Being a punter is as much fun as you can have in my book but I am superstitious and I felt like the Captain of the Titanic last week when I started bragging about all the winners the week before, and so it proved as I aimed straight for every iceberg in sight and one after the other, as my bets fell apart and made a dent in then old BETDAQ holiday funds! At least I had the brains (well, sort of) to keep my horse racing bets on the small side and even I couldn’t second guess that Palace Moon would break a blood vessel for the first time that I can find a record of in his 23 outings – you couldn’t make it up!
Over the jumps I am looking to build up a bit of a bank ahead of Cheltenham (and remember what they say, the only way to leave Cheltenham with a small fortune is to start with a large fortune), and following jockey bookings has served me well enough in the past to use as a fallback scenario when I am struggling for a winner. Champion jockey A P McCoy is a good man to have on your side and I noticed that he had travelled to Chepstow to ride a few but only the one for trainer Jonjo O’Neill in the shape of Holywell in the maiden hurdle at 2.05. I freely admit I had hoped he would be a decent each way sort of price but that was wishful thinking on my behalf as I had to settle for a bit of 3.1 with BETDAQ early doors, before he was sent off the 3.0 or so favourite. Being as negative as I felt (we all have bad days) he looked as if he wasn’t going well enough to win mid race so I cleverly (?) laid him back at 2.2 and made sure I made a profit. As you may know (or will have guessed by now), he ran on strongly and won going away but a smaller profit is sometimes better than no profit at all.
Elsewhere on the net we can tell Cheltenham is round the corner as the web is just full of interviews with trainers jockeys owners, anyone the press can get hold of or so it seems? David Pipe was last week’s super star though how much help reading umpteen pages was is open to question. He seems to like The Package but he runs in such a competitive race (JLT Specialty handicap) that I cannot be tempted, but will back Grands Crus if he goes for the RSA Chase and not the Gold Cup. What use an interview is when the trainer cannot answer the big question (which race will he go for?) is a moot point, and they will not make the final decision until the very last minute (so there goes any antepost price), but it seems to me we have a vintage year in 2012 with Long Run v Kauto Star and the grey novice would be far better off waiting for next year to go for the big one, mopping up the lesser prize with ease if he shows his face?
Looking forward we have a full programme of football this weekend and I am allowing my head and heart to work in tandem for a change when tipping my beloved Everton to win away at QPR. I am quite aware of the Toffees dreadful record at Loftus Road but they have been in brilliant form of late beating Chelsea and Manchester City and have players coming back from injury to boost the squad and at BETDAQ odds of 2.5 a couple of points should pay dividends as confidence is a wonderful thing.
At a bigger price I have to say that as a neutral (with no bets running), the Arsenal Spurs game last weekend was awesome to watch with seven goals while Liverpool struggled to beat Cardiff in an epic Carling Cup Final that went down to penalties. Out of the two I would have to say the Gunners put up by far the better performance against much stronger rivals yet we can back them with BETDAQ at odds of 4.1 to win at Anfield and although it is never an easy task for away teams those odds are just too tempting and worthy of a small bet this week.
The other week we had a cracking result on the golf each way and I am up for a bit more of that this week with the Honda Classic, though I am aware that by the time you read this, the odds could change dramatically if someone else comes with a run. Once again I have trawled the internet via my I-Pad and one of the experts I trust has suggested YE YANG as the value call and we can get 89.0 the win and 18.0 the place with BETDAQ at the time of writing. Apparently because my ignorance has no limits when it comes to golf), he does well at this particular course and won here in 2009 before adding a runners up spot in 2011, and after a sensible if uninspiring opening round of level par, has as good a chance as any, but at a much bigger price.
Finally, I like to wrap up with a bit about the horses even if I struggle to find any winners but I have been told by a good source that Poole Master will win the 2.20 at Newbury tomorrow and at BETDAQ odds of 3.2 or thereabouts I am happy to have a punt. Unbeaten this season after two starts he ought to appreciate the step up to two miles five furlongs today and the expectation is that he wins this before heading for Cheltenham later in the month so fingers and toes crossed please that we can start the weekend with a winner!
This week’s suggested bets (odds correct at the time of writing):
Football:
2pts Win EVERTON to beat Queens Park Rangers Saturday at BETDAQ odds of 2.5
1pt Win ARSENAL to beat Liverpool Saturday at BETDAQ odds of 4.1
Golf
1pt Win 1pt place YE YANG Honda Classic 89.0 the win 18.0 the place.
Horse Racing:
2pts Win POOLE MASTER 2.20 Newbury Friday at BETDAQ odds of 3.1
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
