SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Ascot Saturday, Champions Day

After a three-week hiatus, it was fantastic to be back on course, albeit still slightly lame, writes SIMON NOTT.

The racecourse was expecting 35,000 people with a palpable feeling of expectation about the place. Star Sports had a full team out to work their three pitches: Callum, Lofty and Tony on the rail, Kaan, Keiran and Pam on the first Tatts pitch and Amberley and Dan on the second.

The Ascot dual climate of November under the stand and August by the paddock had caught some people out. The guy in the white linen suit no socks and daps was going to regret that clobber decision, as were Stephen Darbyshire, William Kedjanyi and Callum, no coats.

One chap that did have a coat on despite having come from Leith, Edinburgh was Declan who came to say hello, a lovely fella, with impeccable taste in reading, these blogs, thanks Declan. Anyway, onto the betting ring action.

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12:55 – Qatar Racing British Champions Day Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes (GBB Race) (Class 2) (2YO only)

Betting on the first was lively, there were loads of younger people getting involved betting with the books, great to see. I’d love to think some were here racing for the first time and falling in love with the game at first sight. There were some bigger bets £2600 and £1000 Arapaho Gold at 5/2 and £1000 Inner City Blues at 13/2. Given those were the big bets the field money total of £10,502 at the off was good.

While the betting was excellent, the race was even better with Arapaho Gold and Night In Vegas engaged in a right old ding-dong, of which the former appeared to have gotten the nod, at least according to the betting exchanges, bad news for the book, the former lost £10,000 the latter copping £5000. It doesn’t happen often but the exchange punters got the fingers burned on the result, Night In Vegas shaded it a nose the final figure was a cop of £5263 to kick the day off.

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1:30 – Qatar Racing British Champions Long Distance Cup (Group 1) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

Betting on the next was another frenetic, ‘brisk’ in Pam’s summing up, heat with £13,823 in the hod at the off. Bets included £2500, £2000, £300 and £1200 on Highwayman at 5/2, 9/4, 2/1 and 15/8, £1500 on Gregory at 10/3 and £300 on Caballo De Mar the rest was pure public money which is an excellent indicator of the vibrancy of the ring today.

Once again we were treated to a cracking race, one in which our Keiran, secretly some judge its beginning to transpire, roared home 33/1 winner Mount Atlas. He wasn’t the only one; no sooner as the gelding passed the post, a punter who he’d tipped the winner up to came over and gave him a huge hug. Star Sports staff are happy to put winners to the punters*

The book copped £12,083 on the race, Keiran, enough to pay for his recent dentistry!

*All ‘winners’ might not all win!

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2:05 – Qatar Racing British Champions Sprint Stakes (Group 1) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

So, onto heat three, where Almeraq proved all the rage early in the betting, £4000 and £2000 bets were struck at 5/4 following £1000 and £300 at 11/8 which ensured the jolly would be in its place in the book.

Down where Amberley and Dan were betting it was a different world, very quiet almost like there was a glass wall between the crowd and their area, they’ll have to give a different position a spin next time round, Lofty, Tony and Callum on the rail were steady and responsible for laying some of the chunkier bets already mentioned.

At the off the field, money over the three pitches was £24,587 with Almeraq the only loser in it for a hefty £21,445 in the win book. The bogie was a long way back when he started his run, it was a blistering one but would he be able to sustain it, Pam didn’t think so, sadly Pam was wrong, it was Champions’ Day after all, some horse. The book list £20,713 which put the firm around £5000 behind.

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2:40 – Qatar Racing British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (Group 1) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

Next up and Kalpana was installed the short one here best priced 5/4 early but was interestingly opposed by a couple of shrewdies I occasionally get a mark from including Alan Potts who thought the draw was against the jolly and that the race might play out well for Minnie Hauk.

Kaan mentioned that Kalpana was the second leg of a monkey Trixie which the firm had laid prior to the racing, the first leg was the previous winning jolly, you can get multiples on course if you ask before it gets busy. Talking of which, bets here included £500 x 3, £1000 x 1 and £300 on Kalpana, £1000 Minnie Hauk at 5/1 and £600 Lilt.

At the off the book held £21,295 and had Kalpana a loser for £15,877. The firm felt they had chances when the bogie was tardy from what was already considered by judges a poor draw, they were right to, she never really looked like winning after that, at the business end of the race Minnie Hauk took full advantage of her prominent position to quicken away for a 5/1 win, the book copped £7906 despite Lofty laying that £5000 – £1000 on the rail putting them back in the game. The Potsmeister knew!

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3:20 – Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Sponsored By Qatar Racing) (Group 1) (Str) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

Matt came up to say hello as betting got underway for the race before the penultimate, he likes the blogs and came to say so, Kaan gave him over the odds his bet and a cigar, well it was very nice of him to take the time to come over.

This race looked a tough one for the punters, Gstaad was popular backed from 5/2 into 7/4 including £2000 at 9/4 while Talk Of New York attracted a grand at 10/3 and £300 at 7/2, though one of the bigger bets of the earlier transactions was £1500 More Thunder at 13/2, Lofty laid the fella, no fractions. It was a decent betting heat, at the off the book held £16,740 copping £4468 when Talk Of New York obliged, the firm kicked on further just like the winner.

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4:00 – Qatar Racing Champion Stakes (Group 1) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

The six-runner penultimate was as anticipated a tremendous betting heat. Bets on Ombudsman included £4000 and £3000 at 7/4, £4000 a couple of times at 6/4 and various lumps in between.

This is painful so I’ll cut to the chase, the book held £34,639 and lost £27,903 when Ombudsman won impressively, that’s the trouble with this game sometimes, it’s hard to relish a scintillating performance when the firm paying you have done their orchestras, with just the handicap to go, the day looked cooked.

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4:35 – Balmoral Handicap (Sponsored By Qatar Racing) (Str) (Class 2) (3YO plus)

The firm applied the head down fill the hod method to try and get some back in the last, thoughts of ‘getting out’ banished. Down the line Dan and Amberley were still smiling, their business had picked up a bit though punters asking for random prices like 9/1 on 6/1 chances was getting tedious. Start with asking for 100/16 if you are going to beg.

Up on the rail Lofty described business as lumpy and ‘alright’. Tatts main pitch just tapped away, bets included a couple of £1000 bets on Scoville at 7/2 and £400 on Hickory at 10/1 but the wagers were mostly small.

At the off field money was £9805, the smallest of the day, now a certain losing one, it was just a case of how bad. Not too bad as it turned out, 20/1 chance Fifth Column winning copped £7116 meaning a loss of £6500 on the day, not nice but could have been nastier.

Sigma who I’m told are a pop ensemble were playing directly after racing, I know not who they are but did hope that car park exiting would be easier because they were. I’m back with Star Sports on Wednesday at Fontwell.

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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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