Monday 31st August

2009 Challenge Fund (£8970)
Current stake - £200 per day

Everton fuck me up late on.

Andy Murray 3/1 to win US Open – against Federer, and with Nadal, Djokovic and Del Potro lurking. I think this is the tournament he really needs to win if he's not to risk being a perennial 3 or 4 seeded player. Let's hope so.

On the other hand, Serena Williams 2/1 to win US Open – against....

£200 Serena.

Sunday 30th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£9170)
Current stake - £200 per day

Adam Kirby isn't much good is he? About as good as my football bets at the moment!

Threeplay for today:

Goodwood 2:45 - Alsace Lorraine (one of only a handful of horses who has won more than once for us this season) £60 at 7/2

Curragh 3:45 – Gile Na Greine (apparent “clash of the superpowers” allowing this one to be priced up favourably) £50 at 13/2

Everton/Wigan Draw £70 at 11/4

and £20 treble, plus for some reason I'm drawn to chucking a tenner on Hayler Turner to ride a treble.

Saturday 29th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£9270)
Current stake - £200 per day

Goodwood:

2:35 Bloody Pricewise – how does he help anyone? Classic Vintage was supposed to be 12/1 this morning. 9/1 is Ok, if disappointing. £100 win.

3:10 Most notable thing about this race is the complete lack of pace. Could get very tricky. Delegator looks fairly priced at 4/5 but given those doubts wouldn't want to play big. Beacon Lodge let us down here last time and I'm not sure this is any easier – still £50 at a too big 25/1.

Plus £20 double Classic Vintage/Beacon Lodge
£10 forecast Delegator beat Beacon Lodge
£10 acc CV/Delegator/Sheff Utd and the three draws I put up on Thursday
£5 acc as above but Beacon Lodge instead of Delegator
£5 as above but missing out Man Utd as they play last and I couldn't bear to be waiting on that for all the money!

Friday 28th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£9470)
Current stake - £200 per day

Another weekend football bet:

Sheff Utd to beat WBA £100 at 6/4

Also a sneaky £10 to win £6000+ ante-post racing treble:
Haydock Sprint – Finjaan 6/1
St Leger – Changingofthegaurd 6/1
Arc – Cavalryman 12/1

The other £90 I'll spend on Newmarket maiden races, or even Ffos Las.

Thursday 27th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£9670)
Current stake - £200 per day

Let's do our threeplay draws for the weekend.

Man Utd/Arsenal – draw
Ipswich/Preston – draw
Scunthorpe/QPR – draw
3 x £60 and £20 treble

Wednesday 26th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£9570)
Current stake - £200 per day

Arsenal/Celtic under 11 corners £150 at Evens (if you can get it) – Pullein.

Mid-week golf madness
Na £10 ew at 120ish
Dredge £10ew at 40/1
£5ew double

Tuesday 25th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£9570)
Current stake - £200 per day

First time I back Liverpool in years....

No bet today.

Monday 24th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£9770)
Current stake - £120

Two simple match bets for Monday.

Liverpool are not exactly value on ratings but Aston Villa look like they may take time to regroup this season. I'm also quite taken with the Early Bird column in the Racing Post and that alerts me to Wolves's great price against Hull this weekend – Hull look like they could cost me some money this season, as they've gubbed me both opening weeks and I'm against them again.

Liverpool beat Aston Villa £140 at 9/4
Wolves beat Hull £60 at 11/10

Sunday 23rd August

2009 Challenge Fund (£9900)
Current stake - £120

Football threeplay:

Everton to beat Burnley 13/10 – overreaction to each team's latest results.
Fulham/Chelsea draw 3/1 – part belief in Hodgson, part love bet.
Under 11 corners Hearts/rangers Evens– Kevin Pullein
3 x £60 and £20 treble

Saturday 22nd August

2009 Challenge Fund (£10300)
Current stake - £120

Palavicini's been a good horse to us this year.


Bet of the day: Hull/Bolton Draw £200 at 12/5


Racing: No strong feelings today. I'll combine these four.
Chester 2:25 Invincible Lad 5/1
Chester 2:55 Sabotage 7/2
Sandown 2:40 Simenon 11/2
Sandown 3:15 Greylami 12/1+
£125 dutch to return £200+
6 x £10 doubles
1 x £15 fourfold

Friday 21st August

2009 Challenge Fund (£10000)
Current stake - £120

Shoot for the stars today with four complete rags, who have been in my stable at some points of the year. An end-of-an-era punt!

Gibb River – so disappointing, but is very close to the best horse here on ratings and speed and 33/1 is too long.

Palavicini – I like Forgotten Voice a lot and this is much more his grade. These 3 year olds are a good bunch though, and this one has always looked decent – hopefully the break has freshened him up at 14/1.

