Archive for category Horse Racing
Black Caviar makes it 19/19
Posted by Peter Webb in Australian, Horse Racing on February 18th, 2012
Black Caviar the wonder from down under, put in another good performance early this morning 05:10 UK time, to get win number 19 out of 19 and move within a whisker of an all time record.
She went off at 1.15 but traded as low as 1.12 pre-off. The race was a bit closer than other recent efforts and she traded out to 1.49 in play. 99.2% of all money wagered was on this horse, amazing!
Bet Angel sponsorship – Win a copy
Posted by Peter Webb in Horse Racing on February 15th, 2012
We are pleased to announce we are sponsoring the entire days racing at Southwell today. Racing starts at 13:20 and finishes at 16:50 with eight races on the card.
For once there is a full days racing in the UK and Ireland. It seems to have been ages since that was last the case, we hope it is a good day for everybody!
We have set up a competition to win a copy of Bet Angel. Just enter your name and email address and click submit, that’s it!. If you would like to win a copy, enter here: -
We hope you enjoy the days racing.
It’s 4:50am and -10c outside
Posted by Peter Webb in Australian, Horse Racing on February 11th, 2012
But my day has been well and truly warmed up by witnessing Black Caviar complete a bloodless victory in the big race of the day at Caulfield, Melbourne. An effortless victory brought win number 18 out of 18 races. The crowds were packed deep to witness this equine miracle.
In total £2.9m of £2.91m was matched on this remarkable horse and it went off at an SP of just 1.08! I had to transfer funds equivalent to a small house just to participate on this race. Amazing stuff.
Weather there is opportunity
Posted by Peter Webb in Darts, Horse Racing on February 10th, 2012
Despite the poor weather and disruption to the sporting schedule there are still a lot of opportunities around. Yesterday seemed a surprisingly good day on the racing and Meydan helped a lot, no snow in Dubai! This morning there was some Aussie racing on first thing, so that’s set me up nicely for this afternoon.
I live not too far from Newbury and when I rose bright and early this morning I walked out to the nearest field, which was covered in snow, and when my foot couldn’t break the surface and given the forecast, I figured that Newbury would not go ahead. So I’ve made more betting on ‘will racing go ahead’ than I probably could have done at the meeting. Shame to see the meeting abandoned but this sort of bet is a nice hedge at this time of year. Sometimes some of the best opportunities are literally on your doorstep!
Last night was the premier league darts as well and we had some absolutely cracking matches. Some of the best darts I have seen in a while. The last match of session went from 6-0 up to a 7-7 draw, fantastic stuff. It was well worth the effort of tuning in on Thursday evening and I’ll be back again for some more if I have the opportunity.
I tweeted my activity in the darts and also my thoughts on the racing at Newbury, so tune into twitter if you want timely information. That said it’s half term next week so I expect I will probably be a bit quieter while I spend some time with the kids.
Opportunity through adversity
Posted by Peter Webb in General, Greyhound racing, Horse Racing on February 8th, 2012
OK, so it looks like there will be no ‘real’ racing in the UK for a while. But rather than bemoan your fortune use the opportunity to experiment, examine and look for new ideas or opportunities.
Quite a few years ago I got into the mode of taking time off in February. I learnt that it was the lowest yielding month of the year and part or all of it could easily be skipped without too much impact. So I repeat that each year. It’s half term next week, so I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with the kids.
If you have no plans to take a break use your time effectively anyway. Download some spreadsheets, fiddle with data, create and link some spreadsheets to Bet Angel, play around with the Automation tool. Try out greyhounds, experiment in different sports.
Sometimes a break is a great way to refresh your mind and get some new ideas and inspiration. From the depths of winter in February things start to perk up and then it justs get better and better, especially in 2012. So take the opportunity to do something different even it that is taking a break. Plenty to be getting on with this year.
Alternative racing today
Posted by Peter Webb in Australian, Greyhound racing, Horse Racing on February 3rd, 2012
With the UK racing looking like it is heading for a weekend white out, it’s worth looking at other alternatives at this time.
