SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Cheltenham Saturday

Saturday was altogether buzzier than Friday and nicer weather too. Over in the Best Mate enclosure I’m told there were 5,000 students in attendance. A brilliant innovation these student days, the future of racing. I dread to think how big a hole was knocked in Student Loans though assuming they were enjoying a beer or two. Of course, when you come racing you only need to find the fastest horses during the day to enjoy a free day out.

1:30 – 888Sport Novices’ Hurdle (GBB Race) (Class 2) (4YO plus) 3m

The betting for the first race didn’t come alive as the crowd suggested it might. The book fielded about as much as it did in the first yesterday. Lofty managed to demolish a man-sized pasty and still tap in the bets, some multitask. The biggest taken, the only one of note, was £1000 – £400 each-way Paul Nicholls’ Shearer, each-way in a seven horse race. The market mover was The Moon Sea’s Me, 8/1 into 7/2. I’d love to roll out all the old sayings, you know the ones, ‘The Punters smashed into it’ ‘The bookies were running for cover’ and ‘They would not be denied’ but if I did I’d be pulling your legs. There was hardly a dinar for it on course on the rails at least, the gamble appeared to be machine-led. The 5/4 favourite was Rexem but there didn’t appear to be any big money around for the gelding.

Race off, approaching the last it looked as if yesterday’s bookie friendly results were going to continue, 11/1 chance Twig was motoring under Beau Morgan but ultimately couldn’t fend off Shearer who ran on well up the hill to win. The gamble was third behind Twig while the jolly was a tailed off last. The winner returned 10/3 so the book had laid the right price to great place terms but still did their money.

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2:05 – 888Sport Is Made To Play Handicap Chase (GBB Race) (Class 2) (4YO plus) 3m 1f

Shearer tied in nicely with yesterday’s blog but luckily the guys singing ‘Sheareeer’ football style in celebration soon got tired of it. Next up and business was still relatively modest given the crowd. Once again there was just one bet to write about, £1100 – £400 The Hollow Ginge. Flynn and Lofty thought that his tendency to put in the odd bad jump made it a good bet to lay, despite some good judges siding with him. They were right, he made too many mistakes and was not really a factor from a fair way out. The race went to Lord Accord which had opened at 10/1 but returned 15/2. He was a popular choice with the smaller punters and just copped a ‘bottle’, £200 in the book. ‘The worst winner’ was Lofty’s summing up, brushing the last remnants of pasty crumb from his stubble. That did look a nice pasty.

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2:40 – Masterson Holdings Hurdle (GBB Race) (Class 2) (4YO only) 2m ½f

Gordon Elliott’s Pied Piper was the one the punters wanted to be on in the next, at least the larger staking ones. Inlike, Steve and Lofty, the Star Sports’ team laid bets of £1200 – £1500 and £800 – £1000 before the gelding eased slightly in the betting. I’m going to give Sawbuck a mention, not only because the punters liked the look of the 100/1 that was on offer and had their shrapnel on. No, but also because Sawbuck is a slang term for a $10 note, in the Southern States of America, at least it was. The only time I’ve heard the term prior to Conor O’Dwyer’s horse was on an early Eddie Cochran single ‘Pink Peg Slacks’, Eddie had a Sawbuck but he needed two bucks more to buy those pink strides. I just wanted to get Eddie Cochran in a racing blog and mark your card for some great music in the process.

Anyway, those that backed Sawbuck ultimately did their money but got a thrill, he ran a great race to finish fourth, right up there with them turning for home. The book did its money too, right up there in first was Pied Piper. He returned 5/6 so the guys can take comfort that they laid the right price but the bottom line is, they did their dough.

I had a lovely surprise between races. One of my earliest interviewees Peter Freeman came to say hello. Peter loves Cheltenham, if you missed his interview CLICK HERE, Peter has been blind from birth but used to hunt on horseback and swam the Channel as part of a relay team. He’s a wonderful chap, Freddie William’s daughter Julie introduced five years ago and we’ve stayed in touch.

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3:15 – 888Sport Handicap Chase (GBB Race) (Class 2) (4YO plus) 2m

Next up and a low staking race, a couple of chaps had £160 on Dad’s Lad at 9/2 early. The biggest bet in the race. Dad’s Lad won at 7/2 and the tally of losing races was added to.

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3:50 – Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle (GBB Race) (Class 2) (4YO plus) 3m

Flynn and the team were braced for deluge of sharp money from Charles Byrnes’ connections for Shoot First which had been a 6/1 chance this morning. He opened 5/2 but the money didn’t appear. Maybe they got enough on at the prices when they went up. The one the public did want to be on was Botox Has at 4/1, but not to any serious money.

The turnover on the race was similar to yesterday which was disappointing given the near 20,000 crowd. ‘None better at landing a touch than Charlie’ was one racecourse regular’s observation after 9/4 favourite Shoot First landed the gamble from gallant Botox Has. The book lost £41 which was a massive get out.

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4:25 – Jim Wilson Memorial Novices’ Chase (GBB Race) (Class 2) (5YO plus) 3m ½f

Just three went to post for the penultimate, an all-Irish trio. They were headed in the betting by Henry de Bromhead’s Life In The Park, one punter ventured a monkey at 4/5 but generally bets were small, par for the course today. The way the money came in and not by any great design left the outsider of three Chemical Energy winning a grand in the book. It’s quite surprising really when you consider everyone knows that backing the outsider of three is a proven betting system. 4/1 chance Chemical Energy won the race by a long way under Star’s brand ambassador Davy Russell (he gave a good mention in his blog) for Gordon Elliott, betting shop punters all over the country had it spark off if they listened to the local sage and Star got a bag back on the day.

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5:00 – Spirax-Sarco Engineering Sustainability Open NH Flat Race (GBB Race) (Class 2) (4YO to 6YO) 2m ½f

The concluding bumper looked to be an interesting race. Not least because Brian Gleeson’s son John was having his first ever ride in the UK on Thecompanysergeant. Brian has always made Inlike and I very welcome when we’ve ventured over to Ireland, we were wishing them all well here.

Lofty had already bolted to the work at Oxford Dogs before the getting out stakes. There was a bit of money flying about for the race, one punter had £4000 – £200 Thecompanysergeant. While Strong Leader attracted bets of £750 at 3/1 and £450 at 5/2. The race itself started but didn’t, it appeared an age before the field actually set off after the flag dropped. John Gleeson rode a positive race on his mount taking it up at one point. There were plenty of horses pulling for their heads throughout the race which developed into a sprint finish, one in which the 2/1 favourite Encanto Bruno went on to win with Strong Leader, a loser for nearly £3000 back in second and Thecompanysergeant a gallant third. The book copped £800 over a winning jolly, a handy conclusion to what was a small losing day which was entitled to be a lot worse.

Star Sports are back for the November meeting, betting on the rail and Tatts. I’ll be back.

SIMON NOTT

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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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