Gavin Lynch feature: On The Wire goes On The Road

Andrew Blair White is on the road for a new three-part series around Irish racing, and he begins in Dublin with Gavin Lynch.

Gavin has been betting for twenty-five years, and three years ago he stopped doing it on the flat altogether. He explains why, what giving up Dundalk taught him first, and why arriving fresh in October beats grinding through a summer.

He talks about his father, a small trainer who ran a horse into third in the Triumph Hurdle and took him racing every Saturday from the age of six. About the year he spent as a bookmaker after coming home from Australia, standing up at Thurles waiting for someone to whisper him a winner that never came. 

Gavin explains why the worst opinion you can have is half an opinion, why every punter should keep a P&L, why specialising beats spreading yourself across five sports. He also looks back on five years of Upping The Ante with David Jennings, and talks about the members' service he runs now from November to March.

Then off to Bellewstown, celebrating 300 years of racing, where Gavin has three hours of form study behind him and €300 to play with and all of it going to the Curragh to Curragh Charity Cycle.