Redemption,by a nose; glad to be of service.
Redemption,by a nose; glad to be of service.
Emotionally a roller-coaster week. Financially a helter-skelter ride.
Very nearly didn't go, I have medical conditions as a result of heavy smoking and drinking which together with the fact that I'm nearing 70 puts me in the high risk category if I catch the virus. I stopped packing my stuff and had some long conversations with family members before setting off to Warwick to boost my funds with a 'good thing'. It wasn't.
Once in digs with friends I felt better, ready to enjoy the racing and meeting up with others during the week. I had a decent AP book with several well fancied horses. Here we go!
Abacadabras was my second largest of the meeting and in almost all my multiples. Up in the Air, down to the ground. Set the tone for the meeting. Minella Indo, another cornerstone, same thing. So Wednesday would bring the return to normal. Storyteller, backed early would recover losses on Silver Sheen's withdrawal on the day it was confirmed to be in the Pertemps plus a bit more. Second again, yet again in an exciting race. A Plus Tard ( 16's any race) would at least cover losses and maybe costs. Not to be.
Just to rub the salt in he horse that was one of my bankers last year then wins at 50/1 with none of my money as a burden. Goshen,Thyme Hill and Kemboy made sure that the place pickings in my multiples were measly. Two small bet winners but around an 80% shortfall.
Emotionally being with and meeting up with good friends was great as usual but for me the spectre of the virus grew over the week and quite a few down for week people I knew went home early.
Possibly the biggest uplift I had during the week was being woken by a call from my close neighbour on Friday morning. He is a big man whose sheer size makes many people wary of him. He said "Sorry to bother you at Cheltenham but I want you to know that if you have to shut you and your wife away in the coming months I've got two strapping lads that have decided join me in making sure that you get everything you need no matter how long it goes on for. So hope your winning.Bye." Big man! Big heart!
So on to next year but probably just for two days.
Last edited by Tout Seul; 15th March 2020 at 1:57 AM.
Colin Phillips (15th March 2020), Desert Orchid (15th March 2020), Perpetual (18th March 2020)
I was down becuse of my unwavering belief that the Champion Hurdle was a G3 Handicap and WPM had supplemented Cilias Emery and bought a wheelbarrow with what was left over.
Luckily, as you all know too well through the eyars, I am a Bumper savant and Ferny bailed me out of all those oher stupidities. Like not backing Dame Du C for a start.
"And still they gazed and still the wonder grew. That one small head could carry all he knew.
And that small head knew that Impaire Et Passe would win the Champion Hurdle."
I finished with a small loss over the week but had a couple of near misses especially with Melon & Fury Road who both looked like winning at one stage. However, how disappointing would it have been had the meeting been cancelled. Thoroughly enjoyed all 4 days and already looking forward to next year.
Pluralism of Ideas and the prosperity of any land are intertwined. Freedom of minds and skill of intellect to 'think the unthinkable' is how humanity has progressed; when minds are incarcerated nothing endures.
Melon summed up my week.
I wouldn't mind but It Came To Pass jumped out of the page to me when I saw the entries.
He has two ways of running and once he did not fall too far behind early and i saw how he jumped there was only going to be one result.
1 euro ew on tote would have yielded 190 just to rub it in .......
always 2021 I suppose/ enjoyed it thoroughly all the same.
A bit down overall (in more ways than one now it’s over). Was there Tues and Weds and loved every minute. Had Honeysuckle but narrow misses with Abras and Lord du Mesnil on day 1 - but at least radar not far off. Weds had Envoi but Defi my main bet, and not much else came close. Didn’t go on Thurs and Fri and tend to keep my powder dry unless the first couple of days are decent, having learned from experience not to chase it.
Amazing to think that only a week ago it seemed a sound decision to hold and attend the occasion - still the right call I firmly believe - yet now all events are off, rightly. Surreal times. Feel blessed that we got the chance to enjoy it before the shutdown.
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Tuesday - good
Wednesday - fair
Thursday - poor
Friday - excellent
Best bets
Saint Roi
Monkfish
Easysland
Min
Simply The Betts
Worst bets
Espoir De Guye
Shishkin (boatload of 5/2 and 9/4 with no BOG)
Defi
Appreciate It (jumped off Ferny ew)
Flukes
Burning Victory ew
Hard luck stories
Melon
Taking DDC out of my Coral Cup combos with Black Tears, Thosedaysaregone and Cracking Smart
"Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".
SlimChance, March 2018
Guilt free aftertiming!
Up. Total fluke but credit for waiting for NRNB.
Best bet (January)
No Comment (Kim Muir) - NR
The Conditional (10/1 Ultima)
Easysland (9/2 XC)
Silver Sheen (Pertemps) - NR
Hazel Hill (Foxhat) - NR
10 x 1 pt trebles, 1ew pt fivefold returned 298 pts
Better to be lucky than good.
Last edited by archie; 17th March 2020 at 8:52 PM.
The older I get the better I was.
All of the above and a bit more besides, PJ.
If I was to heavily summarise, in a race like the Coral Cup, I guess I look less for the horses who look well handicapped, and more for those that make me think “What the fu*ck has he entered that for?”.
This applied exactly with Saint Roi. His bare form likely didn’t justify his rating, but it was reasonably solid, and he was totally unexposed. You then look at connections, and the suspicions start to rise. You then look at the Decs, decide if enough will come out to get a run, and then bet or not.
I have to be honest, I didn’t think it was all that earth-shattering a pick. I wouldn’t say it was obvious, but it did sort of jump right out at me, when I started to scratch about the race.
"Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".
SlimChance, March 2018
Desert Orchid (18th March 2020), granger (17th March 2020)
That was pretty much my thinking too with Saint Roi. I already had a fantastic antepost position on the race with Mohaayed 50/1, Ciel De Neige 33/1, and Aramon at 25/1 all each way. I hadn't felt the need to go back in again until I went back through the final decs, and the profile and connections of Saint Roi absolutely jumped off the page. And specifically why had Geraghty deserted Ciel De Neige who was antepost favourite for all of the same connections.
I was all over it, and also pushed the bet to all the crowd I was staying with. They knew the antepost position I had on the race and also saw the logic of why I'd change my position. I had a really good lump on at 48 hours and topped up again the night before. Then when his price completely collapsed on the morning everyone was 100% certain it was a plot.
Desert Orchid (18th March 2020)
If Presenting Percy (12/1) had got placed, I would have won over £20,000 without a winner in the bet....Saint Calvados 20/1, Oldgrangewood 14/1, Discorama 20/1, Dynamite Dollars 20/1...E/W canadian.
I had the same selections with Us And Them 33/1, Put The Kettle On 20/1, Ronald Pump 33/1...in a bet with 11 selections E/W Trebles.
Last edited by Maxbet; 18th March 2020 at 1:12 PM.
Slim (18th March 2020)