Friends mourn death of hugely popular tipster Graeme Dand at 40

Friends and fellow racing enthusiasts have been mourning the death of Graeme Dand, who documented his long struggle with cancer as theformanalyst on Twitter, an account originally set up as a diary of his betting exploits.

The same account reported the 40-year-old had died at 7.05pm on Wednesday night, surrounded by his family, just over an hour before a race at Ripon was run in his name.

The Thank You Graeme Dand @theformanalyst Handicap was won by Gullane One, backed by friends of Dand at the track using a £100 free bet offered by bookmaker Mike Eckley. The proceeds will be added to a fundraising effort for Dand's family, his wife Denise and three young children, Sofia, Olivia and Jude, the last-named having been born days after Dand was diagnosed with terminal cancer in June.

"He's exactly as he's come across on Twitter," said John Spencer, one of Dand's friends who spoke to the Racing Post in recent days. "He's very up front, a great lad, fun to be around, enthusiastic and opinionated, as you have to be in this game. He was someone I took to straight away.

"I started following a few tipsters and blogging my experiences and he started a trading blog which I was following, called The Experiment, which is still online. We started messaging every night. He'd be looking at form, I'd be updating my blog about nine o'clock and we'd just have a natter for an hour, he'd go through the next day's racecards with me. That's how I got to know him."

Spencer recalls Dand's tipping service was long outlived by the chatroom created alongside it.

"His output was ridiculous, really," he said. "He was doing a full-time job in insurance, quite a high-flying job. There were at least 10,000 posts from him over two or three years, all very verbal. I couldn't keep up with him.

"I think when he was younger he had verbalising issues, he had a stutter. And I think written communication became a way of compensating for that."

Spencer was among a group of the chatroom's users who went racing with Dand from 2009.

"There were probably about 20 of us who met up one year for the National meeting. We had a couple of nights out with him. I've been a member of tipping services where you get nothing sometimes but that was a brilliant experience, being with like-minded people. He was so enthusiastic about the game."

'It's heartbreaking'

More recently, Spencer directed a friend with a nascent interest in racing towards Dand, who then mentored him and shared advice.

"That's the kind of man he is, very generous with his time. It's very, very hard to take. For someone so young to be lost to the world, it's tragic. I'm devastated for his family and for him, that he's been robbed of half his life. It's heartbreaking."

George Hartley tells a similar tale of getting to know Dand after stumbling across his tips online.

"Ever since, we've basically shared views each night on races," he said. "I'd like to consider us friends. I've probably spoken to him more than anyone else over the last four years."

Hartley was among a group who met up with Dand at Aintree's Old Roan meeting in October.

"We went to a few pubs, had a good chat about the racing in the morning, all had a dreadful day's punting and a good time doing it. I'm a recreational bettor but not expecting a lot out of it before I met Graeme. He shared a lot of his wisdom and I take it an awful lot more seriously now.

"Look at his threads on Twitter. It's quite incredible to think of the amount of people he's touched and how fantastic everybody on Twitter quite rightly thinks he is.

"That's only about half of what he is in person and I don't know how he does it. He's everything you see on Twitter and so much more. You can't believe this has happened to someone like that."

One Man following the 1998 Champion Chase, part of Graeme Dand's near miss in the Jackpot that he recalled so brilliantly on Twitter

As a single example of Dand's Twitter output, Hartley said he particularly enjoyed a thread about trying to land the Jackpot during the 1998 Cheltenham Festival, when Dand was 16 and placing bets through his grandad.

"The fundraising is because we had so many people messaging to ask if there was any way they could help, more than a particularly great need. Graeme worked in insurance and I'm sure when it first cropped up he said he was reasonably well covered for life insurance."

A crowdfunding page on JustGiving was set up by another friend of Dand, Roger Bush, who tips under the name West Country Racing. The original aim was to raise £2,500 as a contribution towards a young family to be left without its father but the sum raised had passed £17,000 on Thursday morning.

"I've never met him but we've become friends over the years because we were both trying to tip winners," said Bush. "We always had a great rapport and over the years we probably got in contact via the internet 20 times a year.

"Through a family friend, I've got the bank details of Denise, so the funds can be transferred straight there. The sums donated have been quite extraordinary. It shows the esteem he's held in."

Dand was also remembered by David O'Reilly, chief executive of Colossus Bets, for whom he worked as a blogger and tipster some years ago.

"Graeme had a great sense of humour," O'Reilly said. "He was also an extra-astute judge and was respected both by our team and those who followed his insights."

Click here to make a donation to support Graeme Dand's family