Review of the afternoon...

With my third post in the last 24 hours, there’s a danger of my output being as prolific as Graeme’s – however, as I’ve only got to keep it up for 7 days, I should be able to avoid verbal burnt out !

So, onto this afternoon’s action: bottom line – Graeme’s chances of winning the tipping competition receded a little further – but it wasn’t for the want of trying and with a bit of luck it could have been quite different…

Even if I say so myself (I was actually hoping that one of my readers would do this for me, so I wouldn’t have to !), I read the 2 Goodwood races near perfectly… Only 2 horses mentioned in both races and they finished first and second – a good way clear of the third. If Petara Bay’s stamina hadn’t given out in the closing stages, they really would have been perfect calls. Needless to say, I didn’t make anywhere as much from the races as I should have (as is invariable the case) – but I did turn it a bit of a profit…

I also read Balthazaar Gift’s race at Newmarket pretty well. Winker Watson didn’t perform and Balthazaar traded at 2.3 IR – but didn’t quite get there. I did look closely at the winner his morning – but just didn’t think it good enough…

The other 3 races weren’t quite as good:
Sophocles ran OK in Ireland but was simply outclassed. I was surprised to see it at such a short price and actually ended up backing Ballyhaunis in the race (as it has finished ahead of Sophocles two races ago). It ran a reasonable race to finish third, but was also not match for the winner.
Cat Junior also ran OK (though faded to finish last). The most notable thing about this race was Betfair’s failure to open the IR market. This probably cost me a few pounds (I invariably look to lay in Running and Cat Junior travelled prominently and reasonably well) – but I’m sure it cost others significantly more… I guess it’s a risk you take if you bet prior the off with a view to greening up IR…
Finally, Supersonic Dave ran a reasonable race to finish a staying on fourth , looking (somewhat ironically) like he needed a stiffer test of stamina…

So, in summary, from 6 selections, I managed a 12-1 winner, two seconds at 6-1 and 12-1, a 12-1 fourth and two unplaced. Not too bad…

However, the high-light of the afternoon for me, was the first race at Tralee. A maiden hurdle in which I managed to get £1:83 matched on the winner at odds of 240, moments before the off ! (this is the second highest priced winner I’ve ever backed !) Unfortunately, I layed off quite a big chunk, to guarantee at least £70 profit whatever the result – but I still ended up winning £130 on the race, which was a cause for moderate celebration ! Interestingly the winner’s SP was just 25-1 (though it would have been good enough for Graeme if I’d selected It for the comp !).

Just so you are all aware, I don’t intend to analyse races and post selections every day. It’s simply that I needed to go through the process for Graeme’s competitions entries, so I thought I would share my analysis on here. I may do the same tomorrow (as it’s the last day of the comp) – but from there on in, I will intend to raise more cerebral matters for debate (unless the masses demand otherwise !)