Cheltenham Day 1 - What a way to spend £50!

Daily Loss £50.97

Ok, before I get started about today, I just want to say that today was probably the most enjoyable day I’ve had watching the racing for years and was worth every penny I spent.

Ultimately, I’ve managed to lose more today at Cheltenham than I’ve ever lost in any day in my life, but this was partly down to my poor decision making and more accurately, my aversion to risk.

I was gambling today, not trading, so I expected it to be a bit of a rollercoaster.

I got off to the worse possible start and lost an obscene amount of money on the first race. My losses totalled over £50 and I was on a downer. I spent a large amount on a Placepot and I backed a few horses in the race.

I selected 5 horses (yes 5 horses!) on the PP in the first race and my best finisher was 10th! Basically, I narrowed the race down to 9 horses. I picked 5 and the other 4 I didn’t choose were the first 4 home. I know this sounds a bit like I’m taking the pee but it’s God’s honest truth. Andrew (who comments on my blog!) and my work colleagues can vouch for this as I shared my picks with them!

As usual, the first race was my only losing race on the PP and it cost me 40p of the £1 return. The return was £350, so the first race cost me £140 return and £100 profit on the PP. Tomorrow is another day…….

I then made the absolutely craziest, craziest, craziest, craziest, craziest (you get it by now) decision ever to reduce my stakes for the rest of the day. I was £50 down and my risk aversion took over. I will ultimately live to regret this for a while……

I won peanuts as I laid Noland and backed Tidal Bay for tiny stakes. Mistake 1! (6/1 winner)

I then won smaller peanuts backing Katchit and then laying off on the home bend! What I was doing with Katchit I’ve no idea as I love the horse and have thought it would win the Champion Hurdle all winter, but after a £50 loss in the first, it made sense for that split second to lay off my bet. Mistake 2. (10/1 winner)

I then backed New Alco and Abragante for decent stakes in race 4 as I started to chase my losses. For some unknown reason, I didn’t put any lays in the market (New Alco traded at 1.36) and I suffered a decent loss on this race again as they both ran their heart out to just get beat at the finish. Enough to wipe out my profits on races 2 and 3…….Mistake 3

Race 5 – I backed Ivoire De Beaulieau for huge prices and decent stakes. Was sitting with a huge green (over £900 at one stage on it!) as it cruised through the race. Again, I was drawn in to watching the race and just for a little while, I thought it would win…… I laid off for a break even and kept a huge profit on it. Had lots of opportunities to get a hedged profit but no, it was cruising. Just as I’m about to lay, Garde Champetre appears from nowhere and suddenly my horse is trading at 100. Mistake 4.

Race 6 – Missed this race as I was out picking up Denise. Laid Ashkazar for a win and Place. Somehow got my stakes mixed up and laid more for a place than a win. I know, what the hell was I doing????? Mistake 5. (But still a profit!)

So, the summary of the day is that I had a great day, picked a 6/1 and 10/1 winner of the 2 biggest races and made a £50 loss. What the hell was I doing today?

You can see why I wanted Cheltenham excluded from The Experiment……

Looking forward to tomorrow though and let’s hope it’s as much fun as today!

P.S. I entered the Select a Stable competition in the Racing Post. 2 runners, 2 winners. Katchit (10/1) and Tidal Bay (6/1). I could do with the £20k first prize in this game to cover my Cheltenham expenses.