SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Sandown Friday

What an absolutely glorious day for the meeting that kicks off the flat season and brings the jumps to an end here at Sandown, writes SIMON NOTT.

The sun was certainly shining, but the wind still had a chill in it around the betting ring. Star Sports were apparently not expecting too much business as today’s team was just Lofty dispatched on his tod, but of course, a man of his experience can do the work of two when pushed.

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1:20 – bet365 Handicap (Class 2) (3YO only)

He wasn’t pushed for the first race of the day, but business was very steady, betting number four on the rail, that despite there appearing to be a lot of room to rattle around, plenty of fresh air as they say.

The punters were keen to get on in the opener, there were some decent bets amongst the public money £50, £80 and £100 which are excellent for making a decent book.

With minutes to go, the people appeared as if from nowhere, a big punter and a bag man were lurking, the big punter stopped lurking and went into Lofty with £1700 at 4/1 Calico Blue which added to the £2000 our man had already taken on the heat, including £1200 – £300 Atticum and £700 – £200 Old Is Gold. At the off the book held £4033 with Calico Blue the only loser but a chunky one for £5006.

The race went the way of the firm, 9/1 chance Black Star won from the fast finishing Calico Blue copping £3800 in the book, which was a great start. It could have been a different story, another rails layer laid £1000 each-way the winner, which could have easily landed in the Star Sports’ hod.

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1:50 – bet365 Esher Cup Handicap (Class 2) (3YO only)

Next up and Organise opened even money and immediately attracted a bet of an even £2000 which started the book off nicely. What followed was another steady round of betting with the public betting in decent sums, Lofty found himself ‘up the front two’ with Nobody Knows popular with the public at 5/1 ultimately overtaking the now 5/6 jolly as the worst in the book as the horses went to post.

Meanwhile, pro-punting silver buyer extraordinaire Michael ‘The Bullet’ Fletcher came to say hello, it’s been a bit iffy health-wise recently so it was excellent to see him looking so well.

Back to the pitch at the off the book held £3462 with the jolly losing £800 and Nobody Knows £1864 in the win book. 7/1 Laureate Crown came to the rescue, overhauling Organise close home under Oisin Murphy for Hugo Palmer.

The winner had been 17/2 when I scribbled my first show down but wasn’t that popular with Star Sports copping £2930 in Lofty’s book.

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2:25 – bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes (Group 3) (Class 1) (4YO plus)

It was the tale of two climates here today, in the sun it was shorts weather and the shade you needed a coat, most of the books were deprived of the warmth by a short head, still they knew to bring clobber for all weather. Next up and the first decent bet in the book was £1000 – £400 Saddadd followed by £100 straight forecast with Almeric the 7/4 jolly.

It wasn’t long before a punter bet a £700 – £400 the jolly within a steady stream of smaller but decent bets to level things up a bit.

The next bet in the book flipped it when a punter bet £3500 – £1000 King Of Cities making that one the loser for getting on £3000, Lofty got to work on the rest again. At the off the book held £3006 with King Of Cities the only loser for £2773.

It looked for a while as if the bogie was going to make all but Saddadd came with a late run to wear the longtime leader down and go on to win for the firm and cop £1140 in the book.

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3:00 – bet365 Mile (Group 2) (Class 1) (4YO plus)

Between races, I got talking to Richard of Greatbet, an independent bookmaker. His firm are proud sponsors of the Greatbet Challenge Trophy at Towcester on Star Sports Greyhound Derby finals night, so said I’d give his sponsorship a mention. A nice chap whom I had inadvertently blocked on X, rectified now.

Meanwhile, over on the rail, the sun was now shining on Lofty’s unprotected bonce, which may have attracted the punters in, having struck bets of £15,000 – £2500 Opera Ballo and £12,000 – £10,000 and £6600 – £6000 Field of Gold. At the off, there was £21,532 in the hod with Field of Gold losing £13,954 in the book.

The bogie was ridden patiently then when push came to shove took a while to get into stride by which time Opera Ballo had stolen a march and gone clear winning nicely at the post. Despite laying a single bet to lose £15,000 the winner, he still copped £4057 in the book.

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3:35 – bet365 Classic Trial (Group 3) (Class 1) (3YO only)

Going into the race before the penultimate, Lofty told me that the firm were about £12,000 up on the day. Action was a 4/5 chance when it opened, but given the business, there hasn’t been the deluge of money the firm might have expected.

The biggest bet for the jolly was £1600 – £2000 while bets of £4000 – £100 Oceans Four and £2000 – £400 Raaheeb at least showed the punters didn’t think the result was cut and dried.

Pro-punter Alan Potts messaged me in the week and made a real case why Action wouldn’t win. Alan was right, sadly there were none of the bigger bets around for Aidan O’Brien’s charge, though the book still copped £1800 when Raaheeb won the race, the jolly unplaced.

There was a very nice chap who came to the rail and said he likes reading these blogs, he also knew Lofty by name, but I neglected to ask his. Sorry about that, but thanks for coming over. He didn’t expect there would be much to report today, but will hopefully get a nice surprise when reading this.

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4:10 – bet365 ‘Wild Card’ Fillies’ Novice Stakes (GBB Race) (Class 3) (3YO only)

The penultimate boasted Sunshine Star which opened 8/11 and was if nothing else a topical selection such was the weather. The lovely weather certainly brought out the best mood in Lofty who started warbling Manfred Man’s ‘Blinded By The Light’ in a not so tuneful interpretation of the song, his neighbours enjoyed it but didn’t ask for an encore. Ironically, from a punting front this was the quietest race of the afternoon so far, though it was still OK with punters backing several horses just to smaller amounts.

At the off, with £2102 in the hod, the favourite was winning in the book to the tune of £160, she didn’t win, 11/1 chance Felicitas did but still copped £1500 on the race. Happy days.

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4:45 – Nordoff & Robbins Ozzy Osbourne Memorial Handicap (Class 4) (3YO only)

As betting got underway for the last I bumped into previous #BettingPeople interviewee Jordan Hopkins of Quest Throughbreds, who is always a pleasure to chat too, a very clever chap and a nice one as well. Lofty opened Lost Boys at 2/1 and promptly laid a £4000 – £2000 to get the ball rolling.

The punters were still keen to bet but the big punters appeared to have legged it to miss the traffic. Poor old Lofty, he’d been grafting all afternoon on his tod fielding lumps but was still in singing mode no doubt looking forward to our Esher hotel meal.

In all honesty, though, his version of ‘Colour Blind’ by Darius wouldn’t have been my choice given this was an Ozzy Osborne tribute race.

At the off, the book held a very tuneful £4650 with Lost Boys a loser for £3702 in the win book. Into The Light nearly got there to chin Lost Boys but was a stride and a short-head too late costing the firm £3626 reducing the cop on the day just over £11,600, an excellent start to the meeting prior to tomorrow’s eight race season finale extravaganza.

Thanks for reading.

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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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