SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Sandown Saturday

It was a bit overcast when I arrived at Sandown for Coral Eclipse day, but it didn’t take long for the sun to burn through for another glorious summer’s day on the turf, writes SIMON NOTT.

I was put on a mission quite early, Lofty needed some factor 30 for his bonce, luckily Wendy from the Sid Hooper firm was able to help the big fella out, he was soon protected. Being a gentleman of the turf my wide-brimmed Goodwood Panama came in handy in that respect, though my bald patch did take a hammering in June where I went racing sans titfer.

Today’s teams were slightly changed, on the rails, Pam was joined by Lofty and Keiran, Dan and Tony had been redirected to the paddock to service punters around there on advice from a person unknown, really just to see what it was like given they now had two pitches.

1:50 – Coral Charge (Group 3) (Registered As The Sprint Stakes) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

The first race soon attracted a decent bet; Pam’s team took £6000 – £2000 Rumstar to get gambling going for the day. Business, both pitches linked thereafter was steady.

Mike Dring came to say hello, he hadn’t gone long when the rails laid another grand on Rumstar at 3/1. I had a job to hear the bet, the fun and games going on around the paddock sounded a right laugh for anyone catching t-shirts but it didn’t really need to be broadcast full blast all around the racecourse.

Meanwhile, the firm kept tapping away, bets were plentiful and mostly modest, at the off the book held £7572 most of that done on the rail, the paddock had taken less than 30 bets, an expensive experiment maybe. Not as costly as Rumstar winning though, he returned 10/3 so the firm had the value but still knocked a £7385 hole into the win book.

2.25 – Coral Challenge (Handicap) (Class 2) (3YO plus)

Next up and you could bet 7/2 Indalo heading the market in the second heat when the market opened.

There was a buzz about the ring with those that backed the winner keen to reinvest. Not the bag wielding punter that had the £2000 on the previous winner, he was on his toes. There were familiar actual bagmen faces lurking however, one trying to snap up 11/1 EBT’s Guard, it was only 10/1 with Lofty, nothing done.

Business was OK but the joint was hardly rocking, there was just under £3000 in the combined hods as the horses got to post. He left it late, but the punter that backed the first winner did reinvest, £7000 – £1000 Classic, incidentally not the same punter betting in a similar fashion with the firm yesterday.

At the off, the bags held £4712, the paddock having improved a little from the low bar for the bets they laid in the first. The race went to Indalo backed from 7/2 into 9/4, the book copped £970, don’t ask me how, Lofty said he wasn’t for leaning.

3.00 – Coral Distaff (Fillies’ Listed) (Class 1) (3YO only)

Things came to life on the rail early in the betting for the third with bets of £10,500 – £3000 Act Of Kindness and £22,000 – £8000 Secret Of Life the latter spinning up from yesterday.

After that flurry of excitement, dyed in the wool dog man Simon Banks came to the joint and introduced me to his pal and reader of these blogs Jason Carroll who was kind enough to spend a couple of minutes chatting with me, it turns out we have a mutual friend in the Bullet, there might be another joining us for breakfast next week Michael.

Meanwhile, back at the sharp end, things were ticking over nicely. Lofty, Pam and Keiran were under the cosh, the combined field money had risen to over £15,000 mostly in smallish bets.

Needless to say, there were two bad losers in the book as the field set off. Secret Of Life was the worst, she won, the book lost £17,089. I really shouldn’t have mentioned that punter and Barney Curley in the same breath yesterday, it must have tempted fate.

3.35 – Coral-Eclipse (Group 1) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

Next up and the big race of the day, Constitution River opened 5/6 but that was long gone when a punter bet £4000 – £5000 with the rail. Another punter bet £15,000 – £100 each-way Flushing Meadow, then another rails firm was running around hedging the other rag King’s Gambit.

As the horses were going down to a fanfare of music a likeable but feared bagman bet £27,500 – £5000 Saddadd. The upside of that was there was evidently opposition to the short one, there certainly was, a bet on £9000 at 11/2 Gethin added flesh to that theory the punter didn’t ask for the 100/18, can’t be that shrewd.

An old fashioned result here would be handy but getting all of them beaten was a big ask, anything else another step nearer the Poor House, well it would have looked like that had I been keeping a better eye on the book, with all the money flying in I hadn’t noticed the jolly was actually winning £4993 so Lofty cheering ‘Come on Ryan’ wasn’t as mad as it sounded.

4.10 – Join Coral Bet 5 Pound Get 30 Pound Handicap (Class 3) (3YO only)

The betting frenzy continued into the penultimate, bets struck early included £10,000 – £1500 Jungle River with the fractions, come racing and £10,500 – £6000 Kings Cavalry. That bet was followed up by a £3000 – £2000 a few minutes later, which kept things ticking along and ensured that as the horses were going to post there was just the jolly losing in the book. A bookmaker bet £5500 – £2000 Spirit Of Saxony late on which bolstered the field money and made that one a small loser too.

Finally, it came up for the firm 12/1 chance 12/1 chance He’s Waliim veritably bolted up copping £11,678 and putting the team well and truly back in the game with two races to go. I have a shocking postscript to this race. The bookmaker that hedged £5500 – £2000 came to pay, just as Lofty was celebrating the result, after paying the bookie looked at me and quipped, ‘Look at Lofty, he can iron out the punters but can’t iron his shirt’. What a rotter.

4.47 – Coral Free Rewards Shaker Handicap (Class 4) (3YO only)

Going into the penultimate, the firm were still losing £7000 but had clawed a nice few quid back over the last couple of races. Getting out on the day would depend on whether the big punters played and, more importantly, left it behind. Pam Keiran and Lofty were working like Trojans until Raceday TV stopped play to interview the big fella. When I say stopped play, Pam was on hand to tap in the bets while Lofty did his bit for TV.

Another TV star, Stephen Darbyshire, came to the joint to say hello, he’s heading to Southwell tomorrow, the man is a turf travelling machine. Lofty called me over as the horses were going to post, no not to offer to sign my racecard but to inform me of the biggest bet they’d laid so far this race, £1500-£500 Bridge Of Eagles into a book that nudged over £4000 with that wager, they’d only added another bottle to that total by the time they set off to run the 10f. ‘This is a front runners track, always has been’ boomed Lofty as Tambora streaked clear from the front to win £3628 and claw some more back.

5.22 – Coral Celebrating 100 Years Handicap (Class 2) (3YO plus)

So, going into the lucky last, there was still a chance of winning on the day, the meeting not so much, the ‘Barney Curley’ punter had come to settle by bank transfer so it was likely he was out of the door. The public were still in the ring and rails in numbers so there was a chance of taking a decent amount in the closing heat.

This looked a tricky race with which to conclude where they bet 5/2 the field with Point Of Contact heading the market in a nine-runner contest.

As feared the race didn’t come to life, the book held £2600 at the off with Point Of Contact the only loser. Stem winning the race got another £800 back not out but still some recovery after doing £22,000 in one hit.

I’m back with Star Sports at the July course Newmarket on Thursday.

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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