SIMON NOTT: Bath on Wednesday

SIMON NOTT: It was a glorious night and up at Bath Star Sports had a Silvestre De Sousa special on offer, four of his mounts to be placed paying 6/1 so I thought I’d come up and blog it’s progress. That quartet didn’t kick off until the 7.10 running until the seventh and last at 9.10.

Business in the opener looked pretty quiet but then word came that a rails firm had laid a monkey each-way Mambo Spirit. You’d have to think that was a fair bet to lay given the horse is 13 years old. And so it proved, the money stayed with the bookie, the veteran was unplaced behind 7/1 winner number seven Lucky Clover. You’d have to assume he’d had a one-horse book of epic proportions though given the business.

The next couple of races went well for the on-course books, 7/1 Union Rose was a handy result beating 5/4 jolly Trick Of The Light in the Brakes Handicap Stakes then 6/1 Innoko was another cracking winner in modest books in the Bluefin Insurance Handicap Stakes. The latter was the first leg of our place accumulator, Hope Is High was the selection and went of the 6/4 favourite. Silvestre De Sousa looked to have stolen the race on the jolly when he went clear turning for home then only just held on for third, but that counted in a dead eight race.

Between races I tried to get some video interviews with some bookies for the new ‘Simon Nott Meets The Ring’ series CLICK HERE and noticed Peter O’Toole has now got a lightboard. That may not seem very unusual but he’s stood firm against them for 11 years. He had to concede in the end, he wants to be careful though, those bungees didn’t look all that secure.

The second leg of the special was in the next race, reduced from 9 to 7 runners. During betting I was stood behind the Pickwick-Bevan joint when, incidentally both Ian and Paul were too shy to talk for a video, when Ian called ‘One and a quarter each way’. Paul smiled a smile of a man who has just taken a bet of £125 each-way in a seven horse race, then morphed into the scowl of a man who finds out that he meant £1.25. Nasty.

SDS was on Mark Johnston’s Bicolour which was sent off at 9/4 for the heat. There had been a tip from a good source flying around for Eugenic backed from 6/1 into 9/2. Those backers did their money when 8/1 shot Henryhudsonbridge proved a head too good at the line. The winner had been backed from 14/1 but it wouldn’t have bothered the books too much as both short ones Eben Dubai and more importantly for Star Sports Bicolour were out of the frame.

The SDS place special only lasted two races, someone somewhere near Hove was smiling a contented smile, their work was done.

As was mine, Star Sports are betting at Ascot on Saturday, see you there.

Come Racing!
Simon Nott.

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Simon Nott is author of Skint Mob!: Tales from the Betting Ring

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