Equiano – me and Pricewise throwing darts here – but early season form looks good enough, track suits and he looked to be coming back to form last time when running on well after missing the break – 33/1 too big.

Snoqualmie Boy – not won since I first backed him, has no obvious chance, even if he does stay, but I'm sure there's a race in him, and who knows in this field of dodgepots. 45/1 upwards.

4 x £35 win singles
6 x £6 doubles
4 x £2.50ew trebles
1ew acc – at which point I'll take my half a million and ....

Thursday 20th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£10070)
Current stake - £120

Thanks to the regulars for the kind words of support. I guess the bottom line is that being “good” is all very well for a part-time hobby providing extra income, but not enough for a viable living – that's how it's felt for too long now. And my wife needs a break.

Of course, 5 years sitting on my arse hasn't equipped me for much in the way of a new career! So I don't suppose you'll notice much difference on here. I'm not planning on giving up entirely and I'll play £200 a day whilst I ponder my next step, or until I get dragged kicking and screaming back into training/consultancy. I'd have thought a fair few of those bets will be of the barking variety.
Mike, I think I may well re-write that book in the meantime.

Today I'm going over the cliff yet again on Lovelace, who yet again has a bad draw. £120 win and throw a few quid at an ew double with another one I should have given up on by now Little Scotland, and get rich quick with a ridiculous ew treble adding Storyland.

I'll save the remaining £50ish for last minute madness.

Wednesday 19th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£10270)
Current stake - £120

I seem to be right back where I started – hardly the consolidation I was aiming for this year.

My full-time gambling days look over (for now, at least). That said, what I'm actually going to do with the rest of my time is a bit of poser, so I'll continue chucking £200 a day around until I find my next direction!

York today.

2:15 Drill Sergeant £60 at 5/2+
3:25 Manyriverstocross £30 at 14/1
Hits Only Vic £30 at 20/1
4:40 Mo Mhurnin £40 at 11/1
2 x £10 trebles
and a Cumani dart £10ew his two horses at 14/1 and 50/1

Tuesday 18th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£10930)
Current stake - £120


Two nice-looking bets today.

2:50 York – Jukebox Jury. Harbinger and Alwarry are both fine, but Jukebox should be much closer to them in the betting than he is, as far as I priced it up.

Womens 400m – Ohurugou has landed us a great price the last two finals, but she doesn't look to be in tip-top shape this time. I still want to get against Sanya Richards though until she proves herself capable fo running three rounds and coping with a final. Shericka Williams is the obvious one, a tough cookie with a record of improving round to round. Anything better than 5s is a very good bet as far as I'm concerned.

Jukebox Jury £120 at 6/1+
Shericka Williams £100 at 7s (and Ohurugou £20 at 20/1 for old time's sake)
£40 treble Jukebox Jury/Shericka Williams and Mata Karanjang

I'll look at the football later, and may put something up...

Saturday 15th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11200)
Current stake - £120


Arwaah a nice bet to have at 4s! And Tiger at 2s.

Looks a pretty humdrum day today and I'll keep it quiet.

Shooting for the stars I'll be doing multiples based around the following
Lucky General
Mourilyan
Arabian Gleam
Suba
Hitchens
though whether I back any of them in singles (other than Hitchens who I took each way at 16s yesterday) is open to question.

Friday 14th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11200)
Current stake - £120


Apart from the many bad bets I've done this week, I've also failed to place bets I considered – Woods to lead after first round at 10/1 and someone being sent off in Scotland/Norway game at 9/2 both had my finger hovering - and why I didn't back both Without a Prayer and Mac Love yesterday is a proper hindsight view.

At least I did manage to add Woods to my portfolio before the off.

Newbury 4:35 Arwaah is in the notebook, and hopefully has only been absent due to Tregoning's troubles. £100 at 4/1

Football – this weekend I'll sit on the ratings, but here's the draw “threeplay”.
Bolton/Sunderland draw
Nottm Forest/WBA draw
Swansea/Middlesbrough draw
3 x £90 singles and £30 treble

Thursday 13th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11720)
Current stake - £120


A late play on the draw in the England game made up for the racing yesterday.

Two longer-priced horses today.

3:40 Salisbury: Yonder gave a remarkable performance here two runs ago, having gone beserk before the start. She's up against a load of progressive three year olds and flopped last time, hence the price. If she is in the mood and can get a softish lead she'll make them work.

4:15 Salisbury: Without A Prayer looks a big price on Diomed running, and has a bigger chance than odds imply if the race proves muddling, with Confront taking an age to get going.

2 x £80 wins at 12/1
£20ew double.

