SIMON NOTT Betting Blog: Star Brighton Festival Thursday

Bloody hell! My Google Maps said that my digs for the week, down near the seafront, was a mere 1.3 miles from the racecourse. I thought it must be a malfunction that the estimated walking time was nearly 40 minutes…

Nearly 40 minutes, pfft, it wasn’t long ago I was running a hard three miles in less time than that so I decided I’d walk. No, dear reader, I hadn’t anticipated the gradient up to the racecourse. I was quite chuffed that I managed it without stopping for a breather. I can’t have looked too good though because as soon as I got to the entrance of the racecourse I was handed a bottle of gratis cold water and asked if I was OK by a worried-looking member of Brighton Racecourse staff. I was also asked if I was OK as I puffed my way to the top of the stand. It was hot, but I need to get back to a fitness regime.

The bookies told me yesterday that the business would pick up as the three days progressed. The crowd was certainly up on Wednesday. It was Ladies Day and there were plenty of Ladies that had made a real effort with their clobber. They all looked extra glamourous in the glorious sunshine, there was none of the sea fret to cool things down today.

1:50 – ⭐ Star Sports Festival Of Racing Nursery (Class 5) (2YO only) 5½f

The betting wasn’t as busy as the crowd, there were still plenty of bets but figures in the first race weren’t any better than yesterday’s. Flynn told me that the jolly Made Of Lir was flashing on his computer screen, meaning the price was as on the exchanges but he and Lofty still couldn’t lay it. In fact, the rails pitch didn’t lay anything of note, but there had been money elsewhere for Poppy Field at 10/1 and Georgia Madeleine.

The latter, trained by Simon Pearce, had been a 9/1 chance with Star Sports last night, opened on course at 9/2 and was backed into 10/3 and duly won under David Probert. Gamble landed. The one that nobody could get in the book was Sherman Klumpf a drifter from 5/2 out to 5/1 and finished last. The book won a couple of hundred quid which was probably a get-out. In fact, it certainly was.

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2:20 – ⭐ Call Star Sports On 08000 521321 Restricted Maiden Stakes (GBB Race) (Class 5) (2YO only) 7f

Once again, the business on the rails was small but brisk. Flynn and Lofty laid a bet of £600 – £300 the second favourite Cite D’Or early doors but couldn’t get the odds-on favourite Inspirited in the book to any volume, try as they might. One lucky bookmaker laid a £400 – £600 right in the hole to a cash punter and was lucky to do so, it was the only bet of note I heard of in the ring. That punter probably rued his bet as the jolly was beaten by Cite D’Or.

The winner returned 9/4 so once again the book had value but couldn’t eat it. The runner-up jolly returned 8/15, remember I said a punter had 4/6 right at the death? Come racing. The Star Sports book lost a carpet.

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2:50 – David Bennett Handicap (Class 5) (3YO plus) 1m 2f

As I was walking up the stands to type this next bit, professional punter Alan ‘The Beard’ Francis stopped me. He’d heard about my hill walking heroics and wanted to doff his baseball hat to me as he’d never try and tackle it these days. It’s a shame he won’t do a #BettingPeople interview, but the door’s always open Alan, I’ll come to you, up hill or down.

Other racecourse mates I saw in the betting ring were Colin and Sue,.Colin used to put the fear of God into the rails bookies in years gone by, he used to like having sizable bets as they were running. He’s not so mobile these days so not the scourge he was. They are seen below, with their friend Pat, Colin and Sue on the right. Sue had a runner in the next, He’s Our Star, but at 50/1 wasn’t really fancied. The money was for the front two in the betting, but business had really picked up. Flynn and Lofty had laid £300 at 15/8 Wisper and £440 at 13/8 Arclight. There was plenty of money for others in the race too, ‘The best betting race of the day so far’ Lofty told me, they were up the front two, having taken £1500.

Sadly, for the bookies at least, the front two fought out the finish, they had flip-flopped in the betting and the market proved prophetic, Wisper beat Arclight which returned 6/4 and 13/8 respectively. The book £275, the winner a pound worse than the runner-up.

