Back in Blighty, dear reader, my heart as heavy as my wallet is light…

There are few things in the year that I look forward to as much as the annual equine jamboree that the Americans refer to as the World Championships of Racing (well, they would, wouldn’t they…).

But the words p155up and brewery spring all too readily to mind, I’m afraid.

This year’s host track, Monmouth Park, is a bullring of an oval that makes Chester look like a galloping track. The course facilities were outmoded and undersized for an event of this stature and magnitude, and someone must have taken a very healthy kickback to approve this venue.

Kickback was indeed the order of the weekend. In fairness to Monmouth, they could not have predicted the shocking weather. It rained. And it rained. And it rained. And it rained. And….

The US horses are used to running on slop as they call it. This basically means that the dirt becomes akin to gravy, and the horses are actually splashing through the gravy and striking their hooves on the gravy bowl. Or in this case, striking their hooves on the road beneath the dirt track.

And so it was that in the ultimate event, the Breeders Cup Classic (sponsored by Dodge, lest we forget), George Washington paid the ultimate price. It is testament to the spirit of the beast that, even in breaking both sesamoids and fracturing his right cannon bone, he still didn’t chuck Mick Kinane to the dirt, an event that would almost certainly have led to a career threatening injury to the autumnal Irishman, had he been thrown to the road.

Sir Henry Cecil, a man who forgets daily more about racing than I will ever dream of knowing in a lifetime, said that the turf course was false ground. Soft on top, firm underneath. Blunted Passage of Time’s kick, he said.

Excuses for Dylan Thomas were less forthcoming, as he was beaten a looong way out.

Excellent Art ran a race of merit again, but is turning into a professional loser in the eyes of this writer.

The weekend started terribly for me when Garrett Gomez (GG of course!), one of the best riders in the world, gave Annie Skates - Jane Chapple-Hyam’s impressively improving filly - one of the worst rides of his career.

Off a slow pace on going that was evidently tough to quicken out of, he held the Skates up in last place. Still only ahead of one horse entering the straight, he passed all bar one rival to finish second by a rapidly reducing margin. She is a decent sort, and may give punters a run at a huge price in the 1000 Guineas next season (though I’m not suggesting she’ll win the race).

That was to be the first of so many silver medals for me. In a bloodbath only partially washed away by the persistent remorseless conditions, I managed to do a four figure sum (sterling, no decimal point!).

The train ride back epitomised the comic organisation in this tin pot town with a tin pot track. Over a thousand people waiting to get on at a seasonal stop with no platform. Rather, a single thirty foot stretch of raised ground constituted the concourse.

The doors to the New Jersey Transit are elevated, thus you needed to be on the concourse. Or you would have done, had the driver not overshot the raised area, and opened the doors ten yards further along.

There followed scenes that can only be described as farcical; pandemonium; carnage. Ok, they could be described as a lot of other things too, but this is - mostly - a family show… Old men and women being hoisted onto the train; a crush from all sides to get through two adjacent open doors on a train ten carriages and more long. You call that organisation?!

Never again to Monmouth Park, dear reader. Never again.

Despite everything, I loved it!

Next year, we welcome sunshine at Santa Anita. Bring it on, bring it on, bring it on!!!

Some pictures are on facebook, if you are a member of that rather curious online society… just look for me (Matt Bisogno) and you should be able to view my snaps. Check out the sartorial elegance of Mr Battenburg: brilliant!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=19535&l=7c033&id=730636086

Matt

Its Wednesday, dear reader, and your sometime scribe is feeling very sick again. Head cold is making my eyes feel like they are being squeezed, and my nose (an incumbrance at the best of times) has turned into a tap that needs its washer changing. Oh, and I appear to have swallowed two golf balls, which have taken up temporary residence either side of my trachea.

Apart from that, I’m dandy. And it’s all in good time for my trip to New Jersey tomorrow!

Enough of my whingeing and whining, and on with the show…

Today’s post takes a look at a new product you’ve likely seen advertised, called Laying Confidential.

It’s a follow up product from Kristian Jackman, who also produced the excellent (in my opinion) Racing Secrets [Exposed].

