The Recreational Punter

I tend to adopt a scattergun approach to my Saturday betting, with a focus on the ITV races, where the best bookies' offers also tend to be. Although this may reduce the chances of getting restricted ( see yesterday's post ), it can be expensive if the shots fired miss their target. Yesterday proved to be a close run thing. My horse racing bets were as follows- Doncaster  12.55 Lemon T 1.30 Est Iilic and Eldorado Allen 2.05 Irish Roe 2.40 Fern Hill and Pats Fancy 3.15 Aye Right 3.50 Who's In the Box - (non runner) Lingfield 1.10 Give 'Em the Slip Fairyhouse 1.58 Castra Vetera (meeting abandoned). Give 'Em the Slip ran with promise and just ran out of steam having looked the likely winner 2 furlongs out. In her only previous run at Newmarket back in the summer she came 2nd in a 9-runner race, and all the other runners in that race (except the 3rd) have won since. She is well capable of winning before long, and will be tracked for her next 3 outings. Aye Right ran rea...

Last year - before 'lockdown' obviously - I was invited by Racing UK (Racing TV as it is now) to a kind of focus group. We probably did not meet the usual diversity criteria. Basically we were all white men aged in our 50's and 60's, which I suspect makes up a considerable portion of the Racing TV subscribers. We were asked to introduce ourselves and detail our interests in racing and betting. What then followed was each of us in turn describing how we watch and bet - followed by tales of how various bookmakers restrict us. To be honest there may have been a small bit of boasting going on - "I've been banned by more bookmakers than you" - but there is little doubt that our collective experience was that if a punter shows a degree of skill in his wagering then the bookies do not want your business. I thought it might be interesting to report my experience of being restricted. My local Ladbrokes betting shop were promoting their Grid card (similar to a super...

Apparently it's an "enhancer". Remember all multiple bets are welcomed by the bookies. You can have a Lucky 15, a Yankee, a Heinz  and a Lucky 31 with all sorts of tempting offers. Funnily enough you cannot have a Lucky Single. Can't think why.

The whole of the horse racing world has been taken up with the news of the Viking Hoard doping case. I will not rehash all the details. Far superior writers than me have produced many thousands of words in print and on-line about the subject. In short the horse, Viking Hoard, was doped (i.e. given a tranquilliser) before a race at Tramore in October 2018. Incredibly the dosage given was 100 times above the legal limit. Unsurprisingly the horse 'never travelled' (i.e. could hardly walk let alone run) and was pulled up.  Viking Hoard had previously won easily at Killarney (a well backed 3/1 2nd favourite), before being pulled up at Galway and Sedgefield. In both these races, and at Tramore, the horse had been laid to lose on the Betfair exchange, and had drifted in price (strange considering how easily it had won at Killarney). In the confirmed doping instance there was a bet of £30,200 to win £2850 should Viking Hoard lose. This bet represented 50% of the market. Someone knew f...

There are some good games in the Premier League this evening- Chelsea v Wolves Man Utd v Sheffield Utd Burnley v Aston Villa Everton v Leicester but I will not be concentrating on them. Chelsea's new manager Thomas Tuchel seems a bit odd so it will be interesting to see how long he lasts. Man Utd's best player, Bruno Fernandes, does that sucking thumb thing when he scores a goal (can you imagine Bobby Charlton doing that?) so that's a swerve, Burnley and Villa's manager always moan about the ref and Leicester are annoyingly good.  Instead it's the big match, a true 6 pointer relegation battle as Geoff Stelling would say, with Brighton playing Fulham. I like Graham Potter (Albion manager) and understand why the shrewdest man in shrewd land (that's Tony Bloom) is sticking by him. He has got Brighton playing brilliant football but they just cannot score. Meanwhile Fulham are also playing well, managed by Scott Parker (who woman who pretend to like football apparent...

Hard to believe that the betting exchanges are celebrating their 21st birthdays. They had the keys to the door some years ago. The main betting exchanges available (legally) to UK based punters are Betfair (now owned by Flutter/Paddy Power), Betdaq (owned by Ladbroke/Coral), Matchbook and Smarkets. Betfair still dominates (in terms of market share and liquidity) and when commentators say 'on the exchange' it is normally a reference to them. They cover more sports and offer more trades. Incredibly £600million was traded with them on the result of the last US Presidential election, and even on election night both Biden and The Donald were odds-on in running. It is quite easy to do some basic research on the internet to compare the commission rates, liquidity, ease of use etc. of the various exchanges. There are positives and negatives for them all. I thought though it might be mildly useful to report my experiences as the recreational punter! I opened my account with Betfair in 2...

