Highlight of the last week was undoubtedly the Greyhound Derby at Wimbledon even though from a punting perspective it couldnt have turned out any worse - suppose that shows I'm just a sports fan at heart as it still made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up at the finish.
The ante post favourite Fear Zafonic had finally gotten his preferred trap draw in 1 and came away well, disputing it with raceday favourite Ballymac Ruso from the traps.
Ruso drifted into the middle before coming back at the bend, but brushed against Zafonic's backside and caused mayhem to himself and Farloe Reason, with their scrimmaging also baulking the wide runner Wise Thought - ironically all three affected were my remaining ante post bets!!
Meanwhile the trap 5 dog and 25/1 outsider on the day Kinda Ready (100s ante post) collided with Glenard Sunrise on trap rise but had the track craft to switch inside at the bend, avoiding the melee and giving chase to the leader though a good four lengths adrift.
In a barnstorming finish, the rank outsider ate up the ground on the run-in to get up right on the line in spine tingling fashion to land a first ever Derby for champion trainer Mark Wallis. What a brilliant race, almost as good as last years Irish Derby but for me that holds sway as I backed the winner that day lol.
The supporting card went rather better for me on Saturday though, as I landed the Derby Consolation Plate with Head ItOn Ellis. I saw this chap run a blinder earlier in the year when I was at Nottingham and he brought that form to the table at Wimbledon here to land a 20/1 outright bet (the 25/1 appeared after I had backed it typically lol). Have to say Ninja Jamie the favourite was a little unlucky in running - I also had him in my portfolio - but financially it was the better result as it stood.
Platinumlancelot also landed the Champion Hurdle as a 9/4 ante post punt, though as I had a couple of others too as safeguards, didnt make too much on that but the dog won in great style and certainly has exceptional pace for a jumper.
And to crown the night in style renowned stayer Vaticon Iona won the marathon by coming fast and late to mow down Go Amber Go in the finale for a great nights racing, theres really nothing I'd rather be doing than experiencing evenings like this even if I'm in my own living room at the time lol.
So overall I couldnt grumble even if taking the Derby as its own entity I lost a tidy sum - not helped by backing a non runner for £100 before the event even started!
I admittedly like to have a few strings to my bow in the ante post markets but it did me no good in the Scurry Cup Sprint event at Belle Vue as all my contenders have bowed out before the final, a bit of a rare event as usually at least one of my usual four or five sneak through.
But there was better news in the Cock O The North run at the same track with three picks reaching the final in Noelles Saka, Gabba Gabba Hey and Hurleys Hero. Sky will be covering both events conclusions in its programme on Tuesday.
Hall Green's Prestige Stakes is also underway and I go into the semi finals well represented at present whilst in the Irish St Leger semis I have three contenders in Timor Blue, Cabra Cool and Chicken Supper, though I remember that when the latter two were drawn in adjoining boxes in the Laurels final last year, they ruined each others chances so hoping the same doesnt happen this time.
It took the bookies a while to price up the Irish Oaks which looks extremely competitive and hence I think I have made a record number of picks with about eight running for me at this stage though all at fairly tasty odds so only needs one of them to win it for a nice profit.
When I was last with you my team Derbyshire had just scored back to back victories in the Twenty20 Cup but how things have changed since. Four successive losses have confirmed that those early results were somewhat of a flash in the pan and indeed things had changed so much that I actually backed Leicestershire to win last nights match at the County Ground, which they did at 13/10 despite scoring only 144.
The Phantoms' effort lacked any fluency at all with the bat and they fell 14 runs short in the end - perhaps I was lucky when I got the money at Grace Road by backing my home county in retrospect!!
In the outright market I'm faring reasonably well at present as Sussex and Lancashire head their groups, plus Yorkshire are also in a qualification place at the moment though Gloucestershire have bombed out in this tournament having performed very well in the Friends Provident previoualy.
In the World Twenty20 Cup I went in early with bets on Pakistan at 17/2, who have now drifted, and New Zealand at 11/1 who have contracted - I dont tend to watch international cricket as much as the county stuff so in a way they're educated guesses having looked back at the one day results for the last few months or so - at least these teams seem to have held their own against some of the better outfits during that time.
The Jiangsu Classic snooker is underway and now at the semi final stage. My picks were Mark Allen and Ryan Day both at 10/1 as they seemed to be in the weaker of the two groups and with the top two qualifying I wanted to be against Ding Junhui who hadn't impressed me at all of late.
However Ding has made it through despite an early loss to compatriot Li Hang. The home town favourite came back well after that setback and beat Ryan Day 2-0 in a shootout for a qualification place which means I am now only represented by Mark Allen who finished runner up in the section.
The other group saw Shaun Murphy at the head of affairs (he now plays Allen) with Marco Fu getting through too to meet Ding in the other semi.
Mark Selby didnt quite make it but nevertheless knocked in a 147 in the group stages so some consolation there.
In the gaelic games outrights Tipperary came through a stiff test with Cork to reach the semi finals of the Munster hurling championship and are now odds on (I'm on at 7/4) while in the football, Galway (evens) as I told you last week are in the semi finals of Connacht and Derry (11/2) likewise in Ulster after a fairly brutal match with Monaghan.
Finally I got around to contacting Betfair at long last to ask about why I had been banned from their forum and whether it was time to let bye-gones be bye-gones.
I quoted 1/2 to a betting buddy that I wouldnt be given the time of day and so it proved, they wouldnt say why I had been banned but just issued a terse semi-automated response that I wasnt getting back any time soon.
Yes I mentioned the word purple a few times but I would dispute that warrants a lifetime ban personally, whatever I have said away from their forum!
I emailed them back telling them they hadnt explained why I was originally banned but all they sent back was a customer service survey, to which I gave them 1 for their answer to my original question and 2 for how highly would you recommend Betfair to a friend, both out of 10, arent I a generous chap lol.
If you're a straight up football or horse player, get down the Daq is my advice - I'm still catching up the form for the gee gees but I'm determined to pump some money purple's way in the near future through these avenues - I'm not talking astronomical amounts but every little helps I'm sure.
And yes you may have to wait a little while longer to get a repsonse on the Daq forum but the clientele tends to be a little more polite than some others in the main and if you're struggling for patience you can always join a clique and synchronize watches, that'll do the trick I'm sure.
Catch you later - not on the Betfair forum though lol
All the best
Rick
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