This guide, which runs to 34 pages, spends the usual time outlining for newbies the basics of odds, betting and laying, before - in time honoured tradition - going into the two pages that actually constitute the system. (Although that might sound harsh, I actually don’t mind this in a system, as it enables me to focus in on what I need to do…)

The system is based on research and has established race types at tracks where, in the past, it has been lucrative to lay favourites. In that respect, it’s quite similar to the Trainer Flat/Track Stats guides.

So how has the guide done since its inception? Well, it’s always unwise to condemn a product very early in its life, but lets say that the Laying Confidential will be playing catchup for a while after its shocker of a start. The flip side is that if you believe, as I do, that after a bad run comes a good run, and vice versa, then now might be the time to get in…

Full results for qualifying races are below:

If you’re interested, you can find out more at http://tinyurl.com/3386vm

If you don’t mind a bit more effort (though no more than 30 minutes a day when you want to play), I strongly recommend Kristian’s previous effort, Racing Secrets [Exposed].

Here is a link to the review I did previously.

And here is where you can get the system from: http://tinyurl.com/377z6p

I’m off for a hot lemon, and to wring my handkerchief out….

Matt

Welcome back, dear reader, and I trust that you are enjoying your Sunday funday.

As you may or may not be aware, there is another small equine jamboree taking place next Friday and Saturday on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States of America.

A few Europeans will turn up, though not as many as normal, and I shall pop along to give them my support.

Yes, that’s right, its Breeders’ Cup time again. Now that may not mean much to you, but - since 2001 - it has become something of an annual pilgrimage for me, to worship the great thoroughbreds of each season in a festival of horse-y sport that, I believe, surpasses even Longchamp in the first week of October and the summer UK festivals as the best flat racing meeting in the calendar (with the probable exception of Royal Ascot).

Since that bittersweet first sojourn to New York in October 2001 - bittersweet because it fell just six weeks after those scenes that suspended belief when two planes flew into Manhattan Skyscrapers - my love for the trip has grown unabated.

I know now, for instance, that the World Series is usually drawing to a close at the same time; that if we plan far enough ahead (we didn’t this year!) we can get to watch an American football game; that its very cold on the East coast around now, and very VERY cold in Chicago.

As I missed 2003, I can’t vouch for the weather in Santa Anita in late October, but - when BC returns to the West Coast next season, I’ll be sure and let you know.

So… to the racing. The track chosen this year is Monmouth Park, not one of the Premier League circuits by any stretch of will, but a pleasant enough oval, known to many as the most picturesque in the land. (I have to say that, having seen it on Attheraces Stateside, with the incorrigible Matt Chapman, it doesn’t look all that scenic to me. I wonder what they’d do with a Goodwood or a Chester!)

The dirt course, where most of the races will be run, is a tight circuit a mile in circumference. The turf track, where most European hopes lie, is inside the dirt track and - therefore - even tighter. Just seven furlongs around, and with a run in of little more than a furlong, its going to be nippy, athletic types who are ridden handy, and can accelerate that will prosper. MICK KINANE TAKE NOTE!!!

I have no real fancies in the dirt races, which are way too tough for me, and in which I usually test my prowess at the Pick 3 (select three consecutive winners, rather like a mini-jackpot), at which I’ve been pretty good / lucky in recent years. I find the ‘perm four in a race’ scattergun approach favours my punting style!

However, in the turf races, I have already made three significant investments. The first, as you may have seen from a previous post, is on Dylan Thomas in the Turf (at 7/4, now trading around 5/4). European horses have won seven of the last eight runnings of this race (including a dead heat), and I expect it to be eight from nine by this time next week.

Last year’s winner, Bryan Meehan’s Red Rocks, looks the biggest danger, and I’m happy again to dodge the best of the US contenders, English Channel.

