Racing has been abandoned at Ponte. Well that's a couple of hours' work down the pan. Fortunately I have a quiet day at the office, so I'm hitting the books right now and will be back here before start of racing. If I can't see some value horses on the all weather, Uttoxeter might yield dividends.
Wolverhampton is the Jackpot meeting today, but I think the cards at Pontefract and Southwell look more Placepot-friendly. At Ponte, the soft-heavy again gives us an opportunity to oppose some favourites, whilst sticking a banker or two in to reduce the number of perms/lines if we can.
In response to a question on how to work out how many lines you have, it's fairly simple, just multiply the number of horses you have in each race. Lets say you pick 2 horses in every race, your lines would be 2x2x2x2x2x2=64 lines. You can see how, if you can find a real banker in even one race, you can reduce your lines by half straight away - Let's say you have a nailed on horse in the first, your lines are 1x2x2x2x2x2=32 lines. Likewise, if you had a particularly tricky last race and you wanted 3 horses on your side, you'd then have 1x2x2x2x2x3=48 lines.
Don't forget, you can put your placepots on directly through Betfair, by going to;
Menu>Horse Racing>GB>Tote GB
Anyway, on to my selections for Pontefract;
Leg 1 Secret Destination Slipstream Angel Leg 2 The Lock Master Warcrown Leg 3 Gowanharry Celestial Dawn Leg 4 Dragonera Madam Macie Leg 5 Ballista Bouncy Bouncy Leg 6 Mashaari
I really like Slipstream Angel's chances in the first. She saw off Opt out by about half a length last time out, as did Megamunch yesterday up at Ayr. Opt Out is rated 70 now, and I suspect Megamunch will end up rated around 75, so you'd think an improving Slipsteam Angel should have every chance off 66.
I'm not quite so keen on only having Mashaari as our banker in the last. From a Placepot point of view, it's heartbreaking losing on the last leg, especially if you can see a decent prize in sight, but we've got to reduce the number of lines somehow, and the Gosden horse looks as good a sort as any to have on our side going into the final leg.
Another win today, as I rode my luck up at Ayr. Seeing Headspace dive at the line when he had appeared to be cruising past Mayoman left my heart in my mouth. Fortunately he still dead-heated for 3rd, so we forged ahead to the 230.
The withdrawal of Petella meant we were only represented by Lady Bluesky, and down to 7 runners meant only the first 2 past the post paid. As the non-runner line goes onto the favourite, that doubled the winning lines. And 3 non placed favourites meant a respectable payout of £101.40.
...going down the only road I've ever known... Yeah! Had an awesome weekend at the Dorset seafood festival. If you're at all partial to seafood of any sort, I can highly recommend a trip down there next year. Unfortunately the Saturday was a washout, but we returned on Sunday to glorious sunshine, and the mild amusement of seeing half a dozen cars up to their windows in flood water having been left in the car park overnight. Smashing!
I then came home to watch brave Andy get a going over by Federer. Anyone who wasn't won over by Andy's tears is a harder man than I am...
On to the Ayr placepot. I've just seen that in the first race, where I was very confident that Megamunch would fill one of the first 2 places, there is a non runner, which means we have to find the winner. So I've added in Opt Out, and I think experience will tell out here. In general, the softer ground means we're more likely to find some outsiders filling the frame, and I've taken some improving horses, and some likely stayers against the faves in a couple of cases. Good luck all!
Ayr 2:00
Megamunch
Opt Out
2:30
Head Space
Foxy Music
3:00
***Petella***
Lady Bluesky
3:30
The Nifty Fox
4:00
Amazing Blue Sky
Another For Joe
4:30
Schmooze
Critical Point
I've half a mind to have a dabble at Windsor this evening, as I'm only a couple of minutes down the road. I'll have a look after brekka and see if it's worth a shot.
*****Petella is a non runner, which means we double up on Lady Bluesky, assuming she is the favourite. 2 bits of bad news and racing hasn't even started! :-( *****
Nice to get a winning day in. I put the bet on before racing and had an awesome day at the tennis. The dividend, however, was not great. I'd hoped, with a couple of favourites finishing outside the frame, to get nearer £100, but it's anyone's guess sometimes, and hey, a win's a win. +£8 on the day.
Running total -£40
Off to the Dorset seafood festival for the weekend, so back on Monday for hopefully another winning day!
Yes, last night's curry was unforgiving. I have managed to blag 2 tickets for Murray's match today, so face the prospect of sitting with a dodgy tummy in centre court... The placepot too was unforgiving yesterday as we missed out on one leg.
Anyway, in case it turns out dull, here are my selections for today.
Well, not the most auspicious start to the blog yesterday, with my very yfirst horse letting me down. But it's a new dawn, a new day, so let's try again. The cards look tricky, and I didn't fancy finding the winner of the 4 runner at Haydock, so I've gone for Yarmouth, but even that has a 7 runner and two 15 runner races on the card, so it's not the easiest looking day over all! But that hopefully just means a bigger pool for us to scoop.
Anyway, here are my selections for today:
2:10 Yarmouth
Ajmany
2:40
Tiger Sunset
Iffley Fields
3:10
Great Expectations
First Class
3:40
The Jailer
Ooi Long
4:10
Strada Facendo
Touch Gold
4:40
Porcini
Tis Rock 'n' Roll
As always, I'm not necessarily trying to pick the likely winner, but horses that will make the frame at reasonable prices. There's an obvious pay off between just wanting to win, and wanting to win a decent size pot. I've had days before when I've won the Placepot but been paid out less than my original stake as the pot was so small. So yes, there's always a few favourites in there, but I try to pick some bigger priced ones in the event that the favourite flops, which really is what's needed for a decent pool. Good luck today!
Ok, well why not start a blog? I've been going well on placepot selections recently, so I thought I'd share my thoughts. I have a number of sources of info - some first hand, but normally comprising internet research, as the handful of owners/trainers I'm in direct communication with doesn't really cut it for a decent income. I like the placepot. It gives an ongoing interest through the day for minimal outlay and can I like the 'unknown' factor when an big pot can come. My best result so far was last year's Royal Ascot for around £2300. I only ever put on £16-32. So... here we go;