SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Glorious Goodwood Wednesday

After missing the first day of Glorious Goodwood yesterday due to my daughter Betsy’s 11th birthday, it was nice to be back on course, though of course I wouldn’t have missed her birthday, writes SIMON NOTT.

Apparently, I didn’t miss a lot on course yesterday though Tuesday of the Glorious meeting hasn’t traditionally been that busy, the first lost £4000 which Kaan said felt like winning.

Today’s teams were camera shy Dan, Sophie, Kaan and Tony in Tatts and Pam, Alex BHA Grad and Lofty on the rail.

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1:50 – Coral Rewards Shaker Handicap (GBBPlus Race) (Class 2) (3YO only)

Today was evidently going to be a little different from yesterday; a bet of £90,000 – £40,000 Hatteen saw to that.

There were other decent bets on the race, including £10,000 – £500 each-way Sea And Sun and £2400 – £300 Bay Royale, but of course at the off the firm only wanted one beaten.

Well, if it was excitement as well as profit the big punter was after, he got the latter in spades.

We were treated to a right old ding dong as Hatteen and Infraad battled it out resulting in a desperate photo in which Infraad came out on top copping the firm £39,750. For a couple of seconds anyway bing bong Stewards’ Enquiry, possible interference.

Regardless of a massive potential turnaround, a Steward’s Enquiry on a busy day is a nightmare for bookies. Punters expecting to be paid over a winner clog the front of the pitch weren’t going to bet until they got their money and were half blocking out those that did want to bet. Add to that people don’t understand the hold up; it’s just a pain.

Ultimately, the placings remained unaltered. Time to kick on.

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2:25 – British Stallion Studs EBF Alice Keppel Fillies’ Conditions Stakes (GBB Race) (Class 2) (2YO only)

It was good to see ITV’s Richard Hoiles chatting to Jerry White on the TV, more coverage of the betting ring on terrestrial telly which is brilliant to see, let’s hope it continues as it has been at recent meetings.

Meanwhile, next up and no monster bets but a steady flow including £6500 – £4000, £1300 – £800 and £550 – £400 Wild Blossom, £6000 – £2000 Fast Track and £2750 – £500 Zigazig Ah.

The public money to bolster it up made the field money at the off total £11,257. Sadly, for the firm but to the delight of favourite backers Wild Blossom bolted up, the book lost £6062.

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3:00 – Rolls-Royce Oak Tree Stakes (Fillies’ And Mares’ Group 3) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

Between races, I bumped into my old pal, previous #BettingPeople interviewee and top judge Optimum Racing’s Andrew Lowrie, he’s normally seen on cold and sodden national hunt courses in the depths of winter so was enjoying the sun. He was wearing a nice Panama too. As you can see, the titfer of choice at Glorious Goodwood for a racing gentleman.

Back to the pitches, they were steady with two noted bets early, £21,000 – £3000 Radiant Beauty and £10,000 – £2500 Sayidah Dariyan.

Over on the rail where those bets had been laid, Lofty described business as ‘lively’. Lively indeed, at the off the combined books held £12,871 of which they kept £4172 when the 5/2 favourite Flora Of Bermuda obliged making her the third winning favourite from as many races. I bet if Mickey Fletcher was watching at home, he was glad he wasn’t here, at least not making a book.

Star Sports had managed to win over two of them, Kaan objected when I suggested he’d had a lean up the winner. Too much maybe?

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3:35 – Veuve Clicquot Molecomb Stakes (Group 3) (Class 1) (2YO only)

The rail pitch appeared to be the go to of the two for decent bets, they took £11,000 – £2000 Adonis and £7000 – £2000 Crownbreaker though a bet of £7000 – £2100 the latter a slightly worse odds for the punter taken in Tatts redressed the balance a little those bets were followed by £1200 – £400 Pershaada and £4400 – El Floridita.

It wasn’t that busy though, well not too busy that Kaan couldn’t dispatch Sophie and me for ice creams, they had to be paid for, so the queue was a lot shorter than that of the free strawberries and cream.

The ice creams weren’t lasting long in the heat; Tony’s was disintegrating into liquid rapidly but he couldn’t jump off the stool and eat it because the 11/4 jolly Pershaada had won the race while we were queuing.

That was the fourth jolly in a row, any bookie playing with a straight bat would be doing their dough, Kaan managed to win £1697 from field money of £10,876, what shaped bat was he using today?

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4:10 – Visit Qatar Sussex Stakes (Group 1) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

Next up and the feature race of the day, where Bow Echo was expected to be popular with the cash-flush favourite backers. He was too; two bets of £5000 – £4000, £2500 – £2000 and £1250 – £1000 were the highlights of a multitude of decent wagers on the jolly. It wasn’t all one-way traffic, others backed included £10,000 – £600 each-way Ten Bob Tony and £8000 – £2000 Opera Ballo.

At the off,3 the book held £29,271 but this time the firm’s run of luck was about to come to a halt, but what a way to do it, Bow Echo won in scintillating style getting home in the dying strides, returned tips-on and cost the book £21,914.

Nasty, but ‘nice for George’ according to big-hearted Ben.

Inserting the Arab heat into the card might have been good PR given the sponsors of the meeting, but it stalled momentum in the ring; punters showed very little interest. Field money across both pitches totalled just £1188. The book knocked out for £490 when Kingmaker won the race.

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5:00 – Coral Charlton Handicap (Class 4) (3YO plus)

The Arab race appeared to have taken the steam out of the meeting, plus big gaps in eight race cards don’t help. The field money across both pitches totalled £4241, including a bet of £8000 – £1000 each-way Calling A Star.

The race went to 14/1 chance French Affair beating 13/2 shot Under The Twilight, I mention them both because Neil Channing tipped them both in his Betting Emporium column.

The firm did OK too copping £3277 of what they took, which of course was very handy.

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5:40 – HKJC World Pool Handicap (Class 3) (3YO plus)

Going into the lucky last, Star Sports were winning near as dammit £20,000, even Kaan couldn’t be bothered to add it up to two decimal places as he usually does.

There were still punters trying to knock a hole in the day, not just punters, a bet of £12,000 – £1000 each-way Zarathos was off the floor, but a £1400 at 13/2 Bobby Benny was the trade, you might wonder why he didn’t ask for £10,000 – £1500? He did but was told to bugger off!

Late on the Tatts pitch took a bet of £3600 – £400 Goldmoyne which brought the field money to £5784 and counting, that had risen to £5924 at the off. There are two things you couldn’t make up, apart from the SP of Bow Echo and the fact another jolly won the last.

Crimson Echo tipped up by Andrew Lowrie, which Kaan bet at the off at 13/2 and returned 11/2. That’s not the bit you couldn’t make up though even though it’s a disgrace, no Star Sports won on it copping £3491. A winning day, against the odds, something to smile about, we’re back tomorrow.

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Views of authors do not necessarily represent views of Star Sports Bookmakers.

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Simon Nott is author of: Skint Mob! Tales from the Betting Ring
available on Kindle CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

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