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“It’s the thrill of winning it, that’s me, I just don’t like losing!” 

The words not of a man who has simply had a nice Tote Placepot success, but someone who walked away with the top prize of £104,832 in this season’s Tote Ten To Follow.

As well as the main prize, Robert Lynch, also picked up a number of other cash prizes with other stables in the top 500.

But it was Robert’s ‘Tipperwood’ stable that landed the big one, running out an 11.8 point winner over his closest rival.

It was only the latter stages of the competition that victory became a possibility for the Scot, with two Grade 1 successes at Aintree cementing his place at the top.

“When Fakir D’oudairies won at Aintree I thought maybe I was in with a shout. Then I needed Thyme Hill to win, and when he went and did it. It was just then a case of waiting a fortnight to see if anyone would pass me,” Robert told Tote.

“It was a season full of ups and downs, you can be right up there and then you can have some weekends where you’re just having second after second after second.”

For a lot of folk there was bad luck with injuries or horses not running in the races you had hoped, but for me it went the right way.”

All told, Tipperwood stable housed nine Grade 1 winning horses this season, five Cheltenham Festival scorers and two Aintree victors.

Fakir Doudairies

Keeping the faith worked wonders

There was also plenty of good judgement on Robert’s part that helped him top the table, with two shrewd Transfer Window decisions.

While many stables would have removed Thyme Hill after he was ruled out of the Cheltenham Festival and Minella Indo after two poor runs at Leopardstown, but Robert opted to keep the faith.

“I was all over him [Minella Indo] from the start of the season. If you’ve got two injured horses it’s an easy choice, but if I’ve got two horses who haven’t performed well, you’re always going to go with the horse you think is best.“

That keeping of the faith of not only Henry De Bromhead’s Gold Cup winner and Philip Hobbs’ Liverpool Hurdle scorer saw Tipperwood bag another 117.7 points, potentially the difference between winning and finishing outside of the top 50.

Minella Indo

Ten To Follow provided the value for Robert

Value is something we all strive to find when it comes to betting, and for Robert, the Tote Ten To Follow is just that, with a small entry fee providing plenty of entertainment.

“You could have £50 on a horse and within three minutes your money is gone, but with the Ten To Follow, you pay your fiver and you’ve got from November to April to keep you entertained,” he said.

“A lot of my lines started out rubbish, but by the time we had had Cheltenham, they had turned out better.”

Nod to a favourite of old

When asked about the inspiration for his stable name, Robert took us on a trip down memory lane with a nod to a former Scottish National runner-up.

“As a teenager I used to enjoy going to Ayr races. Every time I went and backed Tipperwood, he seemed to win, so he was always my favourite horse growing up,” Robert explained.

And while he didn’t share any confirmed plans for the six-figure sum he’s walking away with, Robert did hint that his wife was a big fan of shopping, so there could be some retail therapy on the cards at the Lynch household.

However Robert chooses to spend his winnings, he certainly played a blinder to walk away with the 2020/21 Tote Ten To Follow competition and the £104,832 top prize.

Winning Stable

Tipperwood

Honeysuckle - 132.94 

Shishkin - 132.72 

Monkfish - 119.08 

Minella Indo - 83.30 

Put The Kettle On - 82.60 

Chacun Pour Soi - 76.74 

Fakir D'oudairies - 68.20 

Thyme Hill - 55.50 

Epatante - 30.02 

Fury Road - 23.32 

Tote Ten To Follow Flat closes for entries at 11am on Saturday 1st May, with entries costing £5/€5.50 and prizes all the way down to 500th place and no Tote take-out. Alternatively, play our free game for a chance to win top ticketing prizes.


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