A little short on time today, so I'll keep this brief (I can hear your collective sigh of relief from here!)...
Yesterday - Mighty Man won the first as expected, but I didn't back it. I lost money on State Of Play, as Exotic Dancer proved himself a very very good horse in the Betfair Bowl.
Katchit won as he pleased, and I did back him but only for small money. By the way, did I mention I love this horse?
Just one point of order here: what the Dickens are the BBC doing employing the abject buffoon who is Jim McGrath to do the commentary?! Not only did he call the foot perfect Katchit as making a bad blunder (then followed it up by saying he jumped the next much better) when it was blatantly apparent to anyone with even one partially functioning eyeball that it was Punjabi who made the 'horlicks'; he also couldn't track a faller down for over a fence and, when he did, it was clearly a guess as he said Locksmith fell, then called him as the leader in the final quarter mile.
Finally, and this must surely have not been lost on the powers that be, in their first rehearsal for the Grand National, they were using four commentators (as they will be on Saturday). McGrath came a distant fourth - tailed off - to this listener's ear anyway, when pitched alongside the estimable race reading talents of Tony O'Hehir, my mate Ian 'Barty' Bartlett and another chap whose name escapes me, but who is a fine up and comer who often calls at Wolverhampton.
McGrath is an ignoramus. I never want to hear of a horse 'careering away' again in my life! (but I suspect I will have heard it twice more before the second race is over...)
Onwards, dear reader... I got the Hunter Chase wrong, and am still waiting to see where mine finish. Scots Grey looked beaten and rallied very well: a real treat if you backed it because you must have thought you'd lost your money, only to see him come back with admirable resolve.
The money for Bambi De L'Orme in the antipenultimate (that's third last to you and me) was well placed, and he won nicely. None of my cash was on him.
Had a decent bet on Wins Now in the sixth race and reckon he would have won but for a terrible mistake at the last hurdle. McCoy is not really a man for the Festival meetings it seems. At least not when I back him... TTS had the winner in Tidal Bay, and of course my bet on the Bay was left second at Cheltenham. Bugger.
In the last TTS had three non-qualifiers, due to the prices. Pity, because Two Miles West won at 25/1 and Gods Token was second at 33/1. The exacta paid a piffling 3170.20! (Place lay of the day Laouen beaten into 5th, so lay landed - just!)
To today, and hopefully none of you are triskaidekaphobic (afraid of the number 13 of course!)... No time for (further) verbiage, so my placepot / win selections are as follows:
Race 1: Ungaro and Dom D'Orgeval
Race 2: Massini's Maguire (a very tough horse to pass!)
Race 3: Well Chief (different class, barring jumping errors... no money down this time though!)
Race 4: Ground Ball, Umbrella Man, Risk Accessor, Hakim, and Le Volfoni
Race 5: Osana (tipped here as an Aintree horse before Cheltenham)
Race 6: Limerick Boy, Green Belt Flyer and Fundamentalist (place lay of the day: Copsale Lad.)
Race 7: One Gulp
Good luck if you're playing today...
Matt
Matt Bisogno is a lifelong horseracing and betting enthusiast, and has published a number of statistical analysis of trainer patterns for horse racing betting purposes.