DT looks to have a few lengths in hand of RR, with the rest nowhere. Only a muddling pace and / or bad positioning can scupper DT for me, and Johhny Murtagh - who will ride - is not called ‘Group One Johnny’ because he traditionally cocks these tactical things up. It will indeed be the delirium tremens (DT’s natch) for yours truly if this one gets beaten…

Elsewhere, the Mile on turf used to be another Euro benefit, but in the last few years things have changed. Less runners from across the pond, and some poor riding, has cost us dearly. Only Domedriver at a fat 26/1 has given me any cheer in this event in recent renewals, but I have high hopes for the Excellent Art (7/2, still available).

His European form perches him at the top of the tree against inferior US turf sorts, and again - granted a decent tactical ride - he’ll be very tough to beat. I’ve wagered accordingly.

Finally, and perhaps the most interesting race from a Euro perspective, is the Filly & Mares Turf. In the past, I’ve lumped on Ouija Board three times in this race and been paid out twice.

This year, I’ve had a very stout each way bet on ‘Sir’ Henry Cecil’s Passage of Time. I’m glad I’m on each way, as the more I look at the Euro’s, the more dangers I see. Any of All My Loving, Simply Perfect and - most concerning of all - Timarwa, could pass PoT, and there is also a rare plausible US contender in the win machine, Nashoba’s Key.

I have 6/1 (now best is around 5/1 generally, though she may drift) and three places, so I have at least a sporting chance of collecting the place part.

If you’re interested in Breeders Cup and betting on it, and you should be if you’ve read this far!), there is a shed load of excellent editorial, and a view of the approximate US odds at the link below. For $5 (about £2.50), you can also download all of the past performances for the meeting, which this season spans two days for the first time.

http://www.drf.com/bc/advance/bc_adv_data.html

A final note on this is that a Juvenile Turf race over a mile is one of the new races added on the Friday, and I have a pretty strong contention that this will also become a European benefit.
Domestic Fund (Dermot Weld), Achill Island (Aidan O’Brien) and Strike The Deal (Jeremy Noseda) all have at least half a stone in hand on the likely US favourite, Prussian.

I especially like Strike The Deal, although there is a doubt over his stamina at a mile. But I reckon all of these three will beat the Yanks, and if you have an account that will allow you, I urge you to play some penny permutations on the exotics (trifectas and superfectas). You might get rich on this one. (Then again…)

Finally, finally, look out for the non-BC races on the card - especially Friday. Last year, Gerard Butler snuck one in that won at very healthy odds, and we also copped the Pick 3 with it in. We saw Butler in a bar that night, and thanked him kindly. He was too p155ed to care…! Not for nothing is Mr Butler one of my favourite trainers…

To the races, make haste!

Matt

Quick line, dear reader, for I am tired and it is about to be my birthday, when I shall be nearer to 40 than to 30…

This is the 200th post on my little blog, and I hope you are still enjoying it. I apologise for the reduction in content recently and I hope that this doesn’t detract from your reading pleasure too much.

In case words are not your thing (you’ll have done very well to get this far!), here are some pictures…

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=390776&l=9168c&id=730636086

These are from Paris last weekend, when I was fortunate enough to attend a small game between two village sides, called Rosbif and Grenouille or something…

Finally, what I hope will be a birthday gift to you from me, tomorrow’s TTS runners (subject to being 14/1 or shorter):

Ludlow

2.50 Seattle Robber

Soviet Sceptre

3.20 Vibe

3.50 Dasher Reilly

Lilac

4.20 Torba

4.50 Warpath

5.20 The Hairy Mutt

I’m loving The Hairy Mutt, just for the name! Let’s hope he’s not barking…. (sorry, but it was the best I could do with my lids descending over my peepers).

Matt

Hello again, dear reader, and grim news from the turf, as the worm may be turning again in its inexorable cycle of good results followed by bad… (though see the end of this post for my bet of the year. If it gets beaten you’ll hear me crying from your house!)

Today should have seen Mexican Pete and Over Sixty secure a tidy TTS double at 11/4 and 9/4 respectively, but our man Choccie had a rare ‘mare.

Thornton is a very very good jockey (though not a great one in my opinion) who rides for a great trainer (not just a very very good one in my opinion) in Alan King.

