Racegoers looking to pull at Cheltenham Festival this week can thank the “pleasure drug” Dopamine for increasing their chances of doing so, according to leading psychotherapist Helen Villiers (MA).
New research has revealed horse racing fans are the friskiest fans in sport – far friskier than in football, rugby, and tennis.
Helen Villiers, psychotherapist and couple’s therapist, say’s the primary reason racegoers are most likely to engage in this type of behaviour at the races is because of “the amount of dopamine flying around”.
Dopamine is better known as the “pleasure drug”, which can be released through exercise, food and sex.
But the chemical is also released in the brain when you win money.
Thanks to horse racing’s intrinsic link with having a bet – Helen believes an event like Cheltenham Festival is the “optimum climate” for thrill-seekers to engage in adult behaviour.
Helen teamed up with Illicitencounters.com to share her expertise, after a poll from the dating site for extramarital affairs revealed 68% of its members had pulled at a sports event.
The warning comes as over 250,000 racegoers will descend on the famous Cheltenham racecourse - and it’s not just inherent risk taking that makes equine fans the friskiest.
Helen Villiers MA - Psychotherapist and Couples Therapist added: “Major horse racing events like Cheltenham and Royal Ascot are more likely to attract a more equal ratio of women and men versus football for example – and often turnout in groups for special events like stag or hen dos.
"But the primary reason for horse racing fans thrill-seeking tendencies is rooted in biological science - Dopamine is the reward hormone that releases a pleasurable feeling when we do something like win money. It’s also intrinsically linked to sexual desire. So, throw winning money, alcohol lowering inhibitions, and everyone dressed to impressed into the mix, and we’ve got the perfect recipe for people acting on impulses they would normally control, and therefore cheat."
Of the 2,000 respondents polled by Illicitencounters.com, 24% even admitted to cheating on their partner at a sports event.
A 2015 study revealed Dopamine also plays a major role in whether someone will cheat or not. The research revealed 50% of people who have the long allele variant of the dopamine receptor have cheated on their partner, versus 22% of people with the short allele variant. Long allele brains are also more likely to be risk-takers and engage in pleasure-seeking behaviour.
Helen added: “You can even look at more superficial reasons for why horse racing is set up for frisky behaviour versus other sports, like the men dressing to the nines and women investing in extravagant outfits. Sports like football, tennis, and rugby simply don’t deliver the Dopamine hit like racing does.”
Illicitencounters.com spokesperson, Jessica Leoni, said: “The insight from Helen is incredibly revealing and partners shipping off their other half for a day at the races this week might well want to give them an extra warning not to roll around in the hay with someone else. With thousands of fillies and stallions dressed-up at Cheltenham the event is a short-odds bet to be hotbed for frisky behaviour – whether it’s with a current partner, or someone else.”
