Update

Well, I'm having a terrible January!

Last night our sneaky 40/1 pokes for the Superbowl (Baltimore) lost the last game they needed to win for us to collect ew.

Racing yesterday was horrid, and my fault because I could have predicted that before the off. The only races I liked were the all weather ones and they proved profitable. The racing in January and February is so bad mid-week that I seem to make the mistakes of (a) getting suckered into really bad races during the week because I feel I should be doing something and (b) over-compensating for the lack of turnover by attacking Saturday's card with too much verve for the quality on show or given the conditions. If there was one time of the year when I wouldn't mind a few weeks steady work this is probably it.

My Christmas break also seems to be a factor. Until then I was on top of all the racing - in particular the novice chases. However, I seem to have dropped off the pace over the break and have overlooked some basic form-book stuff. Christmas is such a busy time for racing (and football) I'm not sure I can afford to jet off to sunnier climes as usual if I'm taking this full-time gambling lark at all seriously. Not entirely sure how to broach this with Anne!

Finally, during the week, I just momentarily went on tilt and missed a last minute winner (Nippy Des Mottes - who drifted badly). This was caused by my new 5star fund. I was so wrapped up in one of those bets, and so wound up by the result that I let the last result affect my next bet. This was my biggest problem years ago, but I have mangaged to put in place strategies to train myself out of it, and for the last couple of years it has not been an issue. I was alarmed to find myself back there. I need to make sure the 5star fund (which is after all only an experiment) doesn't become a toad squatting over my proper activities.

Onwards...(and apologies to anyone falling over the cliff with me!)