My father , who was on the Burma railway in WW2, and who was a really good punter, used to say you could build a great fighting force made up of Australian punters
No matter how many times they were bashed down, they never lost their belief that a winner was just around the corner. They could not be defeated. They would have been invincible
He was a bloody good punter---very controlled , totally un-emotional--highly disciplined-excellent maths-- but he confessed to me that after a lifetime of punting , he guessed he had only broken even. This was a shock to me that such an expert could only breakeven---I gave up punting on horses
