Weekly review

Horses:
On Saturday three horses from "my stable" were running. This is simply a list of horses I really like, usually because they've won for me, and I indulge in betting them throughout the season regardless of price etc. There's never more than 5 horses in the stable at any one time, and it is a useful way of keeping a lid on any sentimentality I have within racing whilst at the same time not losing sight of my love for the sport. Also, some of my best wins have come from this somewhat silly approach. Atavus some years ago, and Sergeant Cecil last year for example.

On Saturday I combined Zowington (33s), Court Masterpiece (6s) and Fullandby (12s) in each way doubles and trebles for another success for the approach. I recommend it wholeheartedly as an adjunct to the normal more rigid numbers-based approaches.


George Washington:
Yes, I did price GW as 5/1 on my tissue. As a result I went in heavy on Proclamation backed up by Court Masterpiece and even Araafa near the off. Obviously my price was wrong, and I got my arse kicked, but on the whole I think I'd do the same again next time. One thing it is worth learning and I've said this to myself before. Often you see warnings to take whatever O'Brien says as hype for the stud, and I must admit I tend to take against it myself. However, in reality he does seem to be on the level when he really commits to a horse.


Twiston-Davies
Last year I went on holiday in Scotland and managed a nice fun day out at Perth races. I wasn't betting, more eating ice cream and mug-punting fivers. However, I noticed that Twiston-Davies had sent some pretty decent animals up to race against summer scottish rubbish, and that this seemed to be an on-going affair. I never look at summer jumps full stop but last week the fact that Perth was on again caught my eye. I threw a point at Twiston-Davies's four runners in a get luck accumulator, and blow me down if they didn't all win!

I actually have quite a few of these "trainer system" bets in my head. I need to find a place to record them so that they are at hand and I don't overlook them in future. Not only are the definitely profitable, but they offer occasional big returns for little outlay.


Golf:
I made a mistake this week. I mistook the US tour for US players. I should have remembered only a few months ago saying to a friend how remarkable it was that Australians were dominating the tour. The plain fact is US golf is in a terrible state, and that, coupled with Mickelson and Woods' seening indifference to the Ryder cup, should have made it plain what was going to happen.

Also, a Ladbrokes compiler made a comment pre-tournament that hit home. He said that some people just like to take against the favourite hoping that they'll get value that way, but in this situation 8/13 Europe was definitely huge value. There's no doubt being contrarian by nature is one of the cornerstones of my success, but it can be an overdone strength. This is even more true in sports betting as opposed to horse betting, though even there, as we know, betfair has forced the value to the front end.


Football
Backing Reading to beat Man Utd nearly worked out. However I need to take a reality check on these type of bets as well. I remember when Fulham came up and played the big boys, and there just wasn't the actual self-belief that we could win - compete, yes : win, no. There's probably more scope to play similar matches on Asian handicaps and not be so greedy. This is an undercurrent through all of my sports betting. My horseplayer head tends to dominate and this is a mistake in a betting environment where the events are just much less competitive and random than (say) a competitive class 2 handicap, and where upsets similar to those in racing are just much rarer.