Cheltenham Day 4 Update - 16 March

I'd leaned across and touched the lucky statue of himself but it wasn't enough.  He may not have won but Kauto Star had the biggest applause and cheers you've ever have heard a racehorse pulling up ever receive.  No one in the grandstand took any notice of the race for a minute or two - they were too busy acknowledging a champion bowing out.

On the way to the course this morning, our driver told us that he'd driven Lucinda Russell earlier and she thought Brindisi Breeze was her best chance of the week so since I'd already selected him for the potato race I doubled up when I arrived (thankfully!)  

On course with my trusty old paper version of the RP, I selected Salsify (too late for the blog) but was a tad cross with myself when Belvano won for JP....all the talk had been for Kid Cassidy (first string??) - a horse I like but is not the most fluent jumper in the world and it's not unknown for a red hat to win a big race in the past!  


Overall I was in profit for the week - better than last year but nowhere near the dizzy heights of 2010.


Anyway, it's all over for another year.  I had a fantastic time..........

12:00 Tues 13 March before the first race

16:45 Fri 16 March before the last race

Me:  Walking into Tatts betting ring....."I keep sneezing and my eyes are running, I think I might be allergic to bookies!"


Chap in hat next to me "Aren't we all?"

Saturday's Superb Day of Racing Selections & Updates - 28 January

Late Friday afternoon, I decided that it would be a really good idea to go to Doncaster on Saturday to see Menorah and AiteenThirtythree both win.  


Then the Snake Pass closed......then the Woodhead Pass closed but has reopened.......then it snowed........then the racecourse announced a 07:45 inspection.  But I have bought new (waterproof) boots, dusted off my hat and hoping that (1) the course passed inspections and (2) all roads to Doncaster from my house are open...or at least one of them!


Well racing is on at Doncaster - the 07:45 inspection was cancelled when temperatures didn't drop below 2 deg.  BUT at the moment the Woodhead Pass (A628) is closed which mean twice the journey the long way around.  I have every hope that when the sun rises, the roads will improve though :)

Just the one winner but being paddock side helped me to pick a good few winners at the course (which I realise doesn't help anyone reading the blog but it was good for my betting pot :)

-3.57 loss for the blog though.

	Doncaster	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	13:15	Lifestyle 3rd
2	13:50	Kid Cassidy 1st
3	14:20	Corkage 3rd	Jetnova (EW)  UP
4	14:50	Qianshan LeaderUP(5th)	Shakalakaboomboom(EW) 2nd
5	15:25	African Broadway (EW) UP

1/             Alasi 1st would be top pick but for the stable not firing presently. Geraghty has ridden Lifestyle five times and won on three of them.

2/             Love Menorah as I do, I feel that this is just practise whereas KC is in it to win it but this is probably a ‘watching’ race– AP is at Doncaster for two rides, this one and Galaxy Rock.

4/             Also backing Aiteenthirtythree as I don’t believe we’ve seen his full potential yet.

Until the morning,here's my nightly nap:

Cheltenham12:55
Baby Mix

First Blog, Selections & Updates of the Year - 01 January

I hope there aren't too many sore heads this morning....I am feeling virtuous, having done my champagne swilling on Friday at Haydock and also ending the year with a stonking good day's profits!  


There's some great racing today (hence the clear head) and I can't wait to watch Cheltenham....just wish I was there!

	Cheltenham	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	12:30	Barbatos 1st
2	13:05	Sonofvic UP
3	13:35	Runshan (EW) UP
4	14:10	Cape Tribulation (EW) UP	Calgary Bay (EW) 1st
5	14:45	Oscargo F
6	15:20	Poungach 2nd

Just the two winners but nice prices and a profit of +10.47 (104.7%)

Cheltenham 13:05  

Friday's 16 days Til Xmas Selections & Updates - 09 December

One surprising stat that I came across last night when taking a fleeting glance at the Cheltenham card is that of the Walsh/McCoy % over hurdles.  Ruby has a win rate of 28% (not a surprise) but AP has only a 9% strike rate - that's Ruby winning 3x as many hurdles races as AP. 
Over the chase course it's a little closer with Ruby on 19% and AP on 14%.

It seems really strange looking at today's racing and seeing the first at Southwell to go off at 11:10 - that's barely time to have eaten a KitKat after getting out of bed.....!

if there is an odds on runners selected then in future I'll put an "m" in brackets next to it to denote my suggestion that it is part of a multiple.

Just 3 unplaced from all of these selections!  Profits of +7.04 today

	Doncaster	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	12:25	Sprinter Sacre (m)  1st	Lightening Rod (EW) 2nd
2	13:00	Dark Shadow  2nd

	Southwell	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	12:50	On The Cusp UP (3rd)
2	13:25	The Ice Factor 2nd

	Cheltenham	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	13:45	Fair Along UP
2	14:55	Oscargo 1st
3	15:30	Balding Banker UP

	Wolves	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	16:40	Faraway (m)  1st
2	17:10	One Way Or Another 3rd	Orpens Peach (EW) 1st
3	17:40	Dashing Eddie 2nd
4	18:10	Quixote (EW) 2nd
5	18:40	Edgeware Road 2nd
6	19:10	Dark Dune UP

	Dundalk	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	18:30	Tarsille 2nd

M         = Multiple

RF        = Reverse Forecast

EW       = Each Way               

Yesterday, a couple of Kempton PlacePot lines were a nice bonus yesterday (all my selections were on my blog at 15:30 for anyone to see.....maybe not such a good idea as if someone actually did read and follow then it would mean less pay outt !  Surprisingly given that two races had no favourite placed, the payout was 'just' £95.50 per £1 line.

In the last race at Kempton on Thursday, I narrowed my selections down to three:

and backed all win and place.....but alas not a tricast which paid £86.10 (if I did that every time, I'd be stoney broke for sure!)....it just happened to be a coincidence that they all have silks the same colour as a certain football team who recently departed the dizzy heights of the Champions League.......

On a non- horseracing note, here's a shameless plug for a friend, James Chadderton who has currently has an exhibition at Incognito Gallery in Manchester's Northern Quarter, has designed an album cover for Peter Hook's (ex New Order) new band The Light and been recently featured on the BBC website.  Talent !