Following my post on trackers, mine has highlighted Joyful Mission in the 5.10 at Wolverhampton tomorrow. Its currently 33/1 and seems to me worth a small e/w investment - not that I like tipping. 

I have written before that I hate giving tips. I do not mind backing a loser myself but always feel terribly guilty when someone else does so on my advice (no matter how many caveats I give). Occasionally I am asked "Do you follow tipsters yourself?" The best concise answer to that is "Yes some but not blindly". Let's get newspaper tipsters out of way; Templegate (the Sun), Newsboy (the Mirror), Robin Goodfellow (The Mail) etc.  On the whole these seem no better or worse at picking winners than your average betting shop punter. Most of time you make a loss backing their naps. There are 2 exceptions I would make, from contrasting newspapers. Rob Wright of the Times appears to work very hard and there is a logic and pattern behind his choices. His naps often shorten which suggest he is respected by oddsmakers. Slightly bizarrely the 'communist' tipster, Farringdon of the Morning Star, makes some interesting selections. There are long losing runs but from t...

For 2 years now I have been using a tracker. You note a horse that you want to follow and enter its name in the relevant software and you then receive notification of when it is to run next. Trackers are widely available - those hosted by the Racing Post, Sporting Life, Racing TV and At the Races are all easy to use and free. Trackers are definitely a useful tool, and pundits now regularly highlight a promising run as 'one for the tracker'. Actually these choices are usually pretty useless from a punting point of view because everyone else will have seen/heard it and that means the price when the horse runs next time will be too short. I use a tracker to note mainly 3 types of horses- 1. Those which are handicapped to win (most often on the all-weather), usually having dropped to a weight below that which they last won at. Ideally this will include at least 1 run when they have failed to win at the advantageous weight, hopefully putting some judges off. I then track it for the ...

The 3.00 at Ascot this afternoon is an interesting race. 14 runners and I want to back 4 of them - an easy route to the poor house. Domaine De L'Isle won this last year and and after some poorish runs, he's been novice hurdling. This smacks of a plan to protect his handicap mark by his trainer Sean Curran. The plan, some might say plot, has worked as Domaine is on the same handicap mark for the victory 365 days ago. Jerrysback is a painful horse for me, even though I backed him at 20/1 at Bangor 2 years ago and he won. The problem was that he clearly was not meant to win. The jockey rode him round the outside hard held all the way but from memory the likely winner fell and dear old Jerrys took himself forward to victory. My winner felt like a loser as he'd drifted to 50/1 (from 10's in the morning) and no I had not got best odds guaranteed. He's now well handicapped again and looks ready to win. In the end though I have dropped these 2 (the best laid plans don't...

Oh dear Liverpool drifted on Pinnacle and of course lost to Burnley. The syndicates knew. And the winning goal was scored by the perennially underrated Ashley Barnes (with his new hair). Have been busy with other matters (son moving house) so unable to blog but a few points to make still. Delighted to see Richard Rowe have a winner at Wincanton with Mister Murchan. Not sure Richard Rowe was all that good a jockey (towards the end of his career he gave the outside up to no-one) but he is the only ever trainer who has bought me a drink.  My Irish friend is sceptical - "that man couldn't train ivy up a tree" - but he does have about 6 winners a year from his Sullington base and his horses always jump well, which suggests to me that they are well schooled. And have made a note of The Widdow Maker. Went many lengths clear but still stayed on to finish 3rd despite the trainer Colin Tizzard being out of form. 

I was not allowed to watch the racing this afternoon as Mrs. C. said I had to do the cleaning. As a result I forgot to back Buckhorn George - which turned out to be a result as he finished 2nd. That was a relief as backing a loser is nowhere near as bad as not punting a winner - and it is supposed to be fun. The Percy Prosecco analysis was right but sadly Pledge of Peace was nearly as bad. However the nationals might not be so bad after all. The dual forecast came up. Dawson City beat The King's Writ and yes I think Millie Wonnacott made the difference. My stepfather used to do the dual forecast every day - and always came 1st and 3rd - so this was a welcome success but it would be naive to suggest it will continue. I bet on football purely for fun. It is impossible for folk like me to make money because the syndicates - especially those in east Asia - know far more than I do. Tonight Liverpool play Burnley. Of course Liverpool should win. Their players are so much better than Burn...

