Review of the day

This tipping game can drive you mad…

At around 2:40 on Saturday afternoon, just after Rons Dream had cantered home at Cheltenham, it seemed I could do no wrong.

Then half an hour later at Wetherby, Vendor lost a race he should have won – and things just turned…

I missed putting up Old Guard the following day because I spotted him too late: then I decided against Big Society yesterday, because of the price crash.

To complete my hat trick of missed winners, I didn’t tip Sky Khan this afternoon – again because I found him after I had closed the late window.

All this said, as this is not just a tipping service, I’m sure (in fact, I know), that quite a few of you were on some/all of the above named…

I suspect most of you were all of Repeater this afternoon – and that’s where it starts to get really painful.

If Foxbridge was tough one to take last Friday, Repeater was even worse today.

An inspired pick (even if I say so myself !), he travelled through the race like Champion the Wonder horse – but somehow couldn’t get past Long House Island on the run in.

In fairness to Repeater, Long House Island did his bit to prevent him getting past – and I was optimistic the placings might be reversed in the subsequent stewards enquiry.

But as is so often the case, when things are not going your way – the close calls go against you.

On a different day, Long House Island would have been thrown out and we would be celebrating a winner – but that’s not what happened today…

In terms of his price crash this morning – then I have to say I was disappointed to see money lining up on BF to back him at below the generally available price.

There was no way it was going to get matched (correct me if I’m wrong !) – and all it does, is inform the bookmakers that the horse is fancied.

PP and VC cut the horse instantly (probably without taking a penny on him).

I’ve clearly got to consider whether I can tip horses in these kind of races, as not only is it very difficult for people to get on – but there is also a greater than normal chance of account closure if you were successful in backing him.

I honestly think that the price of the horse would easily have held up (I’d be quite confident that no one else was backing it) – though I guess we’ll never know for sure.

It’s disappointing – we need to stick together if we’ve got any chance of the service working – but I don’t think that happened today.

I’ll consider my options – though they do seem limited.

I guess I could create a separate distribution list for people who promise they will only back the horses via the conventional bookmakers (ideally to small stakes!) – but I’m not sure I want to go down that path, as it seems divisive…

The other tip on the day was Cloudy Bob – and simply, he ran disappointingly.

In fairness, I think he ran into one in Dartford Warbler – the two of them were backed pre-race, literally at the exclusion of everything else.

At the end of the day though, only one of them performed and unfortunately for us, it wasn’t Cloudy Bob.
I wouldn’t be too hasty in dismissing him though (they are not machines, after all).

In terms of the mentions, then clearly Sky Khan was the ‘high light’.

I nearly said in the write-up that I should have tipped him – but I knew that would be tempting fate !

I’ll maybe look at issuing the odd very late tip (just before the write-up).

If anyone has an issue with this suggestion, please let me know…

In the other races, then Uhlan Bute was disappointing at Market Rasen (presumably finding the race coming too soon after his efforts at Bangor last week).

At Thurles, Sir Des Champs managed to pull out an unlikely victory – having looked booked for second entering the home straight.
He clearly still has an engine – though it is anyone’s guess which way he will go following todays race (he did seem to have quite a hard one).

At Wincanton, the drift on I’m in Charge looked ominous – before he took his fall.

The outing was a bit of a waste really, as he won’t even get his marked adjusted own following it (which he probably would have done if he had completed).

Finally, Byron Blue ran the race I expected in the handicap hurdle – but didn’t get home. It looked like he might have set it up for Benbecula – but that one was collared running to the last by San Benedito.

There were definitely opportunities for in running profits though – for those of you who operate in that arena...

TVB.