This morning in Australia we have a meeting at Moonee Valley that usually brings half decent liquidity. Over £200k was traded on the 10:15 which, while below normal UK volumes, isn’t half bad. You also have Meydan racing on today where volumes have been picking up nicely. That comes on line a little later in the morning.
If you are looking for a complete difference but something similar to racing you also have the Greyhound racing to supplement your activity. Anyhow, lots of things to get stuck into.
Two card Mondays
Posted by Peter Webb in Horse Racing on January 24th, 2012
Not a new card game, but a statement on the Racing so far this year.
By and large the racing is at levels that are normal at this time of year. A bit erratic, low quality, poor betting markets. But the transition from predominantly three cards on a Monday last year to just two this year is making things just that little more difficult this year around. In the Summer I will often take the Monday afternoons off, or do something else. It looks like that period will extend out a bit further now. Some of this is down to the way I participate on the markets, I guess it may be more suitable for others.
Things are looking up this weekend though when we head into the Cheltenham trials, that should liven things up a bit.
I tend to use my time wisely at this time of year, to experiment and to test out new ideas and strategies. It’s lower risk at this time of year and a mistake now doens’t cost you as much, in a comparative sense, to what it would at a busier time of year. Use the extra time you have now to plan ahead and think afresh.
Sometimes, two cards are not as good as three!
Betfair market anomalies
Posted by Peter Webb in Betfair, Horse Racing on January 12th, 2012
An interesting couple of days so far this week in the markets. Interesting for an anomaly that we have seen. It’s only a couple of days old, so I can’t draw any conclusions just yet, but it is unusual so I thought I’d post about it.
We monitor the markets cloesly and ‘felt’ that matched bet volume on occasion was much higher than we would expect. We noticed this because, in the latter stages of a racing market just before the off, we were suddendly seeing very high per second volume. So this morning I had a nose at the data from this year so far.
In the last two days there have been three races each where volume was over one million. But since the start of the year, ten days, we have seen 20 in total. So that doesn’t seem stand out on it’s own, 20 vs. perhaps an expectation of 30.
But the the overall average volume has been much higher than normal, 123% of average on the 9th and 143% yesterday. I have deliberately rebased the volume to take account of different pricing that may distort the overall volume.
It’s difficult to know if this is a trend or some else is happening, but something changed over these two days. It could be temporary of there could be some other explanation, but we will be keeping an eye on it.
Betfair to compensate Leopardstown losers
Posted by Peter Webb in Betfair, Horse Racing on January 11th, 2012
Hot off the press, just received this email from Betfair: -
“Dear Peter,
Since the 2.00pm race at Leopardstown on 28 December 2011, we’ve looked in detail at all the circumstances surrounding the technology failure and the anomaly it created. In addition, we provided our Gibraltar regulator, the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner (GGC), with a detailed technical and operational report on the incident and the GGC made a number of recommendations. We have also consulted with customers and taken their feedback on board.
Accordingly, we have reviewed our decision to void all in-running bets matched on the race and, in the interests of fairness, certain categories of voided bets will be compensated by way of ex gratia payments from Betfair. This compensation complies with, and goes beyond, the GGC’s recommendations.
The categories of bets that will be compensated are:
- In-play winning positions in both the ‘win’ and the ‘to be placed’ markets which were achieved before the technology failure; and
- In-play winning positions in the ‘to be placed’ market achieved at any time through to the completion of the race.
Bets matched in the ‘win’ market after the technology failure will remain void.
As your bets were placed in one of the two categories described above, a payment reflecting your winnings had the relevant bets not been voided, will be made to your Betfair account today.
Once again we would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused, and the time taken to reach this outcome. We do thank you for your continued support and remain committed to providing you with the best betting proposition possible.
Regards,
The Betfair Racing team”
Massive winner at Taunton
Posted by Peter Webb in Horse Racing on January 9th, 2012
One of those great racing moments today when ‘Lights of Broadway’ romped home at Taunton at odds of 810-1000 depending on when you backed it. It SP’d at 810!! Second and third placed horses came in at big odds too meaning it was a monster forecast, but I can’t imagine anybody got it?
