An eventful week to say the least. Most of my time has been spent fighting the loss of my stake on a dog race at Coventry last Sunday night when my intended bet on the hot favourite Swift Ninja was transferred to rank outsider Kenpo Star who came in as reserve after my initial selection was withdrawn.
Having originally thought my money was safe as is usually the case if the dogs name appears on your betting slip, I contacted the firms customer service rep and she confirmed I would be OK. Having read their small print just prior to the off though I wasnt so sure and emailed them to say I definitely didnt want this bet win or lose so at least they had it in writing.
The next morning of course they followed their rule book and did an about turn saying it was settled as a loser, saying I had contacted them too late, but the fact remained this was a very deceptive way of operating with the dogs name appearing on the betting slip rather than the trap number, by which method they were settling the wager.
Eventually after some wrangling, and having taken some fellow forumites advice and contacted IBAS and Matt Chapman himself of Atthreraces fame, both parties managed to come to the agreement that I would be reimbursed the full amount having initially been offered a £20 free bet.
So a sensible conclusion but not sure why dog punters should be railroaded into backing these reserve dogs anyhow, to my knowledge it doesnt happen in any other sport. For instance in snooker how would you feel if your money was down on Ronnie O Sullivan only to find that Hugh Abernethy (no disrespect to the Scot) had taken his place at a moments notice.
The replacement dog actually ran quite well, finishing a close up fourth, but why on earth should I be forced to back something I knew nothing whatsoever about, at least you should get the option to say "no reserve" which is indeed the most common scenario with the majority of firms.
The other dog bets, while mixed have still seen an overall profit on the week. Corrig Vieri of course landed the Swindon Arc on Thursday which meant a successful 20/1 ante post bet even though my other finalist Shaneboy Luke at the head of the market could only trail in last of the six runners after a slow start.
I also backed both Magna Dave and Killough Belles at 6/1 and 8/1 respectively in the Gorton Cup final the same night at Belle Vue but they were both thwarted in a three way photo by the favourite Royal Warrior who just held on by a diminishing neck and a head.
I was looking forward to the Crayford Golden Jacket staying event heats on Monday having had a few ante post picks but having checked the sponsor Ladbrokes' online site it seemed they were not showing them on there. That meant they would probably more than likely be screening them in their shops on SIS and I seemed to recall they were the track bookmakers at Nottingham greyhound stadium who were also racing that night.
However, after making the hour long trip I found to my chagrin it was William Hill, so my memory must be playing tricks on me, which meant I missed all the Crayford action as they did not have it on their menu, then of course when I got back home I found out Ladbrokes had screened it on their website all along!!
At least my four outright picks made it through to the semi finals but with three of them drawn in the same heat and only two possible qualification places, it still didnt all work out to plan. Midway Skipper the ante post favourite who is unbeaten at the track must take on my other picks Capel Wilson and Greedy Bridie while Lorrys Options is the other representative.
At least I saw a decent prospect on the track at Nottingham with Head Iton Ellis winning in fine style, admittedly a 1/3 shot on the night, but was visually very impressive and paid a big compliment to Bandicoot Tipoki who has beaten it twice in the previous three meetings between the puppies.
Over in Ireland Barefoot Bryan was the only ante post to make it through to tomorrows Joe Dunne final at Shelbourne having been backed at 6/1 and couldnt resist going in again at 2s after what was an eye catching run in the semi final, whilst only finishing third, it was highly creditable after meeting all kinds of trouble. Just hope he can avoid that fate this time around.
The gaelic football bets didnt start off too well last weekend with odds on shots Armagh and Meath both letting me down, the former had two of their better players carded when holding a five point lead and the loss of these seemed too much to handle as Laois came back to land the spoils. Derry did oblige on the Sunday though and after some pondering also decided to risk outsiders Dublin at home to a weakened Galway team in the hurling which bore fruit with a 7/2 winner.
Also had a nice bet on my own team Derby to see off Blackpool in the midweek football, and after being made to fight hard for most of the match, the tide turned in their favour near the end with some classy goals in a 4-1 victory. Off to Forest again tomorrow morning for the big re-match following our 3-2 win at the City Ground in the FA Cup only a couple of weeks ago.
The aussie rules teams are continuing to play out the NAB Cup pre season tournament and I managed to get Richmond (12/1) through to the next round to play Collingwood but North Melbourne were beaten today at Carlton.
On to the snooker and the Welsh Open and the coffers received a major boost today with Anthony Hamilton winning the first quarter at 25/1, thanks to a hard fought victory over hot favourite Mark Selby this evening.
That was a very welcome winner, as the Championship League event run by Matchroom just prior to this hadnt really gone to plan but this one is now looking much better.
As I speak Neil Robertson is also heading for the semi final with a comfortable win over Marco Fu and at 25/1 in the ante post market there hopefully might be another payout there.
Have had a bit of a saver on Ali Carter at 5/4 also just now as he looks the most likely other contender with outsiders Hamilton and Joe Swail making up the semi finalists.
In fact along with a few others almost backed Carter too at the start of the event at around 16s but in the end preferred to risk Graeme Dott at bigger odds from that section.
The match betting has been pretty even steven, have had some good winners like Fu to beat O Sullivan at nearly 3/1 on the exchange, Gould to beat Hendry at 21/10 and Judge to beat Day at 2/1 but the main profits will be coming from the quarter and/or outright markets.
Our own snooker team lost our second match in a row this week with a 3-2 defeat to another mid table side. Our wayward new signing set the tone for the night by reverting to type and rather imploding in the first frame of the evening, he almost won the award for most ridiculous concession in the history of the league when he started unscrewing his cue when only 19 behind with 51 on the table!! After being encouraged to continue, he then just smashed the balls around a few more times leaving easy pots before once again offering his hand when only requiring one snooker on the colours. I told him I want a bit more effort next week or else!!
Anyway must get off to bed as its offically Saturday!!
See you soon
Rick
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