Deep in the soul of every actuary, the horse racing betting odds scratch open the old wounds of some long forgotten CA3 Communications paper.
Deep in the soul of every actuary, the horse racing betting odds scratch open the old wounds of some long forgotten CA3 Communications paper.
Nonetheless, on 21 October, a group of us attended the British Champions Day at Ascot racecourse. The best horses and jockeys competed in six races on what is known to be the richest day in the UK horse-racing calendar, with £4.26m of prize money.
It appeared that calculating probabilities, permutations and various combinations of horses winning is not straightforward and does not guarantee you a win. Overthinking and making calculated bets can fall at the first hurdle. However, ignoring tail risk, betting on the favourite is often a surprisingly easy way to make a quick buck and get the party started. This, of course, does not always work. But if you are there mostly to have fun, then betting on a 20/1 horse is unlikely to improve your mood.
Horses and their fancy names, like Order Of St George, Cracksman, Lord Glitters and others, entertained the crowd, and everyone had a lot of fun on the day. The outing was organised by Yashil Ghoorbin, an actuarial consultant, for his colleagues at Capita and Prudential.