Thursday 30th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£12020)
Current stake - £120

Would have been Ok yesterday had I actually bet Xtension rather than just think I had...

2:10 Looks typically impossible. Roman Republic solid but short and Sandor – a decent looking 20/80

2:45 Would only be interested in Ialysos, but that penalty is very off-putting.

3:25 Schiaperelli – solid notebook horse in a weak-looking race.

4:00 Two notebook horses dutched will do for me – Starfala and Victoria Montoya.

4:35 Same again – Suruor and Kyllachy Star.

5:10 Laureldean Spirit – notebook horse.

And Galway 5:00 Vital Plot is Pricewise/Gerald Delamere pick – always worth a look when they both agree at a nice price.

I've done a £20 treble Schiaperelli, Laureldean Spirit and Vital Plot and then attcked the five Goodwood races (not 2:45) in 8 x £4 fivefolds.


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Wednesday 29th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£12320)
Current stake - £120

Good start to Goodwood yesterday – with 12/1 Finjaan looking a steal now, plus Drumfire.

Day 2

First two races I have notebook horses occupying the first three places in the market in both races. Not sure whether to play or not to be honest.

3:25 My prices throw up Forgotten Voice as a decent priced outsider here. Noseda certainly likes the horse enough to throw him straight into a group 1 from his last run! Much as I respect the front three I'll take a chance £30 each way at 33/1.

4:00 A few notebook horses in an impossible race. However, I read an interesting article that provides one angle – Johnston's horses do remarkably well in these races from seemingly bad draws (and after recent run). Sabotage ticks those boxes. £60 at 14/1.

5:10 Two notebook horses – Alsace Lorraine and Club Tahiti (an Escorial lay). I'll wait in case rains come.

Do an ew double first two, and a coupleof sneaky trebles.

Mid-week golf madness:
Kevin Na, of course, 66/1
Haldahl 80/1
10ew singles and double.

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Tuesday 28th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£11820)
Current stake - £120

Goodwood – day 1.
A good old fashioned tissue day.

2:10 – No strong feelings – the two who came out as slightly underrated on my tissue were Drumfire and Blythe Knight. Probably play them both each way – Blythe Kight at 40s very long..

2:45 – Not keen on Harbinger form – and priced on reputation here. Masterofthehorse also has to be a worry with that change of stable. Urban Poet could be anything but the obvious choice is Firebet, who took an age to pull up last time and should cope with step up in class and trip.4/1 Ok.

3:25 – Main Aim is mighty short this morning. Ouqba was the notebook horse, but I keep looking at Finjaan. Yes, he may not have trained on, but he has beaten Ouqba twice, and was in a muck sweat ahead of 2000 guineas and probably didn't stay, and is probably priced up on Tregoning's form (on the turn hopefully) and Hills choosing Ouqba (he's hardly got that horse right this year). 12/1 Ladbrokes will do for me.

4:00 – Monsieur Chevalier looks mighty short at odds-on, especially on this track. Maybe a simple lay.

4:35 – There is a lot of pace in this race. One for horses with a bit of luck from behind. Waldvogel, Sugar Ray and Yes Mr President (if he lets others do the work), should cover the bases!

5:10 – Impossible race. I hve Bencoolen as an eyecatcher – maybe today is the day .


Not sure re betting yet, but for get rich quick merchants how about kicking off with:
Firebet
Finjaan
Waldvogel
Bencoolen
4 x £10 trebles and £5 accumulator!

One notebook horse at Beverly
4:55 Sanctuary.

Monday 27th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£11900)
Current stake - £120

Day off today.

There are a couple of notebook horses this evening – Ghost and Block Party at Windsor – but they are both plenty short enough.

Sunday 26th July

13065 16500 79.18

2009 Challenge Fund (£11700)
Current stake - £120

The fund is looking decidedly unhealthy ahead of Goodwood. And today won't make much difference.

I'll do a threeplay on notebook horses:
2:05 Ponte Flow Chart
2:50 Ascto Sterling Sound
4:00 Ascot Shamali

and Escorial is pretty bullish about a couple over on www.postracing.co.uk
if I'm back from my walkies I may play a few of his angles, for lack of anything else to do in the rain.

