Doodlebeag scoops the prize

I find it quite interesting that the figures Betfair released a couple of weeks ago (which I have just gotten round to in my outdated Racing Post) show that they were in fact performing very healthily pre the premium charge era which makes their claims they needed everyone paying "their fair share" for the good of the future now look rather spurious to say the least. As I said then and I say it again now, however they dress it up this is against the ethics of punting and a very selfish greedy decision, of this there can now be no doubt.
Anyway I've been ranting enough about this on the Betdaq forums so dont want to get bogged down with it on here but it seems most of BF's press releases can be taken with a pinch of salt nowadays as its spin, spin and more spin for the most part I'm sad to say.
I notice the Racing Post are urging everyone to sign the "get racing back on the Beeb" petition following their decision to axe the majority of jump racing in the future barring the Grand National, but they were rather less urgent when the matter of the premium charges reared its head, in fact there was hardly any criticism at all about the whole thing in the paper which was very disappointing.
I agree however it is in every keen racing fans interests to maintain as much terrestial coverage as possible for the sport to prevent it slipping further out of the limelight as sports betting continues to challenge on the horizon. I openly admit I have gone more down this sphere myself in latter years but have always had it at the back of my mind I would one day return to the nags when I had the time, which hopefully is fast approaching (only two weeks behind with the form now chaps in the ongoing saga lol).
The dogs have proved a great boon though since I started betting seriously on them in the last six months or so and I watched a great final of the John Casey Open in Shelbourne on the net last Saturday night where I had my each way ante post vouchers still running on Jemmy Doodlebeag at 40/1 and The Other Achill at 50/1.
And what a cracker it was with Jemmy bouncing out of trap four and cutting across to the rail in front of the three inside dogs to take the lead at the first bend, thus negating a tricky draw and then holding on gamely from the well backed Acordello to win by a short head in the home straight. Certainly the latter dog is one to watch as he looked sure to go by on the home turn but this is where Jemmy's stamina really kicked in and he would not be denied.
As a bonus my other pick The Other Achill, who had slipped back into his old habits and started very slowly, ran on strongly into fourth place which was enough to secure the each way money at a quarter of the odds to supplement the winnings.
You cant beat the excitement of a night like that, I said it when I picked Shelbourne Aston at 40s+ in the Irish Derby and I'll say it again here, even though the stakes were slightly smaller this time, the adrenalin rush is just fantastic.
The latest greyhound ante post market is the Springbok for novice hurdlers at Wimbledon, which is obviously not the easiest to pick from with some of the better dogs on paper not always jumping too well but have initially gone with Nebuchadnazzar at 11/2, who I saw staying on well when short headed in one of the trials and seems to have recovered OK from a recent fall the time before, plus Deanridge Casper e/w at 66s which is a much bigger price than some other books. He won a recent trial in decent style too. The heats start on Saturday night and quite often the best time to go in is after you have watched the opening round where quite often a couple of dogs can catch the eye at decent prices.
My team Derby County take on Coventry City in the football tomorrow and this is a massive match for the Rams having now slipped into the bottom three, plus we are offloading Giles Barnes on loan to Fulham it seems so the rest of the lads will hopefully step up. Must admit I've risked a dabble here at 5/4 as I saw the Sky Blues in the return fixture earlier in the season and wasnt overly impressed in a 1-1 draw (they equalised in the last minutes).
Football of the gaelic variety gets underway at a county level this weekend with the National Football Leagues reconvening.
Have had a few dabbles on the outrights (where the odds differ from my ratings from last year), though most teams are not at full strength just yet, and also will be having a few punts on the match betting which turned out to be quite lucrative last year.
There are though new experimental hardline rules coming in this time around which could mean a fair few early baths so perhaps wise not to go too mad with the stakes at present.
The London team are usually the whipping boys of gaelic football but did manage a win against Sligo in the consolation event The Tommy Murphy Cup last year so that should give them a bit of encouragement, plus there has apparently been a bit of an exodus of players over here from Ireland in the close season which might boost the numbers of the squad.
They start off with a home match against Leitrim at Ruislip on Sunday and might try to get down if at all possible, have got my new replica shirt at the ready to join the one man and his dog in the crowd (unless the Leitrim faithful are out in force)!!
The snooker returns with the Welsh Open qualifiers in midweek, the China Open rather petered out with a hit and miss final day but made a reasonable profit overall despite Barry Hawkins carrying my money and throwing in a stinker, losing 5-0 to David Gray who had seemed well on the downgrade. Of course I had forgotten the Hawkins family had just had a recent addition and this may well have been in a factor due to a lack of practice time for one of the less natural players on the tour.
Our own team continued our good run with a 3-2 win over the supposed No 1 team at the club in a local derby match but with their captain sadly unavailable due to a family illness it was a very muted atmosphere in the circumstances lacking the usual rivalry and banter. We take on the current league leaders next week so that might be a bridge too far but having won eight out of eleven matches so far, anything else is a bonus from here.
See you soon
Rick