Wednesday 12th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11830)
Current stake - £120


USPGA: Think I'll leave Tiger alone ahead of play, and do a couple of each way shots instead.
Mahan £25ew at 35/1 and £10 win w/out Woods at 25/1
Stenson £25ew at 55/1 and £10 win w/out Woods at 40/1

And a Salisbury notebook threeplay.
2:30 Carnaby Street £60 win at 6/1
3:35 Block Party £60 win at 9/2
4:05 Splashdown £60 win at 13/2
£20 win treble


.

Tuesday 11th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11830)
Current stake - £120


No bet today.

Monday 9th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11830)
Current stake - £120

Close to the treble yesterday (“threeplays” are becoming my favourite bet), and Tiger gave us a late night boost (or rather Harrington did!).

No bet today.

Sunday 9th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11300)
Current stake - £120

Day started well, then fell in a hole, not helped by a couple of bad late bets.

Three-play today.
3:30 Lucky General
4:30 Heritage Coast
Charity Shield – draw
3 x £60 and £20 treble.

Saturday 8th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11740)
Current stake - £120

Nice start to the football season yesterday.

I seem to be taking on Stan James's odds-compiler this afternoon.

2:25 Nmkt Whispering Gallery – forgiveable lto – progressive – notebook horse £60 at 5/1

3:00 Nmkt Chachamidee and Sent From Heaven – notebook horses against opposable fave - £90 dutch at 6/4ish.

3:35 Nmkt Taqdeeyr – hopefully Robinson can settle him £60 at 7/1

2:40 Haydock – Duncan – hates Newmarket – solid tissue bet £120 at 10/3

2:35 Redcar Pride of Kings – notebook horse -£60 at 9/1

Omitting Chachamiadee, the above 5 horses, 10 x £6 trebles and £4ew acc.

Friday 7th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11680)
Current stake - £120

The racing this week has just been awful – look at this afternoon's cards!

At least football is back with us, and my two tickles for the weekend:

Middlesbrough/Sheff Utd - £120 draw at 12/5 (I'm hoping for a big year on draws this year after last year's successful experiment).

and

Bradford beat Notts Co £120 at 11/4 (impossible to say how quick a start money bags Notts County will make, but the prices here are surely overly skewed).

£40 treble
Sheff Utd draw
Bradford
Preston
MK Dons

(Both the later are “value” on my ratings, but being so early in the season I'm not much interested in odds-on betting on ratings that are bound to be somewhat outdated).

Thursday 6th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11800)
Current stake - £120

Of all the season long football bets – here's my favourite.

Sheff Utd to be best Northern club in Championship at 9/2 (Tote). Middlesbrough rebuilding and Newcastle in disarray build in a very nice looking margin – and the other challengers don't look very credible.
£120 well spent.


Notebook horse- 7:55 Sandown – Tottie £60 at 3/1

Wednesday 5th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11950)
Current stake - £120

I seem to be off-sync with Tiger but I'm back on board anyway.

Woods £120 at 7/4
Na £15 ew 28/1 (last chance – again!)

Wednesday 4th August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11950)
Current stake - £120

Doctor Parkes a nice drifter yesterday.

No bets today.

Monday 3rd August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11760)
Current stake - £120

Let's do a threeplay today – three essentially disappointing notebook horses – hoping that typically poor Monday fields will come to their aid.

3:15 Ripon Crime Writer
4:15 Ripon Cotillion
5:15 Ripon Doctor Parkes
3 x £60 win and £20 win treble

Sunday 2nd August

2009 Challenge Fund (£11760)
Current stake - £120

Genki at least gave me the Wokingham bragging rights for another year (an amazingly lucky race for me for some reason). But overall, we're right back where we started the week. I felt devoid of enthusiasm all week, which is unlike me at this meeting. I think I've just hit a brick wall trying to cover so much of the flat season – most of it really is seven shades of shit. Which is a bit of a problem with three months of it left and me nowhere near target.

Still, football starts again next week!

I like Reganne at Deauville this afternoon. Unfortunately, so does Pricewise, so there goes the 6/1.

Saturday 1st August

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

Gave back the week's profits yesterday, with Lovelace an agonising 5th not helping the mood.

2:10 Thin Red Line is fairly priced at 10/1 £60.

2:30 Ashram has as good form as Donativum to my eyes and Frankie often gets it wrong - £60 at 11/1.

3:05 High Heeled far too long, particularly if any rain falls, for a horse Midday seemed to just outstay in the Oaks. £60 at 12/1. Go in again if clouds burst.

3:40 Three darts. Thebes up the golden highway under the far rail £30ew at 33/1; Genki solid £30 at 16/1, and Valery Borzov inconsistent £30 at 30/1.

4:50 Dingaan – hope for some pace in the race. £60 at 11/2

Skip the Stewards and do 4 x £10 trebles the others and £5 acc.