Saturday 25th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£11860)
Current stake - £120

Back, hopfully refreshed, but not had enough time to properly get to grip wth today's racing yet.

Jira, and Sovereign Remedy are bets – not sure what else. Conduit and Golden Sword look the ones for the King George (hardly original) and I'll be furious if Look Here wins!

I'll do a Murtagh treble at Ascot for the fun bet.

2009 Challenge Fund (£12600 – plus £420 in play)
Current stake - £120


You didn't miss much yesterday.

The golf is going so moderately I felt obliged to have a tickle on Na in the other tournament...I also topped up on Stenson and Kaymer (when in a hole!) and have a few huge price dabbles (Daly and Howell for top 8 for example) still alive, to keep me interested , but really this golf lark is just leakage I could do without.

Racing:

Newbury 2:50 Club Tahiti (not an obvious chance but should improve for comeback run, and it's that sort of day). £45ew or maybe £20/£70

Newbury 3:55 Covert Ambition – (solid form chance) £60 at 9/4

Newbury 5:05 Cleaver (solid, but prone to losing) £20/£70

Newmkt 3:05 Maeswerte (forgive Sandown, extra furlong help, main opponents non runners) £60 win.

Newmkt 4:10 Equinine (solid £20/£70 against fave)

Newmkt 5:20 Equueleus Pictor (like gorund, maybe needs flatter track) and Affluent (though Escorial lay) – £90 dutch.

And a small scoop6 – obviously.

I'm off for a week now. I may or may not have internet access, so may or may not be posting. It'll be a quiet week whatever – back refreshed for King George and Goodwood.

Friday 17th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£12900 – plus £420 in play)
Current stake - £120


Worried on the ground today so, whilst I have quite a few notebook horses to keep me busy, I'm not sure at all about bets yet.

I've taken a draw in the 2nd test – think every test may be a draw looking at the bowling so far.

And was happy with Ben Curtis – he's just bogeyed nearly every hole on the front 9!

Thursday 16th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£12900 – plus £300 in play)
Current stake - £120


Quite a few notebook horses running today. Two threeplays looks the way to go.

Leic 3:50 Big Band
Bath 6:20 Quaker Parrot
Epsom 6:40 Yarra
3 x £60 singles and a £20 treble

Donc 7:35 Crystal Gale
Donc 8:20 Crime Writer
Donc 8:40 Rangefinder
3 x £60 singles and a £20 treble

Wednesday 15th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£13270)
Current stake - £120

Nideeb a decent start to the week (especially if you had the double running on from the non runner).

Midweek golf madness is a pretty simple four play on the golf.

Woods £150 at 5/2 (Our resident expert says he a sure thing. Who am I to argue!)
Stenson £20 ew at 40/1 (Already won for us this season – I'd have obviously backed Kevin Na as well if he'd been playing!)
Kaymer £30 at 80/1 (I did this a couple of weeks ago, so happy with that) I'd be doing an each way bet top 8 at 28/1 otherwise.
Curtis £20ew at 50/1 (first 8 places – are you kidding me!)


Racing – the going is a real problem today. No recommendations.

Tuesday 14th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£13100)
Current stake - £120

Right, back for a few days. Ascot proved a touch frustrating – with three seconds.

Two notebook horses today.

Bev 3:15 Select Committee (draw obviously a worry)
Yar 6:20 Nideeb (Gosden/Cecil newcomers obviously a worry)

I'm thinking 2 x £20 wins/£70 places and a £20 win double.

Friday 10th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£13100)
Current stake - £120

Turning into the worst week of the year so far, and looking back at previous posts the July meeting is definitely an annual disaster for me!

I'll keep digging though with notebook horses galore today.

Nmkt 1:30 Brief Encounter (forgiving Ascot) (20/80)
Nmkt 2:00 Lord Zenith (underbet compared to Ascot runners)
Nmkt 2:35 Captain Brilliance/Redford (potential group horse, and hold up 7f specialist with Spencer up)
Nmkt 3:10 Kings Apostle (forgiving Ascot and hoping overseas raiders all the rage - Murtagh) (ew)
Nmkt 4:20 Lamh Albasser (progressive)
York 2:45 Lesson in Humility/Serious Attitude (dutch)
York 3:20 Rred Cape (rude health) (20/80)
York 3:55 Martyr (top notch hcapper, draw and pace suit) (20/80)

I'll do usual £60 wins, or £90 dutch, or £45 ew, or £20/£70, plus trebles at each meeting.