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3:20 – ⭐ Star Sports Bet Brighton Challenge Cup Handicap (Class 4) (3YO plus) 1m 4f

Between races, professional punter ‘Tracksuit’ Dave came over to say hello. He’s the original, not to be confused with the horse’s head account on Twitter. Anyway, he’d heard that he’d been mentioned in yesterday’s blog and wanted to get something off his chest. He’d written out a bet in a betting shop down in the town, it was a multiple that came to a fairly modest £130. He wrote down the prices but then had them scrubbed out when he went to place the bet and pay, told he was on at SP, which seems a bit unsporting. Flynn assures me that this won’t happen in a Star Sports shop, even if you are legendary a punter. Click here to see a list the Star Sports betting shops if you are struggling to get on.

Back over on the Star Sports pitch, Flynn and Lofty were under the cosh, they’d taken more than the previous best betting race of the day. They’d laid two nasty each-way bets, Fairmac at 8/1 and Cherry Cola at 16/1. They’d taken money for plenty of others too but those were the bogies. Percy Jones was sent off 7/4 favourite having been 9/4 on course, the punters had left Star Sports out so they had the jolly a good winner. Once again punters were treated to a thrilling finish, Percy Jones and the each-way loser Fairmac scrapped all the way to the line.

As they flashed past, the initial impression most people had was that Fairmac had won, then the replay showed it was much closer, even the machine didn’t know, that tells you. As opposed to the rest of the ring the rails pitch wanted the jolly to prevail, winning a monkey minus the place money for the hopeful runner-up. They got their wish by a fag paper.

The bing-bong for a steward’s enquiry got people comparing today’s situation with Saturday’s Lingfield demotion, but this time the winner kept the race despite what some would describe as the similarities. Another get out for Lofty and Flynn aka the A-Team.

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3:50 – Ebony Horse Club Handicap (Class 6) (3YO plus) 1m

Next up and the antepenultimate, there was another photo, this time there was little doubt amongst observers that Girl In The Picture had won the race from Sly Madam. She had, by a head, returning 11/4. There were beaming smiles over on the joint, Lofty and Flynn, for whatever reason, it’s not my place to ask, had kept the winner up their sleeves and copped most of the £1500 they had taken. Bbob Alula was sent off the 9/4 favourite but only managed fifth.

I was gutted for two reasons, the first being, the gelding appears to be named after Gene Vincent’s 1956 classic Be Bop A Lula so I was hoping commentator Simon Holt might name the rock n roll legend in running. Secondly, it’s a tenuous link I know, but I was told in the Press Room today that RUK’s betting expert Dave Nevison has a side-line as an Elvis tribute singer and is apparently very good, can anyone confirm if this is true? If it is, after the success of the recent film I doubt he’ll have time to study another race he’ll be so busy hip-swivelling.

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4:20 – John Hartwell And Dennis Gray Memorial Classified Stakes (Class 6) (3YO plus) 7f

The Star Sports book for the penultimate was the sort that my old boss Jack Lynn would have said ‘you need a ring of steel to stand for’. Yes, my old boss had a way with words. The reason being, Flynn and Lofty, buoyed by their success in the previous race had taken on the punters like dogs with two appendages. They’d laid bets of £7500 – £300 each-way Outtatheblue and £1500 – £300 Diva Dancer, to the same punter who meant business topping those bets up with a £50 reverse forecast.

Other losers in the race included rags Ness Ta Rah for over a grand and Milly Molly Mandy for a monkey. Needless to say they had plenty of more fancied ones running for them but the book was very lopsided. Sapphire’s Moon had been easy to back in the market drifting to 7/1 but defied the market to win from 7/2 chance Rainbow Sign, the bogies weren’t sighted so the ring of steel book paid off handsomely, there were big smiles abound again from team Flynn and Lofty going into the last.

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4:55 – ⭐ Starsports.Bet Silk Series Apprentice Handicap (Class 4) (3YO plus) 7f

The lucky last was another brisk betting race, the biggest bet the Star team laid was £1200 – £300 Macs Dilemma which made John O’Shea’s gelding the bogie, the other loser in the book was King Of War with Tintoretto a taker, Fieldsman and Fangorn got the money. Well, it had been going well afternoon, the good news was that Macs Dilemma wasn’t in the shake-up but the taker and other loser were. King of War got the race in another photo under a great ride from Rhys Clutterbuck, great finishes up here today, and the book did a carpet, though had copped about £2500 on the day’s business.

The winner is trained by Alexandra Dunn in Wellington, that’s almost as far as I live though I’m sure the journey back to Somerset will fly by after that. I’ve got another local stay, I’m already bracing myself for tomorrow’s hill climb.

Thanks for reading, I wish you’d been here, it’s been a cracking day.

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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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