SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Cheltenham Festival Friday

It’s already upon us, Gold Cup Day, the 100th Gold Cup no less, after three torrid days for Star Sports, writes SIMON NOTT.

Today promised to be the biggest betting day of a meeting of big betting days. The punters should be well in front and the firm were hoping they’d be spinning it up. When I say the firm, someone was missing, where was Ben Keith? AWOL that’s where. He missed out big style, a friend of his, Diane, brought some of his favourite treats for him to munch on while doing battle with the punters. As Ben was a non-runner I was told to give them to Lofty. See what you could have won!

Meanwhile, despite losing their leader the firm were getting stuck in regardless. The earliest business was done in the office, bets included 3.30 Galopin Des Champs £150,000 at 10/11, 16.50 Limerick Lace £50,000 at 2/1, 14.10 So Scottish £20,000 at 11/2, 13.30 Mighty Bandit £4000 at 18/1, 16.10 It’s on the line £50,000 at 11/8 and 3.30 Nassalam £10,000 each-way at 20/1, £10,000 each-way at 18/1. Meanwhile the Tatts pitch laid an even £6000 and an even £8000 each-way Galopin Des Champs the rails and even £15,000 in the Gold Cup.

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1:30 – JCB Triumph Hurdle (Grade 1) 2m1f

Betting on the first race was steady, like a busy Saturday on the rail according to Lofty, looking like a hamster, his mouth full of sweets. The treat starved Tatts pitch laid a couple of decent bets £20,000 – £5000 Storm Heart and £11,000 – £2000 Majborough and then late on €30,000 – €600 each-way Fratas.

Meanwhile, now that bookmakers are no longer allowed to enjoy a pint on their pitches they have to find other vices. Archie, fifth generation Jack Bevan decided on a Star Sports cigar, of course you don’t inhale cigar smoke, so it’s all good clean fun.

At the off, the win book on the Tatts pitch had Fratas losing £22,000, Storm Heart losing £17,000 and Majborough losing £4000. The latter winning for the green and gold at 6/1 was the best of the losers. Everyone was feeling grateful for that, that’s what a week like this does to you. After the places had been taken into account the book lost £3000 and the rails blew £1200. The rot had clearly not stopped, but at least the sun was shining.

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2:10 – BetMGM County Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) 2m1f

Next up and a message from the office, they’d laid £60,000 – £5000 each-way Risk Belle. The betting started slowly for the race with nothing chunky forthcoming in the early skirmishes. I had a quick chat with racing championing MP Philip Davies who was passing the pitch, I found him to be a very friendly and unassuming chap.

The first bet worthy of a blog mention was £3000 – £500 King Of Kingsfield then a £14,000 – £4000 L’Eau Du Sud both on the Tatts pitch. Over in the rails they’d laid £4000 – £640 the King and £2400 – £300 Faivoir. Regular blog readers will remember Lofty found a phone yesterday and reunited with its owner, I feared a less happy ending for the frantic chap running about and down the rail asking if anyone had found a wallet.

Best dressed award in the betting ring went to Pinno and his glamorous assistant Laura @LauraJeanneart who is also a renowned artist. She also got a mention on Talksport as the unnamed person who had to sew Harry Rednap’s strides up yesterday. Baz said that he’s always getting stitched up in the ring so she’d come in handy! While I was capturing their images the firm had laid 33/1 to £500 each-way Mr Freedom, £3500 at 5/1 the King and £1500 each-way at 6/1 So Scottish.

We were treated to a thrilling race where 12/1 Absurde got up on the line to win beating the jolly. Nick clerking said there had been money on the machine for the winner late on. Luckily it didn’t find its way to the Tatts pitch, which won £12,888. Over on the rails they got £3000.

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2:50 – Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) (Registered As The Spa Novices’ Hurdle) 3m

Betting got underway on the next straight away, without many punters to pay the teams could get stuck in. Over on the rail Lofty was a bit perturbed that he’d laid a bagman £5000 – £2000 Readin Tommy Wrong early and it was now a bottle chance. He felt a bit better when the message came in from the office to say they laid the same horse at the same price but to £25,000. The next decent bet on the Tatts pitch was £1600 – £800 the same horse, over on the rail Lofty and co hadn’t added to their big bet tally but he was enjoying Ben’s chocolate. £2500 at 15/8 added to the total, and another grand at the price topped it up further, this was shaping up to be another one horse book.

It looked likely to be a lopsided ledger when a punter had £6000 at 15/8 but when a punter had £15,000 – £8000 it was certain to be. That appeared to have been a very fortunate bet to lay, there was 5/2 available in some places in the ring at the off.