King has his nags absolutely bouncing and should have put two more notches on the bedpost today. But Pete was given a waiting ride, and failed by half a length, the same, and a short head back in fourth. And Sixty was done a head.

Sporting Life comments:

Mexican Pete: mid-division, closer to leaders 5th, ridden 2 out, stayed on flat but never quite able to challenge - i.e. put in the race too late and didn’t quite get there.

Over Sixty: in touch, pushed along over 6f out, slightly outpaced, ridden 4f out, chased winner over 1f out, staying on, drifted slightly left inside final furlong, just failed

That’s the bad news. The good news is that, despite the bitter disappointments of the two missed 16/1 ‘winners’, and today’s minor setbacks, TTS is currently showing a profit of £383 to betfair enhanced odds (with commission accounted for), and a place profit of £313, all for £20 stakes.

A score each way on every runner puts you £700 in front since start of October.

And a staggering (I reckon, anyway) 57.58% of runners have finished in the first three!

Full results rundown at http://www.trainertrackstats.com/TTS20078perf.htm

Signup at http://www.trainertrackstats.com

In the interests of fairness, I should also point out that the Laying System, which was performing with credit in October, has had four out of five winners in the last five days to turn a nice profit into a small loss. The cycle will surely turn again soon enough.

To support the logic behind Laying System, these are the rules I look for typically (and you might want to use as well):

1. I look for false favourites (I want to lay short priced horses who I believe have less of a chance than the market suggests)
2. I look for slow horses (some horses are hyped because of which stable they are from rather than what they’ve done)
3. I look for horses who have not won in today’s grade (although a horse has 1’s and 2’s, it can often find a glass ceiling beyond which it is not competitive)
4. I look for horses who are perennial losers (seconditis is a condition in some horses, who simply don’t like being the leader)
5. I am happy to take on first time out horses, especially on testing ground (except when they’ve won or run well first time out before)
6. I am happy to take on dirt horses going to turf and turf horses going to dirt.

Tomorrow’s selections satisfies 1, 2, 3, and 6 above. On paper, it should get stuffed (it’s also 0 from 8 on all weather). But we’ll see.

Onwards, and news reaches me of a couple of other products on the market, that I’ve heard of but not tried. Lest you might be thinking of investing in either Brimardon or Colin Davey, have a squint at the below cautionary email.

Please note these are not my opinions and I therefore can’t vouch for whether this was just a particularly poor run or not…

Also, please note, there is a rather coarse joke at the end, which I left in because I think it’s quite funny. If you’re easily offended, please don’t read it… (thanks to Anon for these comments)

“If it will assist you I can relate the following: I have used many tipping services in my life & if it is helpful, I can admit the events that I have had to deal with.

Call it a learning curve, apprentceship or total idiocy, but this is fact. Stay away from anyone pirating other peoples tips. Why? Because you don’t know if you’re getting the full monty or only some of it. Then of course you get offers of this, that & the other & end up with maybe ten or twenty horses to back each day which is lunacy.

The only way to find out what is & what isn’t is to join something like ‘Whichtipster’ where the ground work is done for you. I joined BRIMARDON & I encourage them to take me to court if they wish,(as I have all the recorded data relating to my time involved with them), but I have this to say about that lot.

If you are silly enough,(like me), to part with £3K and be happy with the likes of ‘25/1 winner’ as they printed in one of their fliers, in truth it was a place bet which makes it 5/1, minus the fact that it was a ‘dutch’, so devide that by two makes it 5/2 then minus 1 point you lost on the win part of the bet & you end up with 6/4!!!

Brimardon are experts at telling absolute lies backed up with ‘TRUTH’ In my experience, you will not win with them if you get treated the way I did. So what else? Alright, Lee O’Hare: nice guy, honest, pretty good, but he does get losing runs. The same can be said of Steve Smith Eccles, & The mole.

The worst, (apart from Brimardon who I consider to be criminals, but that is only my opinion) has to go to COLIN DAVEY. This prat, (or am I the prat for paying him £100 per month for a year), who at the time was proud to say that Willie Carson was his racing manager, advised me loser after loser after loser.