I'm off to Ascot tomorrow, and Oasis Sunday (!), so no posts here till Tuesday, which should be enough time to lick my wounds if need be!

Thursday 9th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£13700)
Current stake - £120

This is my 1000th post!

I wonder what percentage of blogs ever reach that number. I'd bet it's under 1%. Thanks to those who have been looking-in all along – you've shown remarkable stamina and have withstood some pretty terrible times in amongst the good days. And thanks to those who drop me a note every now and again to remind me there are a few (deeply disturbed!) people out there actually reading.


I ended up back where I started yesterday with two winners in Goldikova and Dancourt. A worrying number of selections are running terribly though – it may be random, or it may be we've come to that change in high season where the early types are being caught up by late maturers, as well as being handicapped out of it compared to those who have flopped for various reasons.


Nmkt 1:30 – We can forgive Dhushan his last run, especially with Callan on board, but even if we do I'm not sure this would be the race for him...

Nmkt 2:00 – I like Arcano, and also Red Jazz can probably be forgiven his last run when he paid the price, trying to go with Canford Cliffs.

Nmkt 2:35 – There's loads of good horses here – god knows. Changing The Guard looks a big price (second string) and Lasso The Moon at 33/1ish is the sort of price he needs to be, to be backable (being a nutter).

Nmkt 3:10 – Duncan. Anything over 2/1 is good business. He'll be my only certain bet £120 at 5/2.


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Wednesday 9th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£13700)
Current stake - £120


The going (and draw bias) stops me from putting much up today. Looks like one to play as it unravels.

The one bet I do like will be no surprise to regulars and is our last throw of the dice at this one.
Little Scotland £45 ew 20/1. I still believe the horse to be as good as Misheer and this 6f and a bit of ease look ideal as well.

Elsewhere I like Cumana Bay and Parisian Pyramid and have thrown them in a get rich quick treble with Little Scotland. Goldikova should be more like 6/4 on genuinely good ground. Beauchamp Xerxes is likeable and at Lingfield Kings of Leo is a notebook horse against Soccer giving him a load of weight.


Midweek golf madness is courtesy of the Racing Post to be honest as I had no real view, and did back Tim Clark when he won here a few years back.
Clark/Senden £20ew double.

Tuesday 7th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£13950)
Current stake - £120

A quiet day today. Three notebook horses all likely drifting faves – which is to say they're plenty short enough right now!

Wolves 1:45 Newton Circus
Ponte 3:00 Laughing Boy
Ponte 5:00 Gibb River
3 x £60 wins
1 x £20 win treble

Monday 6th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£14400)
Current stake - £120

What an easy barking bet that was – Federer!

Todays notebook horses:

2:15 Muss – Glenlini £60 win at 5/2

4:00 Brighton – Albashaa £60 drifting 5/2+

7:00 Windsor – Fondant Fancy £45ew at 16/1

8:00 Windsor – Special reserve £10 win £40 place
Baylini £20ew at 20/1
(I'm hoping for a lot of pace in the race)

and £10 trebles and £5 fourfolds banking the two shorter priced runners.

Sunday 5th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£14250 – plus £120 in play)
Current stake - £120

I realise we're supposed to be like robots regardless but winning the first race on a Saturday is always relaxing. I was getting pretty disappointed by the end of the day though, so well done Jimmy Fortune for getting Sandor up.

Much quieter day today. Velvet Band is a possible but that's not much of a betting proposition at Evens.

Ayr 3:40 Ifatfirst is more appealing. You have to forgive his last run over course and distance and hope he doesn't pull as hard. 8/1 let's us do that £60 win.

And Federer is an obvious barking bet.

Saturday 4th July

2009 Challenge Fund (£13950 – plus £240 in play)
Current stake - £120

A late play on Roddick when all looked lost got most the Murray Wimbledon bet back, and Roddick was 1.4 right at the end – another remarkable in-running price.


Lots of horses as possibles today, so am going to need to be careful and ensure the daily stop-loss is in play.

