"How Do You Get Over a Photo That Goes the Wrong Way?"

Kingsley on SEN radio with racing.com. Segment courtesy of SEN x racing.com.

Someone asked me how I get over a result that goes the wrong way. A photo that falls against you, a horse that gets held up, a runner that strikes trouble and never gets a crack at it. My answer is not complicated. I put the bet out of my head and I go on to the next race. I do not sit there and stew on it. It happens every day in this game, and if you let each one sit with you, you will never get through a full day of racing with a clear head.

Why dwelling on it does not help

The bet is done. The result is on the board. Nothing you feel about it changes the money. What it can change is how you bet in the next race, and that is where the real damage gets done. If you are still arguing with a photo in your head while the next set of odds are moving, you are not concentrating on the thing in front of you. You are betting with the last race instead of the next one.

That is why I never look back. It is not that I do not notice when one goes against me. It is that I have made a habit of parking it straight away and shifting to the next piece of work. The next race is the only one you can actually do something about.

It is not just racing

I bet a lot on the NRL, and the football is the same, maybe worse. You get done by a refereeing decision in the last minute and there is nothing you can do with it. I had a big bet on Brisbane when they got beaten by North Queensland. JT kicked that field goal right at the end, and Ben Hunt knocked the ball on. That is the sort of finish that could rattle around in your head for a week if you let it.

It did not, because I treat it the same way as a photo going the wrong way. It happened, it cost me, and then it was over. There have been a heap of them over the years. If I could still list them all off in detail, that would tell you I was holding onto them, and holding onto them does not pay.

Part of the torture we love

That is genuinely how I look at it. It is all part of the torture that we love. If every close one landed your way, everyone would be doing this and there would be nothing in it. The narrow losses, the interference, the late field goal, they are built into the activity. You are signing up for them the moment you have a bet.

So I do not treat a bad beat as some kind of injustice that needs processing. I treat it as the cost of being in the game at all. You accept it, you feel it for a second, and then you get on with the next one.

If you find yourself replaying a photo or a blown lead hours later, that is worth noticing. Give yourself a moment, then move to the next race and give that race your full attention. The bets in front of you deserve more than the ones behind you.

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