When one day he told me that he would never back another horse ridden by Richard Johnson (I think), & followed that up by backing his mounts for the next three or four races, I started to lose faith!! What made me forget him tho’ was when he told me that he had been waiting for this one & it was called LOD-GER of course it was LODGER. I couldn’t stop laughing.

The ‘nail’ was another brilliant laugh when he said that OUTER HEB-BRIDES was the one to be on, & that will have every Scotsman rolling!!!

Anyway, for all of your members, remember: Use an agency which does the monitoring, like you Matt, ‘Whichtipster’ or other. This wil not necessarilly make you money, but it will save you lots.

And as I know you like a laugh: Did you hear about the intellectually challenged young man who went to the local stables & tried to get a job?

They asked him if he had any experience shoeing horses to which he replied, ‘I once told a donkey to f**k off’!!!”

Finally, although I haven’t had a chance to do a full analysis of the racing for the Breeders Cup yet - some time pencilled in on Sunday - I will tell you this. If Dylan Thomas lines up for the Breeders Cup T
urf, he is the bet of the year. The only possible way he can get beaten is if that eejit Kinane makes his run too late, as he has often done in the past Stateside (remember Rock of Gibraltar?!).

Certainty.

TTFN
Matt

Well, dear reader, what goes around comes around!

After the desperate disappointment of our chosen trainers hitting the target at 16/1 (and therefore just outside our range) twice in eight days, some payback in the shape of Alan King’s Mexican Bob.

The Bobster strolled home at 8/1, and we were unlucky when today’s only other qualifier, Knightsbridgelives, was pipped on the line at 5/2.

TTS runners have finished in the first 3 no less than 57.69% of the time (and, in fairness, no more than that either!).

That is, thirty from 52 qualifiers to date have been in the first three. Not bad and hopefully the run will continue.

Get signed up at www.TrainerTrackStats.com

And now, in celebration of my little Gallic jaunt, ‘ere eez a beet of Vendredi Rires (that’s Friday Laughs, I think - don’t quote me!)…

Brokeback Mountain anyone…?

Subscribers, please note, Saturday’s selections will be with you on Saturday morning, as I’ll be flying and drinking tomorrow night. Apologies for this heinous dereliction of duty (and I hope you understand… )

Matt

Frustration, dear reader, that is the only word for it.

After getting the Cambridgeshire woefully, hopelessly, embarrassingly, expensively wrong, I then backed the best value horse in the race in the Arc (Getaway at 130 win, 10 a place) only for it to finish a short nose fourth.

As if my luck couldn’t get any worse, today’s TrainerTrackStats kicked me squarely in my already heavily bruised plums.

After suffering just the one painful 16/1 (and therefore non-qualifying) TTS ‘winner’ last season, we have now had two in the space of EIGHT DAYS!

Opened 14/1, returned 16/1, was the Sporting Life betting summary. I can only hope that some of the TTS followers backed that pesky Temper Lad today.

They knew that Jimmy Frost is a chip off the old Frost block, and has picked up where his dad left off at Haldon Hill, Exeter.

As if that wasn’t enough to make my gooseberries go soggy, Emma Lavelle banged in an 11/4 winner in a non-qualifying race, and then had a 12/1 horse finish 2nd in the qualifying race.

Further insult was added to multiple injuries over at Towcester, where Another Jewel ran creditably though not lucratively when finishing 3rd at 5/1. The other runner there did win, albeit at the piffling return of 2/5.

The horses are running very well, and indeed peppering the target, but today was not a lucky day.

We return to the fray at Lingfield tomorrow, with our hopes replenished if not our wallets.

In the Land of the Layers, October has started brightly, with seven out of eight beaten at odds no greater than 11/4 (the winner was a 2/1 shot), for a profit to level £100 stakes of £433, after the usual betfair deductions.

We’ve managed to get three from three beaten this week at 1/4 (!!), 6/5 and 11/4 (today, Racing Post’s nap, Pantherus, crawled in 8th!).

As well as recouping a few lost punting pounds as a bookmaker, I also copped a few quid from laying NZ against France.

