I don’t really like theme parks like Alton Towers or Thorpe Park as two examples, but my recent punting has been little short of a roller coaster ride with an appallingly embarrassing week a fortnight ago closely followed by a spectacular week that paid back all those losses and then some, making the sun shine in my life even before the real thing appeared in the sky!

Bubba Watson did well enough in the golf but was my only losing bet (he never did trade below the 31.0 that I took on BETDAQ despite making the cut), but we soon made those two points back by laying the draw in the cricket which may well be a tactic for the best of the summer – very little risk was ever involved at 1.85 with BETDAQ and having checked out the weather, and as a sports fan who has noticed five days of test cricket seems beyond most of the modern players, it seems a sensible way to play?

As for the racing, how I would love to claim some kind of insider knowledge or expertise of the formbook but I leave that to the likes of Daqman who has forgotten more than I will ever know. Fact is I picked Danedream out for the King George based on her Arc win last autumn, but win she did and as I managed to find just a little 11.8 from those lovely BETDAQ layers (thank you so much guys and girls), I am already planning my next holiday at their expense.

Away from my suggestions for last week I also had a couple of bets on Saturday but they didn’t really boost the BETDAQ balance that much with a winner at 3.8 with BETDAQ in Foundry Lane at Cartmel (won easily and should go in again if kept to a sensible grade), but also a lay bet on Toronado at 1.4 which came unstuck with the Hannon yard on fire, but at that price I can afford to smile and look forward to some more bets this weekend!

With the Olympics already started and the opening ceremony tonight I ought to have a little look at some of the early prices, though bets will be smaller than small as I freely admit my knowledge of athletics is slightly less than my experience in nuclear physics! Usain Bolt I have worked out is the big name for the entire Olympics (or so it seems), but is he really an odds on shot to take the 100 metres Gold Medal? Beaten in both 100 and 200 metres in his national trials by Yohan Blake he will probably prove me totally wrong and romp clear, but at that price and with other dangers such as Tyson gay and even Asafa Powell, I am happy to risk a couple of points laying the favourite with the downside easy enough to handle at the BETDAQ price of 1.87?

On the other hand, having seen Brazil fail to need to get out of first gear to see off the Great Britain team all be it in a friendly, they are hard to oppose even at the current BETDAQ odds of 2.3 which is pretty mean spirited (come on you layers, pull your fingers out), but just about the best I can get on what looks like a good thing. They have then best players, the best attitude, and as I write second favourites Spain have just been beaten by Japan, so all in all, a bet well worth having.

Changing sport to golf (yes I know last week was a failure but we keep on persevering because the prices can be so generous!), and it is the turn of the Canadian Open this weekend, which will have started by the time you read this. As I write David Hearn is going well in the first round but can still be backed at 72.0 the win with BETDAQ and that is great value. He is a local boy who knows the course inside out (I read that somewhere, don’t worry!), and is fully expected to make the cut and if he does, I will be laying him back again to lock in a bit of a profit but maybe letting a little bit ride in case he does the business?

Naturally, I have saved my favourite sport until last and we have Glorious Goodwood next week so I can only hope I can get a day off, and that the sun keeps on shining. We all know it starts on Tuesday and at the moment the going is Good so hopefully there will be no excuses for anyone? As things stand we are second guessing who will or will not take part (so hold your bets to the day of the race), but if John Gosden sends Michelangelo to the Gordon Stakes on Tuesday afternoon then he will do for me. If there is a horse who can stop Camelot winning the St Leger then he could well be the one as I remember reading an interview with the trainer where he was talked of in glowing terms in which case this is his for the taking and well worth a punt. On Wednesday it may not make a lot of financial sense to back Frankel on the Sussex Stakes, but I hope to be there if only to see him in the flesh once again. He is possibly the best horse of all time (that is obviously up for debate), and there will be a horrible yawning gap in the world of racing when he does retire to stud, but for the moment we can watch him and enjoy, even if 1.09 makes him too short to suggest as a bet, even for me!

Before then though, I am taking it easy on the horses over the weekend to keep my powder dry for the big meeting but cannot resist a little on Maureen at Ascot on Saturday afternoon. She was so unlucky in running last time out at Newmarket in the Cherry Hinton when stuck out the back and then failing to get a run when needed, but she absolutely flew at the death, and granted a clear run she should take all the beating in the Group Three Princess Margaret Stakes on Saturday, due off at 3.25pm.

This week’s suggested bets (odds correct at the time of writing):

Olympics
2pts LAY USAIN BOLT 100 metres at BETDAQ odds of 1.87
2pts Win BRAZIL to win the Mens Football Gold at BETDAQ odds of 2.3)

Golf – Canadian Open
1pt Win DAVID HEARN at BETDAQ odds of 72.0 (look at possibly laying for a locked in profit after the second round).

Horse Racing
2pts Win MAUREEN 3.25pm Ascot
2pts Win MICHELANGELO Gordon Stakes, Glorious Goodwood Tuesday


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