids or punched any walls and that this article has allowed me to articulate my anger and has served as a means for much needed catharsis.