Snd 2:05 – Really like Triple Aspect but I keep seeing him scrubbed along here last time – drawn against the fence he's going to need some luck, as in truth is Ialysos, but at least his price allows for that.

Snd 2:40 – Mirrored hardly original, nor Alfathaa, but I'll probably dutch them both.

Snd 3:15 – Drifting like a barge but if there is one each way (and I'm already out of pocket on Archipenko), it's Cima De Triomphe, with the 7lbs weight difference being overaccounted for in the market.

Snd 3:45 – Say No Now – positive notebook comments from me, and a tempting price.

Snd 4:20 – Amerigo – have to forgive last run where he pulled far too hard all the way – at least this trip might help that a bit. Change of jockey can't harm either. Worth the recovery mission.

Snd 4:55 – Maeswerte – eyecatcher

Snd 5:30 - Sandor – eyecathcher

Haydock 2:55 - High Heeled (but needs rain to be a bet at the price)

Haydock 3:30 – Hatton Flight and Spring Jim have poor draws, and I'm expecting them to drift on the back of that and maybe worth a dutch.

Bev 3:20 – Russian George – likes to dominate a small field and possible here – another retrieval mission.

Something like:
Boyles are longest price (guaranteed) about quite a few of these, I'll go for gold with them on their longest priced ones.
Ialysos £60 9/2
Alfathaa/Mirrored £60 dutch
Cima De Triomphe £30 ew at 12s+ (16s betfair currently)
Say No Now £60 at 8/1
Amerigo £60 13/2
Maeswerte £60 win
Sandor £30 ew
Russian George £60 win at 9/1
£30 ew Ialysos/Cima De Triomphe
4 x £14 trebles Cima de triomphe/Say No Now/Amerigo/Russian George and £4 acc.

Leaving me around £150 for late plays if need be, before reaching the daily limit.

Friday 3rd July

2009 Challenge Fund (£14000 – plus £280 in play)
Current stake - £120

I've gone in again on Venus.

Todays racing has a weather warning attached.

Doc 2:00 – Bollin Greta – keeps on being overbacked – this is the last chance.

Donc 4:10 Crime Writer – weak this morning and may be badly hcapped – liked it though and good draw for a Johnston horse.

War 3:10 Dutch Steel Free and Markam

Sand 4:00 Dutch Confront and Tranquil Tiger

Donc 5:15 Global Conquest – though too short right now really.

Sals 7:35 Cill Rialaig – quick follow-up in similar race (needs pace in race though).

Something like:
Bollin Greta £60 at 5/2
Crime Wirter £60 at 4/1+
Cill Rialaig £60 at 5/2
£30 treble returning c £1800
£90 dutch Steel Free and Markam at around 1.6
£90 dutch Confront and Tranquil Tiger at around 1.66

Thursday 2nd July

2009 Challenge Fund (£13730 – plus £400 in play)
Current stake - £120

Haas lands the winning quarter bet, so a successful Wimbledon with a couple of swings of the racquet left.

7 Notebook horses today.

2:30 Yarmouth - Showcasing – but not interested at that price.

3:40 Haydock- Pride of Kings – smaller field should make soft lead more likely – what's happened to the ground though?

6:30 Newbury – Arab League – too short with going doubts.

7:35 Newbury - Ithbaat – doubts about distance but looks the type to improve for good gallop and 6/1 compensates for doubts.

7:55 Epsom - Mac Gille Eion – hardly original but should blast out and make all.

9:20 Redcar – Stateside – why bother at 4/5, hving pocketed the 7/4 two days ago – unless drifts.


So a sketchy possible:
Pride of Kings £60 win
Ithbaat £60 win
Whispered Times £60 win
Mac Gille Eion £120 win
4 x £8 trebles and £8 fourfold.

Wednesday 1st July

2009 Challenge Fund (£13350 – plus £420 in play)
Current stake - £120

The two horses I was interested in today are both very short and probably no bets – Contract Caterer and Swingkeel. Other than that a day of chores, hopefully fitted in around Haas and Murray.

Mid-week golf madness continues and I've dumped Kevin Na, and replaced him with my previous favourite who I've noticed at the top of the leaderboard a few times lately, and who looks very long for the French Open. May as well take Jeremy Chapman's American pick as the other half of the bet.

Mahan/Jeev Singh £20ew double.