SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Cheltenham Tuesday

Dave Spice down in Lower Tatts had it bang on before racing, he said ‘You can’t beat the buzz’. He’s right, there is no buzz like the Cheltenham Festival buzz, even at other Cheltenham meetings. I’ll never tire of it, writes SIMON NOTT.

Star Sports meant business here today, betting three on the rail, three in Tatts, and with a betting shop situated in the Sovereign Lounge. Tatts staff were Tony, Nick, Emily, Kaan and Ben while on the rail Ricky, Flynn and Lofty were the I tried it trio looking the punters in the eye there.

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⭕ 1:20 – Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4YO plus) 2m ½f

There were decent bets in evidence early, £16000 – £2000 Mydaddypaddy, £13,000 – £2000 Sober Glory, £9000 -£4000, £4500 – £2000, £4250 – £2000 x 2 Old Park Star. Then things jotted up with the public money, Lofty was already saying he’s just going to give me grands and upwards, but he laid loads of monkeys.

Over in Tatts, Ben was calling Tootie Fruitie 2/1 the jolly, a trade bet of £5000 – £2500 was incoming shortly after, Old Park Star was showing a loss of £33,000 in Tatts, 2/1 stood firm.

Over on the rail, the favourite was a loser for £22,000, still Ben called 2/1, the punters were only denied by the ‘off’. They laid another £3000 Sober Glory at 13/2, which brought down the jolly liabilities to £20,000.

Approaching the last, it looked as if Sober Glory had pinched the race. A stumble at the final obstacle changed the complexion of the race. Old Park Star coasted to the flaying former leader and shrugged off the attentions of Mydaddypaddy to win the race for the punters and blow a £51,900 across the pitches hole in the meeting in the first heat.

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⭕ 2:00 – Singer Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (5YO plus) 2m

Next up and trade bets of £14,000 – £8000 and £3500 – £2000 Kopek Des Bordes kicked things off in Tatts, while the rail took £22,500 – £18,000 Lulamba, so up the front two it was straight away, but little more than you’d expect in what effectively looked a two-horse race.

It was getting a bit fraught on the pitch, Kaan’s spike for slotting paid tickets had gone AWOL and all the €5 notes had been paid out in the first race. On the plus side, there were lots of bookies hedging due to a weak machine £6000 at 11/8 Kopek Des Bordes, the latest of the trade lumps called over the heads of the punters just like the good old days.

Trade and bigger bets aside, punters were queuing up to get on, which was great to see and kept Emily, Tony and Ben non-stop busy.

At the off, poor old Ben’s voice had almost gone, the Tatts book had Kopek Des Bordes losing £44,000, over on the rail Lofty, Flynn and Ricky’s book was a more conservative up the front two with Lulamba the worst for just under £10,000.

It’s funny how talkative bookies get when they get a result like Kargese winning at 7/1, beating the short two. They even wander around visiting their neighbours, not quite the skinner walk in this case but very much in contrast to the gloom after the opener.

The Tatts book copped £29,000 and the rails £33,000 which put a spring into the step prior to the first impossible handicap of the week.

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⭕ 2:40 – McCoy Contractors Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) (Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4YO only) 2m ½f

Next up and the first of the big handicap races where the books lay them and hope.

Once again, there was decent trade money in evidence across the pitches, £8000 – £100 Bertutea, £2750 each way with the fractions at 100/11 Glen To Glen, £10,000 – £1600 Winston Junior, £20,000 – £1000 Barbizon and £28,000 – £1000 each-way Klycot a sample of the bets laid.

Meanwhile, while I was typing this, Warrick from Sheffield came to say hello and said he reads the blogs; you’re in it now, Warrick. Not in it was the Star Sports Tatts; they copped £5000 when 10/1 Saratoga provided JP McManus with a birthday winner, that despite Klycot being placed.

Over on the rail, they copped a further grand on the race, their business having not been quite so lively.

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⭕ 3:20 – Trustmarque Ultima Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (5YO plus) 3m 1f

There were some big bets on outsiders in the Ultima, including £100,000 – £1000 each-way Eyed, £42,000 – £1500 each-way Patter Merchant, £30,000 – £1500 each-way Imperial Saint and £50,000 – £1000 each-way Search For Glory all laid on the rail, while Tatts were laying the sort of trade bets I’d scream about in a normal blog but this of course is Cheltenham. Phew!

Why, you may ask, but watch the race again, Search For Glory might nearly have won and almost certainly been placed had he not been unseated at the last, the difference between winning and losing was an unfortunate stumble.

As a result, the Tatts book won £8575 and the rail about £15,000, well you know Lofty loves a round up as well as a lean up, still you take your luck, another winning race for the firm.

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⭕ 4:00 – 🏆 Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4YO plus) 2m ½f 🏆

Kaan had bought literally 100’s of Lion Bars to give away during betting for the Champion Hurdle, they proved popular with the punters and the betting heat lived up to the billing. It was a tale of two pitches, over on the rail, Lossiemouth was all the rage, Lofty laid £25,000 at 7/4 and £12,000 at 6/4.

The Tatts pitch, with added chocolate, attracted the money for The New Lion including bets of £15,000 – £5000, £25,000 – £10,000 and loads of grands and monkeys. Betting was frenetic, punters queuing to get on at both pitches, a proper Cheltenham punting heat.

At the off, the Tatts pitch had The New Lion losing £68,365 while the rail had Lossiemouth losing £48,000. A result that didn’t materialise was required, my watch was warning me of a loud environment as thousands of voices roared home Lossiemouth to her famous victory.

The Tatts book clawed £22,000 back but it was a bad result with the background roar of the punters the rubdown.

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⭕ 4:40 – Sun Racing Plate Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (5YO plus) 2m 4f

Next up, and the traditional lull after the feature, but there were still some decent bets flying about.

Those included £14,000 – £1000 each-way No Questions Asked and £5500 – £1000, £4500 – £1000, £2700 – £600 and £7000 – £2000 Madara.

Well, what can you say, I had to double check the race was a handicap given the ease which Madara won. Both pitches blew around £9000 each, in cold blood.

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⭕ 5:20 – National Hunt Challenge Cup Novices’ Handicap Chase (GBB Race) (Class 2) (5YO plus) 3m 6f

The lucky last started with a fair bet laid on the rail £22,500 – £5000 Kurasso Blue, that was followed by bets of £5000 – £750 and £6000 – £1000 Backmersackme, then in Tatts a bet of £25,000 – £5000 also on Kurasso Blue. It appeared as the temperatures dropped and the Guinness levels rose among the customers they started to flag though the bets from the public were healthily sized as they had been all afternoon.

Ben had legged it to the warmth of the Star Sports box and the teams into a steady rhythm in anticipation of getting back to the firm’s digs.

Then wallop, £40,000 bet SP requested and laid Backmersackme on the rail right in the hole, meaning that going into the heat, Star Sports were losing £12,000 across the two pitches, so it was all on the lucky last. It was the lucky last, at least for Star Sports, copping £7800 in Tatts and £54,000 on the rail. It went down to the wire, but the firm came out on top of day one.

Aye Aye, we’re back tomorrow and Kaan says we can have a dessert.

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

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