#BettingPeople: MARTIN ‘LOFTY’ CHAPMAN

#BettingPeople: MARTIN ‘LOFTY’ CHAPMAN: ‘Lofty’ has spent most of his life surrounded by the heady world of betting, going to the dogs and racing from an early age and embracing it all. He soon found himself getting a few quid working on course with bookmakers and became a regular face in the betting rings of the South and beyond. In that time he mentored a keen young lad who went on to found the company that he now works for, Star Sports, meeting Martin ‘Lofty’ Chapman with Simon Nott.

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MARTIN ‘LOFTY’ CHAPMAN (part 1 of 3)

Lofty talks about his early life growing up surrounded by ‘the game’, going to the dogs from the age of five and going to Brighton races not long after. He talks about ‘proper jobs’ and being able to make a living from the game and being a ‘happy soul’. He talks about some of the characters that used to inhabit the betting rings back in the good old days and a disaster at Salisbury that could have stopped his career in his tracks.

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MARTIN ‘LOFTY’ CHAPMAN (part 2 of 3)

Lofty talks about bookmakers who were also fearless punters having it on too. He fondly remembers a young lad who always used to blag prices known as ‘Benny The Dog’ who went on to form a large bookmaking firm but not after a disaster with ‘multi-mutts’. He talks about good judges, including larger than life Jerry Croxford and memorable days at the races.

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MARTIN ‘LOFTY’ CHAPMAN (part 3 of 3)

Lofty talks about the future of dog racing, without getting too gloomy, he talks about how his association with Star Sports started in the early days betting on the end of the line before the proprietor was even old enough to hold a licence and learning that laying horses over the odds wasn’t the way forward. He waxes lyrical about colourful characters on course both past and present.

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MARTIN ‘LOFTY’ CHAPMAN #BettingPeople PODCAST

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