When in a hole, stop digging!

It’s an often used cliche but one which we should all remember.

Having made Possol a very confident selection early on in the week for the Racing Post Chase it was annoying, to say the least, to see the trainer have other ideas and pull him out due to the ground. I changed to Miss Mitch who looked a fairly decent  alternative but when that one was also ruled out due to a late injury I really should have given up as the trends were now looking unreliable. Scratching around to try and make the trends fit I finally arrived at Piraya, a blow average chaser at best and a total rogue at worst. Another all too familiar dodgy run from that one probably gave me the result I deserved and an expensive lesson in ‘betting for the sake of it’.

I apologise to anyone who may have backed him and promise not to make the same mistake with the trends again. Sorry!

I have another horse for Cheltenham (or Aintree, or both!)….

The Racing Post Chase may have been a poor renewal this year but there is one horse worth taking from the race with an eye to future big handicaps. Private Be is now an 11yo but showed he is no hasbeen as he ran a cracker for most of the way before being outpaced from 3 out. This was his first try at 3 miles and will probably be his last as he patently didn’t stay the trip. A drop back to around 2m4f/2m5f  is needed and as he has shown excellent form in the past at both Cheltenham and Aintree I would imagine he’ll be aimed at some of the handicaps there over the next month or so. Going back through his form there are some really good runs to be seen and after some encouraging efforts this season I reckon he could land a big prize at big odds.

There is an awards ceremony where the winners are chosen correctly…

After the Hurt Locker cleared up at the Bafta’s, Lady Gaga at the Brits and Harry Hill come away empty handed at the TV Awards night it was beginning to look like the voting panels had all gone mad. Whatever next? Cheryl Cole doesn’t make the list for FHM’s sexiest female?

However, order has been restored in the world after last nights Professional Jockeys Association annual prize giving ceremony, better known as The Lesters, where the correct winners were rewarded with their prizes. Who could argue with Tony McCoy being given best NH ride for Wichita Lineman at last years Cheltenham Festival? or being voted Jump Jockey of the Year? Ryan Moore, Flat Jockey of the Year? Hayley Turner, Lady Jockey of the Year? Mick Kinane, International Jockey of the Year? Not me.

But my favourite was Tom Queally winning the Flat Ride of the Year for Midday at the Breeders Cup. Last year saw him emerge as a top flight jockey, riding for a famous stable in all the big races and this fantastic ride was the highlight of the season for me. The tactical and pace awareness he showed in the race was sublime and he was a very worthy winner of the award. I doubt he’ll be getting  jocked off in favour of Frank Spencer in next years St Leger!

Betfair is good but is not always the best bet….

One of the many things Betfair has helped us punters with is that it’s given the old school bookies the kick up the backside they needed to start offering a bit more value to their customers. For too many years the big bookmaking firms offered very little or no value at all safe in the knowledge that if you didn’t like it, tough. Where else were you going to go?

But since Betfair burst onto the scene, and there was somewhere else to go, they’ve had to do a fair bit of adjusting to try and stay competitive. Signup bonuses, enhanced place terms, money back offers etc. are all the norm now but Bet365 have raised the bar again with what has to be the finest ante-post offer ever made.

Fully 2 weeks before the Cheltenham Festival they are offering non-runner / money back AND guaranteed odds on all their Cheltenham markets!

I have never seen guaranteed odds on an ante-post market before and the money back offer is a MAJOR concession. Grab all the big prices about all your Festival runners now safe in the knowledge your money will be returned if yor horse doesn’t show up. If you have any ante-post fancies for Cheltenham you just have to back them with bet365.

It will be interesting to see if any other firms decide to follow their lead

Being infront of a laptop for 16 straight hours isn’t good for you…

Having spent all of yesterday morning, afternoon and evening putting the finishing touches to this years Cheltenham Festival Trends Guide (now on sale here) I foolishly decided to play some late night/early morning poker. Another good run of cards and 4 hours later I finally shut my laptop having spent 16 hours staring at an illuminated 18 inch screen with just a few call-of-nature breaks and 10 minutes playing G1 Jockey on the Wii with Dylan.

Eye strain, headaches, numb bum, unhealthy food, child neglect and constant nagging from the missus were just a few side affects of my marathon compute and after finishing this post I’m off out to get some fresh air down the park with my son. And no poker tonight!

……….well maybe just a quick turbo tournament.

Good luck,
Gavin.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.