SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Cheltenham Friday

Day one of the November meeting is Countryside Day and appeared to have been well anticipated given the size of the crowd which by memory seemed quite large and lively for the opening Friday, writes SIMON NOTT.

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1:10 – AIS Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (Class 3) (3YO plus)

Star Sports manned two pitches, number three on the rails with Ricky, Pam and Lofty and three in Tatts with Kaan, Tony and Dan on duty. The betting ring was awash with sharks, bagmen and shrewdies, not to mention fellow bookies all meaning business, it was the latter that bet £4000 – £480 each-way Outmaster at quarter the odds a place with Star on the rail, come racing.

While both pitches were busy that was the only bet worth writing home about in a book that held a combined £4332 at the off with half a dozen losers scattered around the screen. The winner, 12/1 chance Norman Fletcher wasn’t one of them, the book won £3500.

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1:45 – Mucking Brilliant Paddy Power Novices’ Chase (Listed) (Registered As The Doctor Fothergill Novices’ Chase) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4YO plus)

Next up and pretty much the first bet in the book was £10,000 – £2000 D Art D Art laid in Tatts which was a good start for fielding money. I’d been speaking to Alan Potts before racing, he’d not come up with a bet but was more than happy to be here on such a glorious day, it’s always a pleasure to sit down and have a chat with Alan, a gentleman.

Meanwhile, other hopefully lesser punters had found bets which were flowing into both pitches but not to substantial sums. Tony pointed out that the book was a weird one, £6306 in the hod with a loser for £10,000 a couple of takers and two winning a nice few quid.

You might wonder which ones, it didn’t matter, the bogie, now a 7/2 chance won the race in a battling finish, the book lost £10,000 which wasn’t ideal but par for the course in this game recently, the big punters do appear to be extraordinarily lucky of late.

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2:20 – Shloer Chase (Registered As The Cheltenham Chase) (Grade 2) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4YO plus)

Every podcast, serious punter and shrewdie on the track appeared to be against Jonbon, but not the bagmen of the cleverer variety, they were all round the ring smashing into him at 4/7. The punter that had £10,000 – £18,750 on the with Lofty wasn’t a bag man, but he knew, as did they. Jonbon did the business from the front and the book knocked out another chunk, £13,000.

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2:55 – Jilly Cooper Veterans’ Handicap Chase (Class 2) (10YO plus)

Star’s managing director Flynn was on the Tatts joint for the fourth heat, where betting was tight, with Thunder Rock and Triple Trade heading the market. He appeared to be enjoying being back on the tools.

Once again, bets were plentiful but not big, with a monkey on Triple Trade the biggest wager offered to either pitch throughout the business.

There was a punter looking for 12/1 about the 11/1 chance Outlaw Peter, to £50 each-way. I did what any good betting ring chap would do and steered him towards a bookmaker who often says he bets ‘bigger than the machine’. The punter, however, was to be disappointed, as bigger than the machine apparently only applies to favourites.

That was a shame for the bookie who didn’t play ball, as Outlaw Peter failed to make the frame. But hold on, I’m jumping the gun.

At the off, the Star Sports book held £6,400 in mostly modest money. They had two losers, both market leaders. Luckily for them, Thunder Rock, who won very nicely, was the lesser of the two, but still cost them £719.

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3:30 – Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 2) (Registered As The Hyde) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4YO plus)

The penultimate had been reduced to eight runners so looked to be a decent each-way race for punters so the hope was they’d get stuck in.

The market was headed by Ferocimo at 3/1 in a theoretically wide open betting heat but it didn’t really come alive.

The only bet of any note in the £4624 book was £3200 – £800 Lock Stock which went on to win, amazingly the book won £13.

Bag Men were once again active on the winner, someone out there is getting a lively card.

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4:00 – Valda Energy Novices’ Handicap Hurdle (GBB Race) (Class 3) (3YO plus)

In the days when you were allowed to have getting out stakes, this one would have looked a tricky heat to batter your way out of trouble on, a 16 runner handicap hurdle where they bet 3/1 the field.

At least one punter thought they knew though, well a bookmaker to be precise but no doubt it was hedging money when they had £10,000 – £1200, 8/1 with the fractions Lexington Wood with the Tatts book, Tuppence was another popular selection with the punters but just to modest money but it mounted up enough to make that one a loser too, bringing up the trio of those showing red at the off was Eden Zaabeel the easy to back jolly.

Before they set off Kaan did his sums which didn’t add up to anything pretty, the firm were losing £23,500 going into the race, where they held £7626 so no getting out for the firm. It could have been a different story for informed punters when Lexington Wood got up in the shadow of the post to break the bookie’s hearts and land a right old touch returning 7/2 and losing the firm £7980 on top of the £23,500. Nasty, I’ll say no more apart from 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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