In recent years there have been an explosion of nationals to add to the (Grand) National - Sussex, Durham, Southern, London and Devon to name just 5 newish arrivals. This afternoon it is the Somerset version at Wincanton, a track I am keen to visit. The going there is normally good but the rain means it is heavy. This 'national' will be a slog and there is a short priced favourite, Cyclop, who distorts the book a shade. He is trained by Matt Sheppard, but only moved to him last weekend having been involved in a strange escapade where David Dennis has moved his horses from Tom Symonds, where he had been assistant trainer for a short time. Read the story here . That cannot help his preparation for this (another Lacey to Sheppard transferee ran poorly yesterday). Add in the hard race Cyclops had only 8 days ago and I think his price is too short. The bet therefore is a dutching one- 3.50 Dawson City/The Kings Writ Dawson City is ridden by Millie Wonnacott (see yesterday's comm...

Checking the runners and prices the evening before is really 'rick spotting'. William Hill tend to be the first to put the odds up, then Bet 365 and after that the rest follow (I'm never entirely sure how much the odds compilers from the rest simply copy those who go first). I cannot bet with Hills as they closed my account and will not let me open it again (humble brag time). Bet365 still give me best odds guaranteed though so it is with them I tend to back the night before. There's no snobbery towards the all-weather on this blog. Spotting a low grade handicapper ready to win again is a possible way to make small profits - and remember you do not have to bet on every race but the bookmakers do have to price them all up (and maybe sometimes using an algorithm it is rumoured). It is possible I spotted a minor rick in the 12.30 at Lingfield. Bet 365 had Percy Prosecco at 5/1 and Pledge of Peace at 8/1. Hollie Doyle normally rides for Percy's trainer Archie Watson but...

Chepstow was pretty much untraceable but Maliboo managed to run into 3rd. Millie Wonnacott went Buffalo Gal style (round the outside) but probably ensured her mare was on slightly better ground. Barney Bateleu was ok. Pulled up in the end but I can see him winning a handicap at Plumpton or Fontwell. It did not look likely at one stage but Gowel Road won well in the end under under a typically determined Sam Twiston Davies ride. In doing so he paid a big compliment to Bear Ghylls. Have since had a small wager on True Companion in the 6.30 at Southwell at 50/1.  My bets on the football are because watching matches without 'an interest' is less fun. It is virtually impossible to make money on what my American colleagues call soccer (unless you have an inside edge on lower level teams) but there are strategies which I deploy to at least minimise the losses (and in effect make the fun less expensive). Tonight's 2 Premiership games are on BT Sport (to which I do not subscribe) so...

Surprisingly Chepstow today was given the go ahead after an early morning inspection. The horses will need wellingtons but no doubt a TV presenter on Sky will at some point say "they are getting through it." I think this means that the horses are not getting stuck - at least hopefully the ones I have backed will not (although the younger ones might need arm bands). Newbury is also on. There are quite big fields and although not as bad as Chepstow it will still be hard going there. I have enjoyed going to Newbury in recent years for the end of November meeting which hosts the Ladbroke (boo). They have done a good job upgrading the course, funding it from a large housing development and hotel which actually fit in rather well. At Newcastle there is a "bumpers for jumpers" card, a curious creation which gives the chance for mainly jump horses to race on the flat. Taking place on the all weather it favours those who prefer good ground (of which there is very little arou...

I confess  I am a gambler, a punter, a bettor. The reason? Sorry Bishop of St. Albans , it is because I enjoy handing over my money to a bookmaker with the possibility of making a profit.  For the last 4 years I have been fortunate enough to turn my hobby - betting on horses in the main, and occasionally football, cricket, golf, rugby league and even politics - into a  pastime. As my wife might say "it keeps him out of trouble". My ego would like me to be able to claim I am that mythical person 'the professional gambler'. Despite all the books, articles, twitter posts, blogs and now podcasts about such figures there really are only a very small number of people who make their living from gambling - i.e. profits from betting are their only source of income. No I bet primarily for fun, for enjoyment. Backing my judgement (literally) is a thrill, and even when that judgement is quickly proved wrong, there are lessons to be learnt and personal debriefs to be had in order ...