I won’t be around this weekend as I’m on the train to Nottingham to play in the Main Event of the grandly named World Championship of Amateur Poker. The missus bought my tournament entry as a birthday present and as she threw in the train ticket (I’ve got to pay the 1st Class upgrade myself though) and hotel room I’m basically freerolling. It’s a very long time since I was last in Nottingham (it was probably when that Tunes advert was on the telly with the bloke all bunged up asking for a ‘first class ticket to dottingham..’) and I’m really looking forward to it. The tournament is being held in Europes largest poker room Dusk ‘Til Dawn which by all accounts is an amazing venue.

It’s a three day event that finishes on Monday so all being well I won’t be back posting until Tuesday when I’ll let you know how I got on. Or, you can follow my progress from the APAT website which as well as having regular Blog updates should have a live feed as well………

Live feed: http://www.apat.com/
Updates: http://www.apat.com/forum/index.php?board=15.0

I’ve emailed Betfair to see if they’ll be offering a betting market on the tournament as I fancy having a few quid on myself at 999 but failing that I’ll just have to make the top 40 to win some prizemoney. With no big name professionals in the field it should make for a slightly easier and interesting few days….

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It looks like the weather has played havoc with the racing this weekend with small fields looking the order of the day. It is difficult though to sympathise with owners who complain about the lack of prize money when just 4 horses turn up for an £80k race! In fact the two feature races at Goodwood today can boast over £100k in prizemoney yet only 11 horses are entered for them both. If that isn’t a disgraceful waste of money then I don’t know what is.

The fact of the matter is, and whatever your views on the subject, British racing is funded by the Levy. This is money raised from British based bookmakers who pay depending on their profits over the previous 12 months. The more punters bet (and lose) the more British racing benefits. I don’t suppose when the feature race of the day is a 4 runner Group 2 race it’s going to spark punters into betting that much. I would imagine quite a few punters in betting shops at 3.05 when the Celebration Mile takes place will not be backing in that race and instead put their money on some cartoon race, in a slot machine/roulette machine or back a greyhound. Bookmakers don’t have to contribute to the Levy on their profits for any of those three scenarios.

That’s always assuming that anyone can be bothered to actually go to the bookmakers for a Saturday afternoon of punting on this kind of drivel. They’re more likely to stay at home and back online with a company who have moved off shore to avoid being legally obliged to contribute to the Levy.

Your average punter likes a big field, competitive handicap to get stuck into. For obvious reasons, bookmakers also like big field, competitive handicaps (that’s why they sponsor most of them!). Owners and trainers obviously like these types of races otherwise they wouldn’t be ‘big field’ competitive handicaps. So why don’t we have more of these types of races? I’ve no idea but you could try emailing ‘Racing for Change’ and asking them why they don’t promote ‘levy friendly’ races instead of 4 runner Group 2 races where half the field wouldn’t even carry top weight in a 0-110 handicap. I mean it wouldn’t be so bad if the four runners included one of the star milers of the season. Surely there are more than 4 milers in Europe who are rated above 110 and like soft ground?

 I’ll just say one more thing on the subject before finishing my rant, it wouldn’t matter what kind of going you got, what course you ran it at, on what day or what distance , if you put an £80,000 handicap on the card you would get plenty of runners and plenty of ‘Levy friendly’ turnover.

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And it’s the handicap’s I’ll be having a bet in today. I’m having an each way Lucky 15 on these three at Newmarket….

2.15 WAABEL - This is a very tough race and I’m taking a bit of a chance by backing a maiden but his run last time out was very good. He just went down by a neck to Kalk Bay (who has since won a handicap by 2 1/2 lengths off 74) with 7 lengths back to the 3rd. The 4th horse that day was beaten 14 lengths yet won a Wolverhampton maiden last time out by 13 lengths! Waabel gets to race here from a mark of 77 and with Hayley Turner on board looks a bit of value at 20/1.
4.30 ANGUS NEWZ - It’s been 2 years since she last won a race and she’s not getting any younger but there’s no denying that she is superbly handicapped at present. She’s a multiple Listed race winner yet today runs off a handicap mark of only 78. The drop back to 5f, the soft ground and the eye-catching booking of William Buick all add up to a cracking each way bet at 14/1 (Corals)
5.00 SHAREDAH - It’s difficult to look past Sir Michael Stoute’s Sharedah in the last even with Richard Hills riding. He won well at Newbury last time on softish ground and a reproduction of that form will make him hard to beat.
 
plus one from Beverley.

4.05 SELECT COMMITTEE - simply because Gary tells me it’s his best bet of the week.

I’ll be back on Sunday with a Trends Guide for the Ripon 2yo Trophy.

Until then….
Good luck,
Gavin.

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