Having built up a healthy warchest of punting cash through some inspired poker playing and with a little left over from Mamlook’s win in January I was all set to take on the bookies. Bring it on!

Things didn’t get off to the best of starts when my each way Ante-Post Lucky 15 had 3 non-runners out of the 4 selections. At least Betfred was paying non-runner/no bet at the time I placed my wager and I was able to reclaim 7/15ths of my money back.

Tuesday

The last time I was this excited about Get Me Out Of Here was way back in the Winter when I used to avidly tune in to ITV to watch the jungle antics of some minor z-list celebrities. Great entertainment but not really a punting opportunity as I think I proved with my run down of said celebs last year. Having wagered £100ew with Betfred (money back if he loses) and £100ew with Paddy Power (money back if Dunguib won) on Get Me Out OF Here, my new favourite horse, I was ready for a flying start to the meeting. Unfortunately, Tony McCoy decided to make his flying start to the meeting a couple of yards too late and was denied by the narrowest of margins. I know the racecourse management kept everyone in the dark until very late about having moved the final flight 70 yards nearer the finishing line but you’d have thought someone would have told AP.

Still, Paddy and Fred gave me my place money so I didn’t lose anything on the race and Fred even gave me a free £100 bet to compensate slightly for Tony’s cockup. 1 race down, I backed the second and I’m actually technically infront.

Onto the Arkle. It didn’t take long for my big ante-post hope Captain Cee Bee to prove the age statisticians correct and show you can’t win the Arkle as a 9yo as he broke a blood vessel and laboured home in 8th. My two £40 savers in the race ran wildly different races but ultimately gave the same result i.e. I did my money. Riverside Theatre got him self detached from the field and then ran on like Usain Bolt to get up for 5th and then Timmy Murphy decided he’d also delay making his flying start to the meeting and ride Somersby for second place. Mission accomplished Timmy.

Having had Gary bend my ear all morning with talk of Chief Dan George I’ve only myself to blame for not having a cheeky score on him but I was really confident that The Package would win the William Hill Trophy and invested my Betfred free £100 bet on him and stuck another ton on top out of my own war chest. It was really nice to see Timmy Murphy actually riding a horse from some way out but he’s not the real McCoy and he had to settle for second, again. He tried his best but sometimes (especially with Timmy Murphy) it’s still not enough. I can’t tell you how happy I was for my kid brother as he quickly instant messaged me to gloat in the warmth of his big priced winner.

‘Did you back it’ he asked?
‘No I &($£*”@# didn’t’ I replied.

The big one, The Champion Hurdle but one of my smallest bets of the entire meeting. I was really confident that the winner would come from either Binocular, Medermit, Punjabi or Solwhit but having backed the latter ante-post and what with his less than ideal preparation I decided my small saver would be on one of the other three. Medermit had a bit to find and Alan King hadn’t really set the world alight this season so I dismissed him and then ruled out Binocular on the basis that he too had had a less than ideal preparation. So it was £20 on Punjabi and time to tear my hair out as Tony McCoy remembered the last flight had been moved and made his challenge well before the last. I guess that’s why he’s the Champ.

3m7f, 32 fences, round bends, up banks, through hedges, up Cheltenham High Street and back up the home straight, a field of 16 OAP horses and most of the big named jockeys giving the race a big swerve. It’s a recipe for punting disaster. I mean nobody could really fancy anything strongly in this race, could they?

I had Garde Champetre for the race and £40 at 9/4 looked about as much as I wanted to lay out on this race, I mean you’d have to be mad to really fancy anything in this race, wouldn’t you? It was also time to pick up Dylan from school so I set the sky+ to record and off I went. Sitting in the park, basking in the Spring sun, birds singing, watching my son and his mates run riot, ah….. all was well with the world.

Incoming text message…’I really, really fancied A New Story, had a great bet on it and doubled it up with Chief Dan George. Did you back it?’
‘No I @#&*%$ didn’t, now &%*$ off and stop gloating!’ I replied

Having watched the race back I think maybe only Sizing Europe could be called unlucky.

And so to the last race of the day. With doubts about the fitness of the front two in the betting I decided in our Trends Guide to try and find a bit of each way value. The one that looked most like the previous winners was Caroles Legacy so I went with her and had £25ew at 25’s. Another 2nd but I think that was probably the best I could have hoped for and it did mean I ended the first day only slightly behind.

