SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Glorious Goodwood Wednesday

Day two and another eight-race card, though sadly the £400,000 opener got little attention in the betting ring.

Bookies did price it up but there was very little interest in bets. In previous years, the Arab race has been slotted into the main card, but today was the opening race, it suffered as a betting heat. Lady Princess the 7/4 favourite won and so did the book. Lofty likes to go for the short ones in Arab races, Flynn just got left with the winner. Both books won small amounts over a winning favourite so no grumbling from either pitch.

Professional Punter Alan Potts [see photo] came to say hello before the first. Alan has appeared in two separate #BettingPeople interviews. He doesn’t just know the form book inside out but specialises in watching horses as they go down to the start. After making a great case for Surrey Mist in the opener he started on a hike to a good vantage point to watch the field go down.

1:50 – Coral Beaten-By-A-Length Free Bet Handicap (Class 2) (3YO only) 1m 4f

The betting for the first race was quiet, not the sort of money flying about the ring compared to yesterday. The only big bet was £4000 – £1000 Soulcombe. The first race didn’t go to plan as far as Alan’s selection went, Surrey Mist never really looked to be enjoying himself despite the urgings of Hollie Doyle. It didn’t go to plan for Soulcombe either, finishing fourth. Secret State won the race, the 11/4 favourite, the book won £1500.

Over on Lofty’s pitch, they had taken a bet of £350 on Surrey Mist and not much else, the second cop of the day over a jolly.

2:25 – Whispering Angel Oak Tree Stakes (Fillies’ & Mares’ Group 3) (Class 1) (3YO plus) 7f

Last night over Inlike’s birthday meal, Lofty was talking about his work on the course. He politely pointed out to Inlike that although he was the ‘Head Of On Course’ he, Lofty, was the person that people knew from Star Sports and hence liked to bet. That especially now that Ben is 1.01 to be a non-runner at most meetings. Flynn didn’t take that as a slur at all, after all Lofty is a well-known and much-liked racecourse regular and has been since the 1960s. I did see a glint of determination in Star’s top man’s eye though. I might be imagining it but Inlike appeared to have kept Tony and Kyle up to their work today, the proof would be in the takings.

The next race was one where the punters kept the team under the cosh without wielding weighty readies. It took a lot of bets to get the bag money over £2000, I had a peer over Lofty’s shoulder (on full-stretch tiptoes of course) and he’d not taken half of what Flynn had. Maybe our man needs to get up on the joint then his loyal fans would be able to see him and flock to bet. Steve and Dan were doing a sterling job taking on the small punters but sadly couldn’t stop laying the winner. Lofty’s pitch lost £400 when 10/3 joint-favourite Oscula got up to win in a photo, Flynn, Kyle and Tony copped £800, their punters once again leaving them out rather than any cunning plan. The late withdrawal of Benefit meant a 5p Rule deduction on all winnings.

3:00 – Markel Molecomb Stakes (Group 3) (Class 1) (2YO only) 5f

Next up and a short one, Rocket Rodney to get stuck into. Flynn couldn’t keep going for, sorry, getting left with, winning favourites. Once again betting was steady but still no hedge money, bag men or even tic-tockers having it on which is really what Star Sports and indeed this blog are after. Maybe I spoke too soon there though, a punter came to the joint with £15,000 which he wanted on Baaeed at 2/11 in the next, he was laid, then he came back and topped it up with a further £4000.

Meanwhile and between counting it, a well-known face and often outspoken pundit appeared to be offended by a Racing Post headline that the Star Sports office had laid a £10,000 double. It’s hard to know why a trade paper reporting that a bookmaker has laid a fairly weighty double would upset anyone in racing? Anyway, onwards with reporting weighty bets being laid by bookmakers in betting rings.

