Prestbury Park is in your heart - Cheltenham 2020

[Paul S]

1.30 - Sporting John which is currently around the 3/1 mark
2.50 - Canardier

[jwdd27]

Chacun Pour Soi is a late withdrawal which makes it a penalty kick for Defi and the bookies will Rule 4 the shit out of it - 40p in the £1 deduction. Thieves.

[Simon G]

Genuine question (I've done a bit of reading and still don't quite get it) - why do people take an accumulator (where all horses have to win) rather than a Heinz/Lucky 15/31etc (where you can get a return on 1+ bet), and thus retain a bit of interest? I think the answer must be staring me in the face, but I'm missing something.

I don't bet big, and I also don't really understand the other bets - Heinz is a manufacturer of beans and ketchup as far as I'm aware.

[Paul S]

Same with me, I don't understand most betting and I don't bet big - £2 stakes in the bookies - but I have lots of fun doing it. I put on win only bets and don't bother with tricasts, accumulators or whatever. I put on a fiver with bookies at the racetrack but that's as far as it goes. I'm not a rich guy and I only bet what I can afford to lose, but you know, I have such tremendous fun doing so.

[jwdd27]

Day to day I tend to do a 5p e/w Lucky 15 most meetings (£1.50 total stake). It makes more sense than backing 4 horses individually as you stay in with a chance of getting money back in the last race, and you can win quite big with a winner and 2 places - I often (well, sometimes ) get £20 returns, and once a year or so I get very lucky and get three figures back. It's cheaper than having a quid (or even 50p) on all 4 horses, and the returns are generally better.

But I had Minella Indo as a straight win in the last, so I'm not happy with Champ, cracking finish though and I did use a free bet saver on the winner. Plus Minella keeps Placepot rolling.

[jwdd27]

Day 2 review
Started off great, with Envoi Allen winning impressively and Easy Work a fine 2nd, I had it at 25/1 e/w.

Downhill all the way from there, Defi spooned his penalty over the bar, with a fine training performance from Nicholls and Politologue, and Harry Cobden once again demonstrating that you should never trust a jockey's judgment, jumping off the winner and gifting Skelton the ride, although another way of looking at it is that the jockey change freshened up the horse. I had it e/w after Chacun's defection, so I saved myself some of my Defi losses.
Tiger Roll came up against one better/fitter horse, which doesn't happen to him often, good training for the Grand National I suppose (if that goes ahead).

So I'm slightly down financially and slightly flat spiritually. Decided to scale it back a bit tomorrow and make some quick picks in the morning, based on gut and sentiment rather than odds and form. My luck usually changes when I don't take it so seriously.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

I'm mostly on value bets today for my bumper each-way Heinz - 114 bets at 10p per go. I'm not touching the 4.50.

1.30 The Big Getaway 11/1
2.10 Copperhead 5/1
2.50 Franco De Port 9/1
3.30 Sceau Royal 18/1
4.10 Easysland 4/1
5.30 Israel Champ 10/1

£11.40 stake - 58p winnings.

[Simon G]

Today's shitshow then...

1.30 Faugheen 7/2
2.10 Welsh Saint 6/1
2.50 A Plus Tard 7/4
3.30 Paisley Park 2/3
4.10 Siruh Du Lac 14/1
5.30 Minella Melody 11/4

[steveeeeeeeee]

Apologies for not posting, busy at work and any spare time has been spent following Cheltenham.

Like most, I bet small, usually £1 stakes. I give myself a bit extra for Cheltenham and go up to £3 on some horses. I did this with The Conditional on Tuesday and came away with £24, so that's basically paid for all my bets this week, which makes a fun activity even more fun. Also got Easyland right yesterday, had a feeling Tiger Roll wouldn't be 100% yet.

About Yankees and Heinz betting, you're better off just going straight acca with a £1, imo. They tempt punters in by thinking I'm only betting 5p a bet and hedging them at that, but you would need about 70% of you selections to win for it to start to pay off, because a 5p individual bet pays next to nothing in return. Just do the ITV7, costs nothing and gives you that acca fun. Most importantly, hardly anyone ever wins, which demonstrates just how hard accas are to win.

Anyway, today's races:

1:30 Faugheen
2:10 Skandiburg
2:50 A Plus Yard
3:30 West Approach Ew (66/1 seems big, decent horse on its day)
4:10 Simply the Betts

[steveeeeeeeee]

For me, 10p on a single winner at even 9/1 means I only get a quid back, and it doesn't cover the cost of the bet. So I tend to go for a Yankee, Canadian or Heinz because if two horses win (the minimum winning bet), it's actually worth winning.

