Archive for December, 2009

Just sat here this evening watching “Tsunami : Caught on camera” on Channel 4. I remember very well the shock of the pictures I saw when the boxing day Tsnnami hit but it’s nothing compared to the footage and commentary from the documentary this evening.

A timely reminder as I look toward next year, that pursuit of happiness and self fulfillment is a key value that you shouldn’t forget. Wealth is not measured by monetary values alone and doing things because you enjoy them is just as important as anything else.

I think there have been a couple of really key moments in my life that have shaped the way I think and my outlook. Having to cope with losing my mother at a very young age was key. That gave me the motivation to make the most of everyday. I owe it to my Mum who I outlived. The lesson, life is short, it’s natures way of encouraging a bit of focus. It also taught me to be kind to others, there really is no point in making others lives a misery. It’s not very fulfilling for the soul either!

The other moment was when I left my ‘normal’ career. Having suffered at the hands of the corporate world I knew that it was inevitable that I would leave, but I didn’t know how or when. I’d warned my wife it would come, but it was still a surprise when I did it. It turned out to be one of the biggest moments in my life. Going out and doing things because I thought they were right and I wanted to do them was such an enlightening experience. You often get these great big “I was right!” moments. The big lesson I learnt here was not to do things because you were concerned about what could go wrong. In reality things go unexpectedly right as well. No point in focusing on the negatives, it’s a waste of time.

So I am now casting my eye over 2010 and pondering what I want to achieve next year. Tonight’s documentary threw some reminders into the mix and it put day to day issues into sharp relief!

Carpe diem!

No action this evening for me. With the Wolverhampton twilight card proving a bit of a mare and a lot of big volume Europe league matches having bearing on the outcome of the groups, it’s a really dull evening in prospect. A good excuse to get down the pub for the last quiz of the year. I can watch some of the ‘action’ on the TV there instead.

It’s been a generally positive December so far and tomorrow, snow pending, I should reach last years levels a day early. Would be nice to finishing on a flourish, but we are forecast a lot of snow so I suspect the Ascot meeting, just up the road, could be in trouble.

Don’t stress too much at this time of year, abandoned meetings come in batches and it’s difficult to compare records YOY. I had a good Saturday last weekend but last year there was very little racing that survived the weather. This year the two weekends could swap places.

Enjoy the snow if you get some.

As December and winter in general are quieter months I’ve been looking to get my life back a bit and take some time out to re-charge my batteries for next year. I have a hospital appointment coming up and the results of that will determine what I do in the next couple of months, so a break now seemed a good idea, just in case.

For something completely different this week, my wife and I went on the Orient Express. Scooting around the countryside in luxury was a great way to relax. The service is excellent and the surroundings palatial, it’s worth doing these things now and again. After a long year, it was a nice treat.

During this quieter time of the year, I’ve been really busy building new knowledge. Not only in existing markets but new ones also. I think is what I enjoy the most, discovering and putting into practice new things and ideas. It seems there is never an end to the things you can discover if you are willing to dig deep enough and there is always another goal to reach. As it’s been another good year I am really looking forward to 2010. I have already earmarked new activity and just can’t wait for the calendar to come around to put it to use. Now we are in new offices that will also help the whole thing move forward again next year. I can’t wait!

CHANNEL 4 has revealed it is slashing at least £800,000 a year from its racing budget and using the cuts to carry out “a vigorous makeover” of its coverage.

Full story here: -

http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/budget-cuts-force-channel-4-team-makeover/659907/standard/

The recent Man City vs Arsenal match was a good match to appraise theory with reality. It’s always worth having and using stats to see what is likely to happen on average. But if you are in-play there is not point in thinking the odds will fit a perfect curve if the TV is telling you something else. A weakened Arsenal side really didn’t bring the game to City right from the off and this was reflected in the odds quite quickly. You would expect the odds on Man City to start drifting almost from the the off but in fact you can see that didn’t happen. It threw up quite a few opportunities but its also a great illustration of why reading a sport inplay is a useful skill.

Despite my pessimism in October, November went a lot better than expected and I ended up a whopping 44% year on year. Not all roses though. As we slip into the harder period of the year I did suffer on individual days and my strike rate fell away. I made too many mistakes by being over aggressive at times when it just didn’t make sense. Hopefully I’ve learnt my lesson on this.

I owe most of my success last month to work I did much earlier in the year. While it can be difficult to take time out from your day to day activities, it’s often very worthwhile doing so as it can lead you in new directions or allow you to see how things have changed. You can also try some new ideas and that’s what led me to a good result, new ideas.

Messing around and experimenting is easier if you are not worried about losing money. Therefore, I have a spare account that I use to trade now and again and I work up a slush fund in this account. This slush fund is money that I can afford to lose without feeling any emotion. I just pretend the money never existed in the first place! Then, when I have a bright idea, or a not so bright idea, I just give it a hack and see what happens. Nine times out of ten it’s a blind alley but often you will come across something that changes the way you think, or allows you to put something new into use.

The markets are always subtly shifting and for every move you make it’s likely somebody will make a counter move. So it’s always worth investing some time into either improving your existing activity or trying out new areas.

Wow, not the biggest of the year but a huge steamer in the grade 7 opener at Kempton this evening. Opening in the 20′s the price completely plunged in all the way to 3.35 before bouncing out again to go off at 4.20. I was watching TV with the kids so I missed most of this, but still managed to get a decent profit out of it. There was lots of money matched at big prices some a fair few people would have had some big greens on this race I suspect. Hope you managed to catch some of this massive move. By the way, the horse won easily!!!!