And, I’m delighted to report, that I have a ticket for the game in Paris on Saturday. I shall be flying to Orly on Friday night and getting royally drunk. Then Saturday will be a matter of trying to find a boozer (or is that boozeur) with the England footy on, before heading to Saint Denis and le Stade de France.

Now I must concede to not being a huge fan of the egg chasers, but as sporting occasions go, this is special.

80,000 screaming fans, likely 65,000 of them passionate Frenchies, being matched breath for breath by the minority of English ‘Charioteers’. Whoever wins, the roof will come off the stadium. And, though I won’t be measuring the decibels, I am confident that there will not be a rugby match for many a year to rival this one.

[Not even anything in the Tri-Nations, all you Southern Hemisphere readers!]

From then, I’ll have a little break next weekend (when I’ll be getting fall down drunk in London bars to celebrate surviving Mother Earth and all her human challenges for 36 complete years), before heading off to New Jersey for the Breeders Cup at the end of the month.

I’ll be bringing you a full on review of BC action nearer the time, and we always manage to find a few winners. This year, I am confident, will be no exception…

Some links for you before I close:

TrainerTrackStats: www.TrainerTrackStats.com

Laying System: www.Laying-System.com

Ciao for now
Matt

Morning, dear reader, and another Saturday brings yet another insoluble handicap. Just the kind of race I like to throw some stats at and see what they bring.

For a race with so many runners, there are some fairly strong trends that might help us.

Firstly, looking at the race this year, we see that the 3yo’s are favoured in the betting, with no less than the first six in the market in their Classic season. Two other 3yo’s also line up.

Only two of the last ten runnings have been won by this age group, and on that basis alone, I’m happy to strike these off my list. So that makes a 35 horse race much more manageable as only a 27 runner race (ahem!).

The best age group is 4yo’s, who have won half of the last ten runnings, with 6yo’s pitching in with the remaining three victories. So I’m going to narrow my search down to 4-6yo’s. That leaves me with 21. It’s still not getting much easier!

OK, after age, lets look at the draw. Only one horse has won this race in the last ten years from a single figure draw, and that was the 100/1 ’skinner’ Spanish Don. More on the Don shortly. Indeed, only three have won from lower than halfway in the draw, so I’m going to - perhaps carelessly - strike out all bar traps 17 and above.

We now have just ten horses in with a shout.

The market gives us a few clues with only three winners starting at bigger than 14/1 and, very interestingly, two of those three were trained by David Elsworth. As well as the aforementioned Don, he also saddled Lear Spear to collect at 20/1.

So let’s look at 14/1 or shorter, plus David Elsworth’s horses. We now have a shortlist of Snoqualmie Boy and Greek Well.

In fact, none of the other high drawn 4-6yo’s are any shorter than 28/1 this morning, so I’ll take these two each way against the field.

There’s a good chance that the 3yo’s will turn the older boys over this year, but - lest we forget - there have been plenty of short priced 3yo’s turned over in previous seasons (with the exception of last year’s winner of course).

Good luck with whatever you fancy. I have a suspicion you’ll need it!

Matt

Well, dear reader, that is the frustration of having a price threshold…

TTS fans were watching the betting on the 2.30 at Sedgefield with eagerness this afternoon, as the potential selection Red Chairman contracted markedly in the market.

25/1 became 20/1, and then 16/1, back out to 18/1, in again to 16/1…. but despite the sustained support - significant sustained support - the blessed horse would not go to 14/1.

The record shows that he won by ten lengths hard held, and yet again demonstrated the power of TrainerTrackStats in picking out the little men (and women). R Johnson (I’m ashamed to say I don’t even know his first name) banged that one in, and may have several more before the season is out.

We’ve got loads of unheralded trainers in amongst the big shots and the big guns, and they’ve already been peppering the target.

Incidentally, it was another Red who did the 16/1 trick on us last year, Red Scally, at Carlisle.

These things happen, but the threshold is there for a reason, and you can be sure that more than sixteen 16/1 shots will be beaten, meaning its the right approach overall.