Wednesday

4 miles of Cheltenham fences with amateur riders! Even Gary would struggle to really fancy anything in this race. Having done the trends and read the trainers comments about their respective horses I was pretty confident that I had a horse who would give us all a run for our money. Donald McCain was not worried about the 4 miles as Fabalu would definitely stay and £25ew at 20’s was my bet. Well, we got a run for our money and Fabalu did stay. Unfortunately it was for 3m 6f and he weakened to finish 6th. They say Trainers and Jockeys make the worst tipsters. I’d say they were right. (Though probably a few of you would add blog writers to that list)

Having fancied Peddlers Cross at a big price for the Supreme Novices it of course ran in the NIM Hurdle and of course wasn’t 25/1. But 7/1 was good enough for me and on went £60. My £40 Quel Esprit dutching bet hit the floor after only 2 hurdles. I’m not too keen on the dutch. I think I’m going to start welshing on my bets instead. Donald McCain said Peddlers Cross would stay. It’s nice to see some trainers make good tipsters sometimes (and a certain blog writer).

Onto the RSA Chase and as it turned out, my best tip of the meeting. £40ew Weapons Amnesty. He jumped as good as I’ve ever seen a novice jump at Cheltenham and Davey Russell gave him a great ride. My brother had backed Burton Port at a big price ante-post but in all the excitement of backing two winners on the trot I forgot to ask him ‘Did you do the forecast, Gary?’. I think I can probably guess his reply.

I had£2oew on Big Zeb at 14’s ante-post but fearing another second I had £40 forecast Master Minded to beat him and a £40 forecast MM to beat Forpadydeplasterer. But I was on a roll and seconds weren’t on the agenda that day. Barry Geraghty gave Big Zeb a peach of a ride and he coaxed this dodgy jumper around the course before pouncing coming down to the last. Brilliant. I can’t remember the last time I backed three winners in a row.

And then it all went horribly wrong…firstly Smoking Aces was not running in the Coral Cup. No the trainer in his infinite wisdom decided to run the 2 1/2 mile specialist in the 3 mile Pertemps Final and not here. My £40ew at 25’s was returned but I see it more as a £1200 loss. Trainers really don’t know what they’re doing sometimes.

Then having written in my trends guide ‘  Undoubtedly the one to keep an eye on was Nicky Henderson’s Spirit River whose finishing position of 17 tells none of the story. Stalking the leaders for some way he came through to make his challenge 3 flights out with Barry Geraghty sitting motionless only for the horse to make a complete mess of the next hurdle and ruin all chance of victory. He was allowed to come home in his own time after the blunder and this run is best forgotten. Having taken a handicap over the County Hurdle course and distance in December he is a major player for the Festival.’  I of course didn’t back him as I had written that for the 2mile County Hurdle. Trainers really do know what they’re doing sometimes!

So instead of having the horse that would have won or backing the horse that did win I lost £60 on Deutschland and a sentimental £20 ew on Mamlook. I wonder what it feels like to back 4 winners in a row at Cheltenham?

From then on it was downhill all the way as Diktalina (£50ew) ran like a pig, Fin Vin De Leu (£20ew) ran like a donkey and Drumbaloo (£40 at 14’s) ran like a crab. I managed another second with my £30 saver in the Fred Winter, Notus De La Tour, and a fourth in the Bumper when I had £30ew Tavern Times at 10/1.

I gave back a large chunk of my winnings at the end but after two days I was now in front. If only the Cheltenham executives had cut the meeting to 2 days instead of increasing it to 4. Ah well, easy come easy go.

I’ll be back tomorrow to tell you all about the ‘easy go’ part…..

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The Lincoln.

I’ve done a Trends Guide for the race which you can get for FREE from the link below….

http://www.festivaltrends.co.uk/freebie/lincoln2010.pdf

(There are no sign-ups or payment details required. This is a direct link to the guide)

The trends aren’t particularly brilliant for the race and quite a few horses seem to have the ideal look about them but recent runnings of the race have seen a new type of winner emerge and I’d be hopeful that the winner will come from a shortlist of three.

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Family hols…

I’m off to Vegas on Monday for the annual family vacation but hope to post a couple of times while I’m out there. Having booked with British Airways and spending the last 3 weeks unsure of whether we were actually going to fly or not I’m in need of a holiday. I’ll try not to bore you too much with hot weather reports, shows, fine dining and luckless gambling while I’m out there.

I’ll be back in time for Aintree but will miss the Easter weekend racing. I’ll see if I can get Gary to take over for a couple of days and give you a big priced winner of a sprint handicap somewhere.

Good luck,
Gavin.