A sensational new book has Cumbrian roots and the county features strongly throughout the 224 entertaining pages.
Amazingly, a Red Squirrel is at the centre of the punting syndicate that landed an incredible £3 Million In 3 Weeks, as in the title of the book with a foreword by legendary jockey Frankie Dettori reveals.
Cumberland-born Richard Brocklebank, 57, was clearly born lucky, as having avoided becoming roadkill on the A6 at Shap as a toddler he went on to land millions for his syndicate at the races and last weekend the book became a number one best seller in no less than three Amazon charts!
The book titled ‘£3 Million In 3 Weeks- The Squirrel Syndicate – A Gambler’s Tale’ is packed with handy hints for other lovers of the Sport Of Kings.
One reader inspired by the book won £110,441 for a 94p seven-timer perm on the Wednesday of the Cheltenham Festival earlier this month.
Proud Cumbrian Richard, who now lives near Hyde, Greater Manchester, said: ‘The chapter on the birth of The Squirrel features in the book and is an amusing read about an astonishing day at the Red Squirrel woods in Formby, Merseyside.
‘I was chasing a bonus pot and ventured to Kendal to hire a Squirrel suit for a photoshoot with The Sun newspaper – after my horse won the bonus I landed a column in the newspaper and literally helped their readers win millions.
‘Unbeknown to us at the time The Sun’s racing editor Trevor Clements hailed from Whitehaven, so held Red Squirrels close to his heart and loved the idea of a Squirrel column in the racing pages.
‘The original Squirrel suit we hired from the now defunct Red Alert charity that was based near Kendal, but they no longer exist after National Lottery funding of £1 million made that charity even bigger and better.
‘The Westmoreland Gazette was the local paper when I was a child, so it’s great to know that the great tradition of Cumbrian newspapers continues to this day.
‘I am personally very proud to appear in any publication from the county of my birth and we have lots of our online syndicate members still living in Cumbria.
‘In the Sixties we lived in a place called Shap – famous for being the highest point on the British motorway network at about 1,350 feet.
‘Years later, when I researched the family tree, it emerged that Brocklebank was a traditional Cumbrian name.
‘For the record Cumbria is a fine county full of hills, lakes, mountains, Japanese tourists and a few native red squirrels.
‘But it was very nearly all over before it began when as a toddler I took a walk on the busy A6 in the days when nobody drove on the motorway.
‘I’d have been squashed before The Squirrel was even born if the lorry driver, who spotted me, hadn’t stopped and picked me off the road.
‘I suppose back then I was lucky without even knowing it. I was so very nearly roadkill.’
Having survived that early scare big-hearted punter Richard, who made donations of a percentage of the winning stakes to The Thomas Russell Cancer Trust Fund, went on to win several small fortunes for members of his syndicate and a donation from each signed copy of the book sold via www.squirrelbook.shop is still made to that children’s cancer charity.
Smiling fondly Richard recalled: ‘One of the very early Squirrel syndicate members was a chap called John ‘Murf’ Murphy, now a retired psychiatric nurse, who hails from Carlisle.
‘The wins in that remarkable 21-day run that landed us £3 million happened at a time when John’s dear mum Agnes died in the city – she was a fan of red squirrels and is mentioned warmly in the book.
‘John’s one of a big family from Carlisle and his youngster Andrew even wore The Squirrel suit for a barmy dance on the day we won the £1.1 million bonus at Doncaster that topped off that £3 million – with a big win in the November Handicap at the track.
‘We drank some red wine and fine ales that day at Doncaster in the Panoramic Restaurant and had a few more when we got back to our base, which back then was The Three Tunnes pub in Stockport.’
Only last year the book featured on the front page of the national Racing Post newspaper and was hailed as one of the top five reads of 2022.
Richard takes up the story and adds: ‘A review of the book was carried in the newspaper and the reviewer ended his piece with the line ‘it could be your guide to a fortune.’
‘At the time we felt that was a brilliant advert for the book, but we hadn’t thought of it in that way as a read that could help others become winners.
‘Anyway, the reviewer was clearly a very clever chap as only the other week we got a message that someone had landed a 94p seven-timer on all the winners at Cheltenham Festival last month, and told us that his bet was ‘inspired by your book.’
‘Now that was tremendous, as we have packed into the book lots of handy hints and tips for better betting, but this reader clearly enjoyed the book and acted on the information to land himself a nice six figure win.
‘We’d like to think more readers will bash the bookies as the book becomes more popular – it clearly can be done as Squirrel Syndicate members will testify.
‘As time marches on we’d love to make an appearance at any upcoming Cumbrian book festivals, as this weekend we are making our first literary appearance at Glossop BookFest in Derbyshire.’
* £3million in 3 Weeks – The Squirrel Syndicate – A Gambler’s Tale – signed first editions with a donation to a children’s cancer charity available www.squirrelbook.shop at £19.99
