SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Cheltenham Festival Wednesday

Wounds licked and readies rounded up, the unchanged teams of Steve, Tony, Hannah and Nick in Tattersalls and Ricky, Lofty and Inlike on the rails were back and ready to do battle, writes SIMON NOTT.

Star Sports were one down the line in pick three but it’s still a prime pitch easy to spot for punters flush after yesterday’s bookie massacre.

---

1:30 – Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) (Registered As The Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle) 2m 5f

Ballyburn looked to be a banker to start the day off but the first decent bets on course were for Predators Gold £5000 – £600 three times and £10,000 – £1200 on the Tatts pitch. The office dwarfed those bets reporting £600,000 – £100,000 Ile Atlantique as well as £15k @ 9/1 on Predators Gold.

It wasn’t a total surprise that Ben jumped up on the stool and started giving Ballyburn the stripe at 8/15 he wasn’t exactly knocked over but did lay £3000 and £2000 bets at the price.

Between bets he was being filmed and interviewed for a forthcoming ITV documentary on racing.

Over on the rail Lofty, Ricky and Flynn were taking plenty on the favourite, £5000 – £10,000 the biggest along with £30,000 – £5000 each-way Ile Atlantique. Ben was determined to keep getting the favourite, I was sent on several trips to the rail to ensure they were still 8/15 when the majority of the ring was bottle-on. The bets flooded in £6000, £3000, £4000, all at 8/15.

At the off the jolly lost £21,000 over both pitches. The office has the jolly winning, no guesses for which one the firm needed beaten overall.

Another one bolts up, Ballyburn won hard held and the punters collected again. Star Sports lost on course of course, but overall across the firm it was a good result despite all the faces in the ring being on. Eric betting on Pinno’s joint summed the meeting so far up very well, he said ‘The Cheltenham Festival has just become an exhibition for very good horses’.

---

2:10 – Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (Grade 1) (Registered As The Broadway Novices’ Chase) (5yo+) 3m½f

Next up, Fact To File opened at 4/6 but with a huge gap to the put back to 2.30 the 2.10 race business started slow but picked up, Lofty and co laid a £10,000 – £15,000 while the Tatts pitch pulled in bets of £3700, £2500 and £1200 at the price.

It’s just as well there weren’t more. Fact To File bolted up, returned 8/13 and cost the two pitches around £23,000. I got a text from my mate Armaloft Alex working down on the bottom rail which just read ‘boring’. I don’t suppose backing odds on shots that win hard held is any more boring than finding money on the floor, which it’s been akin to so far this meeting.

---

2:50 – Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) 2m 5f

Next up and phew, a race which looked competitive, needless to say bets were smaller, £550 each-way on Langer Dan at 8/1 was one of the biggest on the Tatts pitch until a punter came in with £18,000 – £4000 Built By Ballymore which made that one a loser for almost £20,000.

Well, they got one beaten. Aye Aye, oh hang in, it was Langer Dan that just bolted in and made history as the first horse to have back to back victories in the race. The story of the race, the book stood one for £20,000 got it beaten and with the places lost £2378.

Whoever put that gif up on twitter of Barry Dennis asking the camera if it would still like to be a bookmaker, can we borrow it?

---

3:30 – Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (Grade 1) 2m

Next up and El Fabiolo priced at 1/4. There were very few takers, punters were keen to try and get him beaten. Lofty, Inlike and Ricky laid £10,000 – £1100 Captain Guinness that’s 9/1 with the fractions. Meanwhile over on the Tatts pitch they wanted Edwardstone including a bet £4900- £700 each-way.

During betting Newmarket trainer and former #BettingPeople interviewee Dylan Cunha came up to have a bet for one of his owners, not for here but the Diomed Stakes at Epsom. As the flat is just around the corner, I’ll let you into a secret he’s also got a potential Guineas winner, El Bufalo, you heard it here first, fill your boots before it wins at Newmarket!

Meanwhile, back at the coalface the last bet in the Tatts book was £4500 – £500 each-way Captain Guinness. Neither book got El Fabiolo bet on. Sod’s Law dictates that the first odds-on shot beaten would be the one the punters didn’t back. Having said that there were multiples running on which copped.

It’s a shame Captain Guinness had to go and win though, the Tatts book lost £2800 and the rails £13,000 but both blows were eased by the aforementioned multiples being thwarted.

Lofty nearly barked my head off when I asked for his figures, the man has the hump when the firm do their money.

---

4:50 – Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Challenge Cup Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) 2m

With the Cross Country race abandoned bookmakers’ staff were crossing their legs, their traditional ablutions visit replaced by extended betting on the big handicap where they bet 5/1 the field with Libberty Hunter heading the market.

One of the first bets in the book was £10,000 – £350 that’s 28/1 with the fractions The King Of PRS closely followed by a bet of £3000 – £420 Madara, that’s 7/1 with the fractions, isn’t it lovely to see the punters calling in fractions.

Over at the rail Lofty had cheered up aided by a Latte and anticipation of tonight’s curry, he told me they’d laid ‘loads of bets’ but nothing of note. There had already been one false start when a punter had a £9000 – £1000 each-way Maskada, it was that late but ensured there was a standout bogie in the book. The office got in touch, they’d laid £160,000 – £10,000 Solness. The rails book had several in red but nothing massive.

---

5:30 – Weatherbys Champion Bumper (A Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race) (Grade 1) 2m ½f

‘Willie’s in the bumper’ isn’t the gold dust advice it might have been in the past, it’s no doubt still accurate but he had nine for punters to choose from in the getting out stakes, not that many punters would be needing to get out, it was the bookies.

One punter thought Willie’s Argento Boy was the one, he had a bottle on at 22/1, he evidently couldn’t work out the fractions though. Another backer thought it was Gordon’s in the bumper and had £1500 on Jalon D’Oudairies at 7/2. Over on the rails a punter thought he knew which one of Willie’s he had £2000 each-way C’est Ta Chance and asked for SP, which of course he got, SP a pleasure, he’d evidently rarely compared SP to bookies prices recently.

Another thought Willie’s Jasmin De Vaux was the one and had £3000 at 4/1, no no no thought another punter Willie’s in this bumper is You Oughta Know and had a monkey on at 7/1. Which one of Willie’s was a conundrum but the punters seemed keen to have a stab at it. Another bettor had a grand on the same horse, what did he know that we didn’t know? The office came on, they’d laid £150,000 – £15,000 the same horse, that had to be the one didn’t it?

No, it wasn’t, it was the Jasmin De Vaux, the absolute bogie in the Tatts book losing £12,000 but the rails book won £10,000 so not a hideous ending it could have been. The rails book ended the day £10,000 down. ‘Feels like winning’ smiled ( this is not a typo ) Lofty. It didn’t feel like winning on the Tatts pitch they lost £39,179 and 27p.

I’m told tomorrow will be a bookmaker’s day. Let’s hope so, this losing lark is getting boring.

The office on the other hand were more upbeat, they messaged to say ‘Much better day – with the big bets laid all beaten and multiples interrupted, I’m even looking forward to tomorrow.’

---

Wednesday’s Racing Post results from Cheltenham

---

Views of authors do not necessarily represent views of Star Sports Bookmakers.

---

Simon Nott is author of: Skint Mob! Tales from the Betting Ring
available on Kindle CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

---

STAR PROMOTIONS