Right in the hole a racecourse regular bet £5000 at 11/10 Rocket Rodney to win this race, which was handy, especially as the rocket wasn’t fast enough for 7/1 winner Trillium. The face that had the £5000 on at least had the value, the runner-up returned evens. Happy days for Inlike and team, they hadn’t taken anything else near that sized bet so that’s pretty much what the book won. I bounced over to Lofty to see how much they had copped, he looked a bit grim-faced did old Lofty, they’d laid a well-respected professional punter seven monkeys the winner. Maybe drawing in that type of business with your popularity, charisma and rugged good looks isn’t all it’s cracked up to be after all!

3:35 – Qatar Sussex Stakes (Group 1) (British Champions Series) (Class 1) (3YO plus) 1m

A regular punter with Star bet £2000 at 2/11 Baaeed but that was the only other interest in the race by the big punters. Both Lofty and Flynn offered a ‘Betting Without’ market as well as straight, Lofty had jumped up on the stool and was calling the punters into great effect. That market proved almost equally as popular with punters on both joints which fielded just shy of £2000 a piece on the race each.

I spoke to one of the on-course sticker on men, he told me that he’d bet £1000 – £5500 three times in the ring and that it should be easy money. It was. Baaeed won as expected, with Modern Games finishing runner-up. Sadly, for both books, the ‘Without’ market didn’t go their way. Flynn lost £600 and Lofty a carpet. Still, it was good to witness a champion and see that punters are keen on alternative markets.

4:10 – European Breeders Fund EBF Fillies’ Handicap (Class 2) (3YO plus) 1m 2f

The antepenultimate saw good business on the rail, Flynn and team were fielding plenty of decent bets that weren’t huge but added up. The two biggest they took were £4000 – £250 each-way Lyrical Lady and £5000 – £500 each-way Value Theory. Over on Lofty’s pitch he’d laid a bet of £2500 – £500 Rousay. State Occasion won the race and returned the 10/3 favourite. The book won £2000 despite Value Theory sneaking into third place. Don’t ask me how they did it, but did it they did.

After a good previous race, Lofty went a bit behind on this heat, losing £8.25 on the race would usually have been a feat, but team Inlike were on fire. During betting, a legend of the Australian betting ring, Rob Waterhouse, came to the rails to say hello. He took me by surprise as I’d assumed he’d gone back to Australia after Royal Ascot, it’s always a pleasure to have a chat with him. Gai has a runner tomorrow so good luck to them.

4:45 – British EBF Alice Keppel Fillies’ Conditions Stakes (GBB Race) (Class 2) (2YO only) 5f

Dan, on placement from the BHA Graduate course, had hopped onto the front of the rails pitch. No, not because it was soul-destroying working on a joint that lost every race, but simply because he wants to gain as much experience as possible. On the rail, Flynn ‘couldn’t lay the favourite, Platinum Queen, for love nor money’. He had laid outsider Angelic Divas, £10,000 – £250 each-way to a punter and £4000 – £100 each-way to a fellow rails bookmaker. Once again, the money was steady but the punters just didn’t want to back the favourite. Down in Tatts, Lofty and Steve had been tapping away and had got the favourite in the book to the tune of losing £1500.

Lofty was getting a bit pessimistic, his luck had been out on the day while Inlike could have fallen into a sewer and come up smelling of roses. As I was leaving, Lofty reported that he’d laid a £100 straight forecast, The Platinum Queen to beat Union Court, then added quite pessimistically that ‘the way his luck was going today, that would probably come up too.’

5:20 – World Pool Handicap (Class 3) (3YO plus) 7f

The lucky last looked hard. The team didn’t really expect to take many, if any, bets of note. The £8000 – £1000 Amor Vincit Omnia was a surprise to lay but would also ruin the day should it win. Wild Lion was the other that attracted a fair bet, £3600 – £400, so it was those two against the field to end the day in front, at least on the rails pitch. I’ll check in with Lofty tomorrow.

18/1 winner Lyndon B really was an excellent result. Both Lofty and Flynn’s teams will be happy to finish up on that and will enjoy their grub tonight. Not me though, I’m driving back to Devon tonight, it’s my daughter Betsy’s seventh birthday tomorrow, I have to be there when she wakes up and gets her birthday bike. I’ll be back in Sussex in time for the first.

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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