Stellar Story winning at 33/1 had been the result the ring, and Star Sports had been waiting for. It was a fantastic result on both pitches and booted the firm’s finances well into the green on the day. Time to crack on with the Gold Cup.

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3:30 – Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase (Grade 1) 3m2½f

It didn’t take long to warm up, a punter had £23,000 on Galopin Des Champs at 10/11 almost as soon as the prices went up. Then another backer came in with £10,000 on the special double, 3/1 Galopin Des Champs and It’s On the Line. This was shaping up to be a proper punting day at Cheltenham that some of us are lucky enough to remember. The bets kept rolling in, the next two lumps were £14,000 and £7500 both at 4/5. Another punter came in with £4500 and wanted it at SP, the customer is always right, he was on at SP.

Galopin Des Champs won the race returning 10/11. The Tatts book lost £61,643, the rails lost £13,000 not forgetting the office laid £150,000 the winner too. Ben did well to stay at home, the queues for the payout were impenetrable so I hung around the rails. It was just as well the firm had been well up going into the race. The Tatts pitch back in the red to the tune of £28,000, a hard enough financial hole to climb from on the day, getting out on the week now looked insurmountable.

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4:10 – St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase 3m2½f

There was now the real possibility of losses being compounded by the second leg of the double winning as well as getting hammered in the race. While I was contemplating that scenario a very nice chap named Dan came to say hello, he’s a blog reader and said he’d enjoyed reading them this week, thanks Dan, it was a pleasure to meet you. Meanwhile It’s On The Line opened at 6/4 and was promptly laid to the tune of £9000 – £6000. There was hope though, other horses were being backed, Premier Magic attracted a bet of £750 each-way at 8/1. Another horse backed to money was Billaway to the tune of £2600 each-way at 6/1.

It’s On The Line gave the firm the fright of their lives jumping the last in front but 8/1 Sine Nomine came to the rescue finishing with a rattle to thwart favourite backers and most importantly that £10,000 double. All of a sudden the books were green again, both pitches won on the race and were back in front. Tatts was £3500 in front after being £28,000 behind going into it. It wasn’t a great result in the office though, they’d laid £170,000 – £20,000 each-way the winner – nasty.

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4:50 – Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase (Registered As The Liberthine Mares’ Chase) (Grade 2) 2m4½f

The punters hadn’t finished trying to finish the firm off on course either though. One of the first bets in the book for the penultimate was £15,000 – £10,000 Dinoblue, the rail also laid the same horse £1200 at 13/8. Business was holding up nicely then down came the rain. Betting was held up as firms struggled to get mushes up and punters ran for cover.

Well the gold and green dominated finishing first and second but not in the order most punters expected. Limerick Lace foiling the favourite was an excellent result despite only being a 3/1 chance. The Tatts pitch got £11,000 on the race. The rails got £6000 so both pitches were going into the lucky last in front on the day. And what a race to conclude, it promised to be a frantic betting heat.

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5:30 – Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle 2m4½f

It was anticipated that the finale would be a hot heat but bets of £1000 each-way, £700 each-way and £100 each-way all Sequestered at 33/1 ensured the firm were in it deep from the start. The rain relented which allowed the betting frenzy to begin in earnest. The next big bet in the Tatts book was £20,000 – £1000 each-way Yeats Star then £12,500 – £500 each-way Jay Jay Reilly. Meanwhile, Steve had given a punter a cigar, very nice they are too I’m told, he came to the back of the joint and asked for a ‘cutter’. The poor fella was quite incredulous almost indignant that Nick the clerk couldn’t pull one up, though he did laugh when Nick replied in the negative and offered to smoke it for him.

There wasn’t too much time for banter though, the bets were still being called in, the last bet of note in Tatts was £35,000 – £10,000 Waterford Whispers, and £11,000 – £2000 Better Days Ahead right in the hole. At the off the aforementioned were the losers against the field. It was watch and hope time. You couldn’t make it up, Better Days Ahead, the last bet in the book won the race and took the book, after the places it won £575. On the plus side the runner up was the jolly which would have lost £30,000. The day ended a £16,479 winning on the Tatts pitch. Over at the rails pitch, the winner lost £800 but they were £7000 up on the day. You’d have settled for that after the Gold Cup. So a winning last day of a festival that will be talked about for a while, the firm did their money on course but at least the finale was a winning one. Next stop Aintree. Thanks for reading.

The final word went to the office ‘Before you ask the final winner sums it up perfectly “Better Days Ahead’

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Friday’s Racing Post results from Cheltenham:

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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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