SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Cheltenham Wednesday

Cheltenham looked a bit bare without the bustling crowd you’d normally see over in the Best Mate enclosure, which was closed, writes SIMON NOTT.

I have to be honest, it looked a bit thin on the ground in Tatts, but at least the rain wasn’t pouring down like it was when I left Devon this morning.

It was pretty blustery but dry, we could live with that, by we I mean Tony and Lofty, the Star Sports team betting on the rail, and yours truly.

I had a chat with a couple of people before racing, my old pal Gary Payne the top runner in the UK in his class and John who has become a semi-pro punter after being inspired by the Star Sports #BettingPeople series, which was great to hear.

1:30 (New) Citipost Novices’ Hurdle (Gbb Race) (Class 2) (4yo+) 2m4½f (2m4f56y)

Meanwhile, not a lot was happening in the opener. Lofty wanted to lay Willie Mullins’ second-in Dr Eggman at 3/1, the same yard also saddled the jolly Toad Hall which was a 2/1 chance. Lofty thought that 5/2 chance Jax Junior could thwart them both.

The trouble was, despite the crowd filling to a very healthy looking size, they weren’t betting in any volume. At the off, Star Sports had only taken £600 with Lofty’s lay Dr Eggman losing £700.

Lofty knew! And so did the punters, it seemed. Jax Junior returned favourite and bolted up, the firm copped £450 thanks to the big fella and a Lofty lean-up, which was a good start. Lofty’s lay was runner-up, but a cop’s a cop!

---

2:05 (New) Kingston Stud Handicap Hurdle (GBB Race) (Class 2) (4yo+) 2m4½f (2m4f56y)

Between races, Lofty and Tony took a £100 bet over at Beverley which got beaten so were a monkey in front as betting got underway for the second here. One of the first bets in the book was £3300 – £1200 East India Express to get the ball rolling, not to a face just a punter off the floor.

That bet was followed up by a £1500 – £600, once again off the floor, so once again, encouraging that people with fair money to have on were finding the firm.

There was little else to mention bet-wise, steady but moderate, so at the off the book held £2300 with the bogie losing £4600, I could almost hear Jack Lynn’s horror in my ear, ‘He’s got one for twice what he’s taken Roy Boy’ Welcome to Star Jacko!

Oh dear. East India Express, went 8/1 in running, looked beaten then appeared up the nearside rail after the last to win going away. The crowd cheered, the book lost twice what it took but at the right price, according to Lofty.

---

2:40 (New) Matt Hampson Foundation Silver Trophy Handicap Chase (Grade 2) (A Limited Handicap) (Gbb Race) (Class 1) (5yo+) 2m4½f (2m4f127y)

Two favourites having already obliged, the bookmakers were looking to get some back in the third, where Willie Mullins’ O’Moore Park opened 3/1 favourite. Any thoughts of a get out on it can be summed up by telling you the field money on the Star Sports rails pitch hopefully trying for their lives, win and place totalled £420 on the race.

Riskintheground won the race, returned 15/2 and copped £350 ‘Nearly the best result in the book’ beamed Lofty, before adding ‘Shame we couldn’t take any money’.

Quite Lofty, call them in Tony!

Between races, previous #BettingPeople interviewee ‘Spinning’ Michael Cannon walked half a mile from the lower rail in a strong headwind to do the ‘Skinner Walk Plus’. Skinner Walk Plus, you might ask?

Well, it’s like this, as far as I can tell, it’s happened from back in the mists of time. A bookmaker who has done it right, especially when the winner in question wasn’t an obvious rag and cops the lot, grows a couple of inches, develops a strut and wanders up and down the rows of bookmakers asking how they got on, knowing probably worse than him then letting them know how he did.

But the plus I hear you holler? Ah, the plus is when he casually drops in that as well as having a bar one the winner in the book, he also backed it, another couple of inches grown in the process and the gait in the strut becomes somewhat wider.

If you would like to hear more about it, I’m sure the video that he’ll post tonight on @cannon_oncourse will mention it!

---

3:15 (New) Brooklands Watches Golden Miller Racing Holman Handicap Chase (GBB Race) (Class 3) (5yo+ 0-125) 3m1½f (3m1f56y)

Back to the next heat, was it too hard for the punters? As the horses were going to post, Lofty was looking into a book that held just £400 in a race where they bet 7/2 the field. Late on, and this tells you, Lofty reported a £700 – £100 Planned Paradise, remember when Lofty barked ‘Just grands and monkeys’ when asked about big bets at the Festival?

You do, that’s a distant memory. At the off, the book held £750 after a minor flurry.

At the off, the lads were up the front three, Ask Brewster, Yes Day and Planned Paradise. Ask Brewster the 10/3 jolly won, the firm knocked out a bottle but were at least spared another skinner. Lofty was a bit peeved nonetheless, telling me the winner was a winner in the book before a couple of punters asking for 4/1 were accommodated to the tune of £40, £30 and £20.

Come racing don’t get flimped by the SP.

---

3:50 (New) Safran Landing Systems Handicap Hurdle (GBB Race) (Class 2) (4yo+ 0-145) 3m (2m7f213y)

Next up and the race before the penultimate, where a bet of £1800 – £600 Long Draw was the highlight in a race where they fielded £1570, it had livened up. Lofty went for a walk as the field set off to race.

James Lovell of Dragon Bet quipped that the firm might have one for a few quid, they did, Long Draw for £2500. The big fella laughed and said he was just stretching his legs, but lingered his stretch for long enough to dismiss the bogie as ‘beat’ about two out.

The power of the premature dismissal is uncanny, a short while later the 11/4 favourite Long Draw was living up to his name also stretching, away to win. ‘Can’t believe that’ bemoaned the freshly limbered Lofty as he made his way back to the joint, neither could the rest of the ring, another jolly.

---

4:25 Weatherite Air Conditioning Handicap Chase (GBB Race) (Class 2) (5yo+ 0-150) 3m2f

Lofty looked into his screen as the horses set off for the sixth and reported that they’d only taken 20 bets on the race. Then added that included in that number was £750 – £500 Hymac and £3000 – £500 Java Point so just both of them to get beaten.

We had a surprise on the joint where Star Sports’ head of political betting, William Kedjanyi, came over to say hello and have a cuddle of condolence with Lofty.

It appeared to work, Manothepeople won at 10/3 and copped the firm £850 after a never-say-die ride. ‘Small mercies’ beamed Lofty, the firm only £5500 down going into the lucky last.

---

5:00 (New) Cheltenham Pony Racing Authority Graduates Handicap Hurdle (Cond’/Am’ that have ridden in PRA races) (Class 3) (4yo+ 0-135) 2m1f (2m179y)

When I returned to the pitch for the lucky last, Lofty told me it had ‘died a death’ which didn’t bode well for digging themselves out of a £5500 sized hole on the day. Still, it’s a long game.

A 16-runner handicap hurdle wouldn’t be the ideal vehicle for the getting out stakes whatever side of the fence you bet on and it appeared the punters had decided to give it a swerve.

Ian Bartlett, commentator and undisputed fastest man off the track, reminded us all that there were two minutes to go and there wasn’t a bottle in the bag, with one minute to go that figure had risen to £220 and that’s how it stayed.

It might have had something to do with Star’s policy of betting 1/5 the odds, the 1/4 firms were taking it all. King William Rufus the 7/2 favourite won the race, so in this case it was probably a case of the more you took the more you lost.

Star won £100. James Lovell of Dragon Bet who bet a quarter admitted he’d ’done his bollocks on the places’. Star did them too, on the day not just the places in the last.

---

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