Didn't have time to study the gee gees yesterday but Gifted Master has popped up in my tracker in the 230 race at 8/1 (5pts ew). It goes without saying that it's a massive field with everything in it trying, so a bad race for punting in many respects but i love the jockey and I like the fact that this horse is likely to be near the front a furlong and a half from home and is likely to be matched at half its current price or less for those who choose a more cautious approach.
230 race - impossible to pick a winner with any logic in my humble opinion so I start with the jockeys or trainers in a race like this and go from there. I'm going to have three small (very small) bets on
Vona 20/1
Camarque 18/1
Madame Dancalot 20/1
3pts ew on each of the above
340 Ascot I'm going to throw a massive price in for this one with Black Cherry at 80/1 (vcbet). The way this horse has been placed suggests that it may not like the ground today but it doesn't know how to run a bad race and if it does happen to handle the ground it might battle its way to a place. In any even the fact that it's a front running horse will make it a possible lay in running for a free bet.
At a more sensible level, and ew bet on Always Smile ew at 8/1 5pts ew
No bet in the 420
500, Paddy Power pay 6 places on this so you have to decide not only which horse(s) to back but also whether you're going to take a bigger price and go for 4 or 5 places or take a skinnier price and have a little bit of extra insurance of another place. With 32 runners I hope I can be forgiven for picking out four horses! For a laugh, I trialled a "system" of just picking out four numbers and used those numbers for the corresponding horse in massive field races (varying the bet between win or each way dependent upon the price and I was staggered to find that it actually made a consistent profit
)
Anyway, I'm ramblng.
5ew Librisa Breeze 10/1 5 places
2 ew Secret Brief 16/1 5 places
2 ew Carry on Deryck 6 places 18/1 (22/1 available 5 places)
1 ew Battle of Marathon 33/1 5 places
Total stake 20pts which means I need a winner or a couple of places to get my dosh back
Shit, I've jotted down Mr Owen and forgotten about it. Fuck it, I'll add it to the list for 1pt ew at 28/1 5 places. Five horses in a race is ridiculous but then again, so is betting on 30+ fucking runner races. Madness!
22pts staked
535 I've now officially entered "Daft mode" which is usually reserved for the Cheltenham Festival when I suddenly find I've backed so many horses in one race that I need to win it just to break even
. Anyway, fuckit, four in the last and most of them at the head of the market for a change - all 5 places
Anamba 5ew 9/1
5ew Dimploma 9/1
Make Fast 5ew 12/1
Pure Diamond 2ew 40/1
This is suicide betting and this is the reason that I don't have time off work for the big flat meetings! I'd have to move into a caravan and sell my house.
The only reason I didn't lump on The Gurka yesterday was that the price relative to the second fav was too close and money was coming for the second fav. Had I been watching the racing and seen it moving to odds on, I would have lost some dosh on it. We always notice when we miss a winner but I definitely dodged a bullet with that one yesterday. I would have backed Caravaggio which (watching the replay today) was massively impressive but there's absolutely no doubt that I would have lost money on the day and I suspect that today will shape the same way.
