While I was watching the York Festival last week, ITV Racing pundit Adele Mulrennan said when assessing the field for the Yorkshire Oaks and the chances of the favourite Minnie Hauk, “I’ve had my biggest bet of the year on her.”

For some reason, I didn’t believe that she had anything like a large bet on the favourite and it got me wondering why this intrinsic part of the sport seems more alien to females?

At the moment in Britain, due to the threat of the increase in betting tax on horse racing, everyone is endeavouring to promote betting on racing as a game of skill. Punters don’t bet blindly, you study the data and bet accordingly. But why do so few women seem to get the thrill of this chase?

Women are now much more frequently seen in punditry roles and are trusted to read a form book and assess a horse’s chance as expertly as any male. Yet the racecourse betting ring is a male-dominated area. I asked a bookmaker about this and was simply told: “It’s very much the exception to take a large bet from a woman”. (And the one time he did, it was a deflection, betting for her husband who was in the know!).

Why is betting still a dirty word in girls’ language? Betting is fun. I get as much enjoyment with a horse carrying my €€s cruising up to the lead or getting up in the last stride, as I would a last-minute goal for my teams, buying a new dress, or going for an expensive meal.

It regularly gave me some wry amusement when a female work colleague would regard me with some disdain if I said on a Friday evening that I’d got a tip for a 10/1 shot in Kilbeggan, but yet the same person left the office proclaiming “Don’t forget the Lotto tonight, this could be my lucky day!” My €20 invested on a racehorse with a 10% chance of winning was looked down upon, in preference to putting €20 every week on the long odds of six random numbers coming up.

I asked two colleagues for their opinions on the lack of female punters. I was told “Women are too sensible! Men are foolish. Ask my wife…"

Though on this, my personal observation on that was that women are as likely to waste money on other things, clothes, shoes, handbags, many frivolous items. The husband of a friend swears ‘there is the price of a small farm’ in the walk-in wardrobe of his wife. He may well be correct too!

Boast about it

Another comment was: “I think men are more prone to betting because of their ego. They like to see their judgement proven correct and boast about it.” Do we ladies not feel the same? Did I tell you about the 66/1 winner I backed?

“Society frowns upon it. A mother/housewife seen heading into bookies would be a red flag and subject to criticism. It’s just accepted men do things like that maybe to cope with pressures.” Ah, that’s more like it, we’re back to women as housewives territory?

Another opinion was that “an industry and sport dominated by men will attract more male fans and it’s the fans that gamble.”

“There are fewer female racing fans than men and fewer female owners/trainers/jockeys. The only place they’re probably even is in stable yards!"

Another comment: “Gambling in the old days would have been considered unladylike.”

It’s true, the stands at somewhere like the DRF and Cheltenham are predominantly male. But our GAA brings out male and female to cheer success.

Spot the lady!

On a recent edition of Luck On Sunday, professional punter Neil Channing, defending racing against the implication of the proposed 25% online gaming tax, compared betting on racing to going to the cinema, something you pay to go to, watch, enjoy, but have nothing to take home.

The opposite angle appeared on Sunday when RTE News’ This Week slot had an item on the increase of harmful gambling among females. It was described as a hidden problem because people were too “embarrassed to come forward due to the stigma associated with the addiction”.

Not that we want in anyway to jest on this topic, but if you are reading this, you probably like a few bets. We are in the game together.

The interesting element was that, as reported by Nicola Kelly from the Cuain Mhuire treatment centre in Athy, a recent study found women were more prone to addiction to online casinos, scratch cards and lotteries, rather than sports betting.

So, while we see more females participating in racing and in race analysis, one of the more enjoyable elements, the actual betting on a race, remains male driven.

So, ladies, tell me why do you not find a night with the formbook something worthwhile?!