My annoyance is that I was tempted to back it - as I often am with some TTS long shots - but didn’t bother in the end. Bugger.

Some nice quotes from TTS followers over the weekend:

“Great result for the TTS on Saturday: I placed single £20 bets on the
4 shortest odds horses of the six identified and, becuase of the Paddy Power website telling me of price changes, I inardvertently put the same bets on twice.

I then placed small stakes on doubles, trebles and a fourfold and made my way to Fratton Park.

After witnessing an incredible 7 - 4 home win and a few pints, I was amazed to see that three out of four horses I’d backed had won and I’d made over £1,000 profit.

Thanks a million.”

“”lubbly jubbly” and also rowdy yeats put me right yesterday”

Click here if you’re not already in on these.

On a slightly different note, I’ve had an email from the people at lay365, who were unhappy with the reports I published about them, which were based on some readers’ experiences. In fairness to them, I’d like to print the following from an email they sent me:

“I assume you will be now updating your site to explain that we, in fact, do update our site regularly, but were unfortunately hit by a server problem which would not allow us to do so for just over two weeks.”

So the results were not updated due to a server problem - fair enough, these things happen. They tell me the results have been a lot better in September too. I’ll try to contain my natural cynicism, and merely flag things as they’ve been presented.

Alas, there is not - as far as I’m aware - an independent view of their performance. I’d be interested to hear from readers who are currently using this service.

Ciao pronto
Matt

Monday, dear reader, and wet and miserable one at that. Welcome to October, and to the Autumn.

The perfect context then for yours truly to munch on a spot of humble pie (well it makes a change from the teeth-rotting biscuits).

In Friday’s post containing Saturday’s runners, I made a couple of untypical mistakes in the selections. I have been known to do this roughly once every six months, but Friday - for some bizarre reason - I made two on the same day!

One of the mistakes was in your favour, as Ramonti won at 5/1. He was however a 5yo, and we are only interested in Saeed bin Suroor’s 3 and 4yo’s in Group and Conditions races. As such, he was a 5/1 winner who shouldn’t have been nominated.

That was the winning roundabout. The disappointing swing, as TTS guide owners will (and indeed some have!) testify, was that - because I gave out the Market Rasen selections based on the jocked up horses from the five day declarations - some horses ran that weren’t put up, and one didn’t run in the right race, and one didn’t run at all.

The full results as they should have been are as below:

What that means is that we missed Pigeon Island and Nudge And Nurdle. I can only apologise. I am human, and I’m very sorry for this.

Hopefully, this was in some way offset by a ‘winner’ at 5/1 (Ramonti) and two legit winners at 3/1 and 6/1.

Normal service will now hopefully be resumed.

The tale of the tape at the end of September, for TTS subscribers, is a relatively healthy one, with a profit of £194 to £20 stakes on betfair (16% better than SP, less 5% commission).

Win and place percentages were as follows for the month:

The place percentage is very high, and I expect that to come down to something nearer 45-50%, if history is anything to go by.

More info and signup details are at www.TrainerTrackStats.com

Elsewhere, and finally we have our first Nag Nag Nag Fantasy Football League Manager of the Month. And the winner is…. drumroll…. trumpet fanfare…. hushed silence…. my mate Steve Frazer, with whom I’ve just been to Thailand.

The bad news for everyone else (me especially, as I never hear the end of it!) is that he’s actually 2,407th in the country. Might not sound like much, until you realise there are 1,390,942 players globally. That put him ahead of 99.82% of players!

Good effort Frazer - if only you could pick shares like you can fantasy football teams! (For irregular readers, Steve is the editor of the national shares magazine, Shares).

Never mind, one month down, and still much to play for. So don’t despair yet. The podium positions and the next dirty dozen look like this:

If you’re not in the Top 15, you need to pull your finger out! (I may not be there next month!!)

Tomorrow’s racing is at Sedgefield and Warwick, as well as Wolves.

Not much to float my boat, though I will be looking out for Free Fallin of Peter Chapple-Hyam’s at Warwick. Very small stakes only.

Matt