Ascot Day 4

Ascot is a real marathon of a meeting, a day longer that Cheltenham even.

Day 4 on Friday, wasn't such a massive punting day for me, with less bets from all my tipsters. Similarly to yesterday the day started badly, although in the first race I was narrowly defeated as Bletchley couldn't quite get up to beat the O'Brian second string Brave Anna.
After that, things just got progressively worse for me, Choreographer tipped by Horsetrader, pulled like a train and predictably faded into last place, and then in the Commonwealth cup none of my three each way selections could even get a place. Things were getting desperate now, and didn't improve in the Coronation stakes, which was another blowout with Jet setting finishing a tired 6th and Nemorillia second, having been given an awful ride by Peslier. It has to be said though, Qemah was a deserved winner.

To be honest I'd given up now, and couldn't bear any more losses so left to go to the pub. I was hoping to see the 5pm, but a late bus meant that I followed it on the racing post app on the bus down to Cheadle. Thankfully my luck changed as this race produced a winner for Ben Linfoot with Kinema at 10/1 and an each way pay out from Horsetrader with Elite Army finishing the second. Didn't see the race as I said, but apparently Ryan Moore did me a favour by giving Kings Fete a shocker.

In the last I was only on Ebediyin for small stakes, who finished out of the money. My pint certainly tasted a bit better after that win by Kimena, which really did save my day.    

Ascot Day 3

Having been to the local for a very beers on the Wednesday evening I was feeling a little delicate on Thursday. It was a strange and upsetting day, which over shadowed the racing with the news coming through about the horrific murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox, showing what an awful and unkind place the world is today, with so much hate and division.

The racing was kind of secondary really, but I'll briefly mention it. The first 4 races were total blow outs with Ben Linfoot and Horsetrader having an absolute disaster with no returns between them from 9 selections. Fortunately the day was saved in punting terms with the win of Defrocked, tipped by Bet Alchemist, and then my own tip Primitivio winning the last 2 races. I was probably a little down on the day, but put into context, it means nothing.

Ascot Day 2

I felt much better for the second day of Royal Ascot, probably because I finished work and dinner time, and was able to relax into the days racing.

It was another mixed day of results, in the first I was heavily into Thikriyaat, and although he never looked like winning, he finished fast and won me some valuable each way money. In the Queen Mary, I have to admit that I backed the incredible Wesley Ward winner, Lady Aurelia when the price drifted to 3/1. I know I said that I wasn't going to back my own, but I felt that this was too good an opportunity to miss. The filly absolutely hacked up in a stunning display. To be honest the rest of the day was relatively quiet apart from the Hunt Cup where I managed to back the second, third, and fourth. Decent each way returns on Mitchum Swagger, Librisa Breeze, and Azraff, made this a good race for me.

All in all, a profitable day for me.

Current situations from my tipsters is;

Ben Linfoot    = +£1235
Horsetrader   = +£2100
Bet Alchemist= +£1600

I have also been using a new tipster, Northern Monkey, as well as the big race preview information from Paul Jones Racing. I am not recording these at the moment until I decide whether to add them to my portfolio, but I'm only using very low stakes. I will however, add a new column in the spread sheet called 'others' to take these into account.

Royal Ascot Day 1

Alas I was working for the first day of Ascot although I did manage to finish early and thus only missed a couple of races. The first day I kind of felt a bit down, perhaps it was because I was working, or because I hadn't been sleeping too good. However, I am off work Wednesday afternoon, all day Thursday and Friday, which should help me get into a nice relaxed frame of mind.

It was a mixed bag of results on the day, with a small loss I would guess although I haven't added up the daily numbers yet. In the first race I had Balardo, tipped by Bet Alchemist who although second never threatened the American trained winner Tepin, but since I was on each way at least it wasn't the worst start. The rest of the day was pretty mediocre except for having bet Profitable quite heavily in the King Stand and having some late money on Jennies Jewell in the stayers handicap. To be honest I'd fallen into the trap of ill disciplined punting today, something which had limited losses, but really isn't the way I should be going.

I am determined to stay disciplined for the next 4 days, whether it leads to profits of losses. I also be publishing my profits and losses per tipster this week.  

Royal Ascot

After a busy period we are now at Royal Ascot and the good news is that I am still keeping records and bar a couple of slips I am following my tipsters in a disciplined way. Although I didn't get the Derby or Oaks winner Epsom was very profitable with Horsetrader banging in 3 winners from 4 picks on the Friday including a16/1 winner with Smugglers Moon in the last. That was a real boost before meeting Karen in the pub. Of the other tipsters, Ben Linfoot has started to get a few winners now that the flat has started, whilst Bet Alchemist is as consistent as every.

In my personal life I've moved back to take a contact back at Salford, which pays more and is giving me loads more time, since its only 50 minutes travel each day. My good run of winnings is also helping me save up a float of money in case I'm out of work for any period of time.

Anyway, its the high octane week of Ascot now, which hopefully will maintain my winning run.

Maybe finally

Maybe finally I've found the way to gambling success. Since Cheltenham, which was moderately successful I meandered a bit, before finally around the end of May I created a spread sheet and started keeping records of my bets. Its gone really well, and has definitely led to a much more disciplined approach, although there's still a bit of a way to go, as I have had a few bets in big races and events which I haven't recorded. All in all though I'm nearly there with recording my bets.

I've also slimmed down the number of services down and now predominantly have the following services, with the results since the end of May included;

Ben Linfoot       = +£1460
Horsetrader      = +£2548
Bet Alchemist   = +£1468
Russell Blair     = -£61

Total = +£5415

So as you can see, its been a very good start. I am also following a tipster who claims to have information direct from the Godolphin stable, as well as occasionally having golf bets, cycling bets, and others on various big sporting events. I will be including these bets in my spread sheet so that I have a full picture of my punting.

Cheltenham 2016

Its been a while and much as changed, I now work at Crewe after moving from Manchester where things were looking ropey after a few fellow contractors lost their jobs. I thought it best to jump before I was pushed.

This week's not the best, I'm full of cold and off work sick at the moment. I am hopeful I can at least make it in for the rest of the week to earn some much needed money for Cheltenham. The new job is ok, but it was a good group of people at Manchester, and it was very sad to leave.

Its been a mixed bag punting wise, some good weeks, some bad ones, I've been following a few tipsters, Ben Linfoot, Paul Jones, Bet Alchemist, Horsetrader, and I've joined Matt Tomb's Cheltenham Special. I certainly need to sort out my best tipsters and sort out which ones I use in the future.

I've already got loads of ante post bets on for Cheltenham, from a variety of tipsters, some bets are looking great like Yanworth at 8/1 to win the Neptune, and there's been some inevitable disappointments like Killutagh Vic being injured.

I'll try to keep things updated on the lead up to and during the festival, and we'll hopefully have a blast.