SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Sandown Friday

Star Sports were betting on two pitches at Sandown Park today, numbers four and five on the rails, their presence doubled by a recent purchase, one of several the firm have added to their portfolio in the last month. Come racing, it’s where it’s at, writes SIMON NOTT.

Today at Sandown was Ladies Day, so a decent Friday crowd was anticipated. There were plenty of sharks spotted in the ring, so that, combined with plenty of public, a good afternoon’s sport looked to be in the offing.

1:50 – HKJC World Pool Battaash Handicap (Class 2) (3YO only)

Dan and Pam’s pitch laid fairly early bets of £3500 – £2000 Comical Point and £7000 – £1000 One And Gone added to be a bet of £1250 – £500 Westport, that bet was replicated in Tony and Willie’s book next door. A punter evidently unable to choose between the front two bet £2000 Comical Point at 15/8 and Westport at 9/4, the pot was growing.

As the horses loaded, the hod held £8654. Andrew Mount put the jolly up as a lay and got that right, though sadly also getting it right was the punter that had a grand on One And Gone which prevailed by a short-head from the absolute result Exclamation, the winner, returned 6/1 and lost £1270, the runner-up would have copped almost £9000, some turnaround but at least business was good.

2:25 – Coral Dragon Stakes (Listed) (Class 1) (2YO only)

As often happens in this game, the punter who bet the £7000 – £1000 in the first decided to leave it in and try to spin some up. Yes, one good winner, no fractions asked for, and they think they are Barney Curley, he had £5625 – £1250 A Bear Affair to push on for a memorable afternoon.

The two rails pitches were doing well to take the money they had so far; elsewhere in the ring, it was reported to be desperately quiet. Pam Sharman on the joint tipped us all Bint Archange, Bing Archange won at 10/1, Aye Aye Pam, the book that held £2584 with the one loser for £5094 copped £1589 putting the firm £300 in front on the day.

3:00 – Tattersalls 40,000 Pound EBF Novice Stakes (GBB Race) (Class 2) (2YO only)

The horses were going to post when Dan and Pam laid the first decent bet of the third race, £3000 – £500 Storm Blade. There were plenty of very small bets in between, field money amounted to £2660 until right in the hole the second monkey bet of the heat was struck £1000 – £500 Encounter.

That was a handy one as 11/2 chance Collateral Damage won the race copping £1867 on the race which was another step in the right direction.

3:35 – Davies Insurance Solutions Gala Stakes (Listed) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

The betting for the fourth event started with a flourish, the punter hoping to spin his £7000 up bet £10,000 – £2,500 Persica in a race where Sallaal opened the levels you devils even money favourite. Simultaneously and at the same time, the other rails pitch took £900 the same horse at the same price.

Luckily, that bet appeared to be coincidental and not a calculated stick on, though it did mean the linked books had a bogie for over £13,000. That burden was eased by a bet of an even £2000 the jolly from a bookie hedging, though it was hard to lay anything apart from the front two. ‘Any other runners?’ Questioned Dan to nobody in particular, it appeared not, at least as far as the punters were concerned.

At the off, there was just one loser in the £6990 book, Persica for £10,293. The punters knew, luckily the market got it right too, Sallaal won the race from the bogie, copping £1545, the last price, available to plenty, the winner at the off on course was 5/6, the SP was 4/5.

4:10 – Coral Marathon (Listed) (Registered As The Esher Stakes) (Class 1) (4YO plus)

Just four went to post in the fifth, Lazy Griff opened 8/11 and attracted an early bet of £2500 at the price. With 10 minutes to go, that seemed a good bet to lay as 5/6 was available in the ring, evidently some firms were finding the jolly hard to get in their books. Not for long though, punters waded into those top prices then the 8/11 too, there was plenty of 4/6 when the big screen was showing 4/7 though that had vanished by the off.

Just as well, Lazy Griff was anything but lazy, galloping his opponents into the ground winning nicely and costing the book £1364 though did scrape £35 back on the places.

4:42 – JRA Handicap (GBBPlus Race) (Class 4) (3YO plus)

The punter who had been spinning up his winnings came to draw his balance, fair play to him, but not a good sign. They bet 11/4 the field with Minhad heading the market but it was Pyleates the one the punter with a grand in his hand wanted to be on; he was accommodated by Willie and Tony to the tune of £7000 – £1000.

The rest of the betting on the race was mostly small, at the off the book held £2886. Blimey, that was a bit close for comfort, Pyleates a loser for the thick end of six grand ran a cracker to be beaten half a length behind 7/2 winner Marnier. The book that held £2886 kept £1538 of it. Phew.

5:15 – Debenhams Handicap (Class 4) (3YO plus)

Well, Dan and Pam never expected that, the punter who’d drawn his winnings came back in the last to have a bet of £11,800 – £1700 on Cristo, which at least ensured an interesting finale. The book was going into it £3904 to the good, that bet could make or break the day unless the teams bet up to it, they did have a relatively short one in 13/8 jolly Ascending Star to aim at but of course chances were slim, it was likely to be the firm against the one punter for the day’s profit or loss.

There were still punters about the place though, £7500 – £1500 Thursday Girl was a welcome bet into Pam and Dan’s pitch with 10 minutes until the off. At that off the pitches had been steady, the book held £5310 with Cristo losing £8477 and Thursday Girl £7530 in the win book. Bloody hell, who’d be a bookmaker?

The two bogies fought out the finish, the rubdown being it going to a photo and the worst of the two Cristo getting the nod. The spin-up punter got it right, my fault for doubting his shrewdness and a little bit of luck, the book lost £4358 on the day. Nasty.

Still, it’s Coral Eclipse day tomorrow sure to be colossal, the teams will be back, it’s only lent. PS, he’s left it in. See above.

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

Simon Nott is author of: Skint Mob! Tales from the Betting Ring
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