SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Cheltenham Sunday

Dan had to scrape ice off his car before leaving for the racecourse this morning, writes SIMON NOTT.

Then by 9am it was tipping down; there was an inspection after the pony race, but eventually racing was given the go-ahead. Phew! All that action before a bet was struck.

Star Sports had been shuffled down to fifth pick on the rail, where Lofty and Ricky were on duty while Pam, Dan and Tony did the biz on the Tatts pitch. Star were also represented down at Fontwell today headed by Kaan.

Before racing, I headed down to where Chris Pitt was selling his new book on the Champion Hurdle, an ideal Christmas gift for the racing fan in your life.

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12:50 – mallardjewellers.com Maiden Hurdle (Class 2) (4YO plus)

Back up in the betting ring it was damp without tipping it down, there were plenty of younger people in evidence, seemingly not content with being corralled into the Invades area down by Lower Tatts great to see.

Business was very poor though, there was just £1629 in the combined hods at the off, £431 remained after Get Out Of My Way led them home to win, the win book was a couple of hundred quid more but the places went against the firm, still it was a winning start over a fancied horse returning 10/3.

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1:25 – WKD Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase (Class 3) (4YO plus)

I was chatting to John Carthy between races; we were both lamenting that The Racing Post doesn’t report big bets anymore. It really was the first place both of us looked when we got into the game; it would be excellent to see them return. Still chatting, I was getting £4000 – £500 each-way from Lofty Four Springs when a young gentleman asked where the winning post was. He now knows, it was great to see that he was interested.

The business picked up a bit despite the monkey each-way bet being by far the biggest in the book, at the off it held £3153, going to the last having jumped like a stag throughout it looked as if the book was going to do a money over a likely looking Spectacularsunrise win only for him to fall at the last, 11/1 chance Sony Bill went on to win copping £2106 on the race, top young judge Rio backed the winner, luckily not with Star Sports. Another winning race.

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2:00 – Weatherite Air Conditioning Handicap Chase (Class 3) (4YO plus)

Next up and a bet of £10,000 – £2000 Larzac got the rails team hopping as the rain got heavier. That was the only bet of any note, even though the book held £4018 at the off, the rest made up of small but plentiful wagers. The Sends clients were in Tatts en masse and didn’t seem to mind the rain too much, cheering the horses on their first circuit.

They were cheering louder the second time round when Jane Williams’ Authoceltic veritably hosed up from Larzac though really it was a one-horse race, it looks like she’s got a good one on her hands. The firm had an extra £1720 on theirs too, which was very handy, nicely in front with three races to go.

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2:35 – Oddschecker Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) (Class 1) (4YO plus)

Next up, the 3m 3f chase which looked sure to be an attritional slog, and that was just the betting. Well, you never know in this game; bets of £6000 – £1000 King Of Answers, £24,000 – £2000 Monbeg Genius and £10,000 – £1000 U Can’t Be Serious all laid on the rails made this the best betting heat of the day for big bets so far.

Those bets made up the bulk of the book, though at the off the field money totalled £5809, with of course some nasty big red figures next to those three.

You have to feel sorry for the punter that bet the £2000 Monbeg Genius which fell unhurt at the first. No, of course you don’t, it’s a roughy toughy game where the punter wanted £24,000 of Ben’s money but ended up paying for tonight’s supper.

None of the bad losers were in contention jumping the last so the teams were able to enjoy the exciting finish where Holokea hung on in a not really necessary photo from Resplendent Grey, the book won £4990.

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3:10 – Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

Prior to the big race, my pal Gary Payne the champion runner came over to say hello, cheerful as ever despite the rain; it’s always lovely to see Gary.

Back to the business of betting, sadly the feature race really didn’t take off at all, field money amounted to just £2561 across both pitches, which was a bit grim to match the conditions.

Every cloud has a silver lining they say, the lining in this paragraph was that despite Pioneer Pete being a well fancied 7/2 chance, the punters didn’t back him, at least not with Star Sports, the book won £1318.

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3:45 – Three Counties Christmas Open NH Flat Race (Listed) (Class 1) (4YO to 5YO)

If we expected the meeting to fizzle out with the bumper, we got that very wrong; it turned out to be a very lively heat. It was just as well it was busy because Lofty was getting drenched, rain was running between two mushes straight onto him and the big fella wasn’t happy.

It was dryer Dan’s team that laid £32,000 – £2000 Lord Churchill and £15,000 – £2500 Dundee Law, Lofty £6000 – £1000 each-way the same horse and £7000 – £2000 Cameron De Fiacre. Remember I gloated earlier in this blog saying it was a roughy toughy game they want Star’s money and Star wanted theirs Star got duffed up, the punters got it in the end.

Those that got Dundee Law at 6/1 knew, at the off he was a 3/1 chance, losing £13,000 in the £11,122 book and landed the gamble, what a kick in the kahonas. After going into the race £9920 up on the day, bollocks were done, a day getting soaked ended up being a losing one ensuring a losing meeting; it had all been going so well. Bugger. It’s roughy and toughy alright.

I’m back with Star Sports at Ascot next weekend.

Thanks for reading.

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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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