I look at differently, basically I aim for one winner a day and that pays for the day's fun. So, £1 bets on 5 races, usually one winner will cover that. More often than not, it covers it and more. I typically earn about £10 a month from gambling, occasionally I don't win and every so often I lose £10, but that tends to only happen when I leave money in my account and do mid-week "bored" bets. So, I now clear all money out of my account on Saturday evening and I've been mostly in profit since.

[johnr]

Thanks, all, for your 'why I bet this way' posts.

I just do the Lucky(!) 15 e/w every Saturday during jumps season, and on all days at Cheltenham and Aintree. I'm useless at picking winners, so am trying to spot value lower down. Last year I ended £180 up, this year so far I'm £125 down.

So, to stem the losses I have today gone for 1.30 Midnight Shadow 2.10 Jatiluwah (6 places on Betfred) 3.30 City Island 4.10 Springtown Lake.

[Simon G]

Apologies for labouring the point a bit - but how do Heinz and Lucky 15s work exactly?

[johnr]

Not sure about Heinz, but with Lucky 15/31 etc is explained here https://www.betsharks.co.uk/bets-explained/lucky-15/

[johnr]

By the way, the race that Champ won was an absolute belter yesterday, and beautifully called by Richard Hoiles - he built the tension, and he has a great capacity for keeping tabs on all the horses, being discursive, and reacting to circumstance. Looking at Youtube, commentating has improved so much since the O'Sullevan days of '... on the far side, ....on the near side', repeated endlessly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsau32l_vYI

[steveeeeeeeee]

What a race, outstanding stuff. Unlucky Faugheen, I thought it was all over after the 3rd last, but what a comeback. No disappointment there.

[johnr]

I can't pick my fucking nose at the moment.

[Southport Zeb]

I can't pick my fucking nose at the moment.

Glad you're following public health advice

[steveeeeeeeee]

Simply the Betts kept me afloat today. That and getting my stake back from skybet for Faugheen.

Overall I'm 50% up from my original deposit going into the final day, which I'm happy with.

[jwdd27]

Had a proper winner at last in the final one today with Milan Native which I took at 16/1. And some nice each way money from Melon 16/1, Tout Est Permis 20/1, and Plan Of Attack which was my second choice in the last and squeaked 4th.

The first race today was a classic, I was raging at the photo result until I remembered I'd backed Melon to place only, so winning didn't matter.
After that it was a bit flat, the bankers (A Plus Tard, Paisley) were fairly wretched, but it at least popped ITV's bubble, who were primed for another golden hour with Bryony and the blind fella.

[Paul S]

Gold Cup day, one of the greatest days in the sporting calendar. I've been to the Gold Cup three times and have loved it there. You get the genuine race-goers and not the stag and hen do's you get at the National. It's an immensely exciting day, buying the Racing Post, the chatter of the crowd on the train, the atmosphere building as you walk towards the course. I always get a decent ticket in the main stand and the roar of the crowd when the first race gets the off is spine-tingling. On the downside, big crowds makes for a tiring day and movement is slow around the course. I don't drink alcohol at these events otherwise I spend the entire time looking for toilets and not enjoying the day.

I haven't made my selection yet, I will do that down the bookies later. Have a great day folks!

[johnr]

I don't bet on the Gold Cup (by the time it comes round, I love most of the horses and don't want to back against them) but love to watch it. I've reigned in my slightly wilder e/w picks today after a dispiriting week, and am going 1.30 Sir Psycho 2.10 Thatsy 2.50 Cobblers Way and 4.10 Caid Du Berlais.
Betting-wise, I can't wait for it all to be over...

[Simon G]

I'm down to my last 50p in my betting account so I've done a 25p e/w treble to see if I can win some pennies for a punt on the Gold Cup. Given the luck I've had this week (not a single winner) I won't be holding my breath.

My picks for you to avoid:

13:30 - Solo - 3/1
14:10 - Saint Roi - 5/1
14:50 - Thyme Hill - 9/2

The 25p e/w returns £34.32. I started the week on a fiver.

[Paul S]

I had Solo and Saint Roi so one out of two isn't bad. I watched it sat in the blood doning clinic donating platelets.

[jwdd27]

I ended up on the floor about the same time as Jamie Moore when he unseated on Goshen, he was my absolute banker and would have yet again won by a street on the bridle were it not for a) the horse making a mistake and b) the jockey not looking over his fuckin' shoulder to see everything else has fallen out the back of the telly, and slowing the horse down a bit so it doesn't make a mistake and can just pop the last hurdle. I know it's churlish and i've benefitted from similar situations before, but fuck's sake...

Won a bit back on the next race on Embittered, appropriately.

[johnr]

Oh, Jamie Moore, that was something. Great sadness.

Overall, Cheltenham was a fucking disaster from a betting point of view, as usual. Wonderful entertainment though.

It's (Coronavirus permitting) Uttoxeter tomorrow!