Satisfying chaos
Posted by Peter Webb in Betdaq, Betfair, Horse Racing on December 27th, 2011
OK, yesterday didn’t seem that chaotic in the end, just a bit frustrating. I had to wait ages to find races that really set themselves up nicely, but eventually I did and they were OK. But it was a little dull overall.
Kauto Star lit up the day when I took a few races off to watch the King George VI produce a bit of history. What a great horse we have been treated to and it looks like we could be seeing an interesting Cheltenham gold cup now as well. Lets hope we get a big field and a competitive race.
Not my best result of the day, but a decent result came out of this market on Betdaq. I’ve been doing more work on Betdaq recently and will publish more information on the blog. Market conditions are improving all the time and I recommend using both exchanges where possible and for your own benefit and needs but also to increase competitiveness in the exchange market. If we have people fighting over our business maybe we can get a fairer deal. But obviously for me every £100 on Betdaq is worth the equivalent of £250 on Betfair, so it’s really worth me pushing hard for a result and sacrificing time on Betfair. As my activity is net accretive to the exchange I am also creating opportunities for others. As I get better at managing my risk I am probably creating some value for others. Today I had to exit a position that I made a mess off, I was still in profit but wanted to dump it and start again. I offered it many ticks higher on Betdaq than the best available price on Betfair. Any body active on both would have seen this and could get value from it or arbed it. The opportunity is there if you look, quite a few hundred quid as well!
This week looks pretty reasonble with the holiday cards increasing the scope and capacity of the racing. I reckon it should be a good week.
Full blown all out chaos
Posted by Peter Webb in Horse Racing on December 26th, 2011
There you go, that’s my prediction for today’s racing markets.
A total of twelve racing cards are unleashed on the markets today and that means that it will be clash city. No sooner has one race started than another starts, while another one will complete. It’s going to be chaotic. There are a total of 78 races on the card, but 34 have scheduled off times the same as another race. As if that’s not enough you can throw in a bundle of decent soccer fixtures as well.
It’s a stark contrast to last year when there was no racing on at all and hardly any sport. But look at the upside, I finally managed to get a boxing day to enjoy for once! Sometimes though, the best opportunity occur at the most in-opportune moments.
I’ll be here today giving the markets a good bash and hopefully amid the choas I can pick out some quality opportunities. Good luck if you are giving it a go!
- With none of the white stuff due this year. It’s going to be busy!
Back to open
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel, Betfair, Horse Racing on December 20th, 2011
It looks like we are going to have some fun and games in the market today. I’d recommend adopting a ‘back to open’ trading policy!
For more information read up on this thread: -
http://www.betangel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4934&start=240
Four jockeys found guilty of corruption by BHA
Posted by Peter Webb in Horse Racing on December 14th, 2011
Four jockeys are among 11 people to have been found guilty of corruption by the British Horseracing Authority.
Paul Doe and Greg Fairley face bans of up to 25 years after being found guilty of deliberately ‘stopping’ horses.
Kirsty Milczarek and Jimmy Quinn were found guilty of committing “corrupt or fraudulent” practices, while Milczarek was also found to have passed on information for reward.
Cross country mayhem
Posted by Peter Webb in Horse Racing on December 9th, 2011
I don’t do much big in-running trading but whenever there is a XC race on I’ll pay extra attention.
Today at Cheltenham 7 of 10 runners took the wrong course (again) and radically changed the profile of the race in the dying moments. Whenever you see a cross country race on the card, always take an interest.
The winner came in at 150 after not looking in contention for most of the race. The key tactic, take the right course. Always have a preference for experienced jockeys in these races!
Big week ahead
Posted by Peter Webb in Horse Racing, News on December 5th, 2011
You may read this headline and wonder what on earth I am on about as there isn’t anything amazing happening this week. OK a few high profile things like the Champions League football, but generally just bits and bobs as we descend headlong into the winter.
This time last year however, we were well in the grip of an incredibly cold spell and it pretty much wiped out all the sports action. So this year we are assured of a really good week. Well, at least in comparison to last year anyhow! That’s why I have a big week ahead.
Even this obscure reference to the weather reveals something about the way markets work. When we have a cold winter people anticipate another cold winter the following year. Judging by the number of snow shovels being sold at my local Tesco’s people are making the same mistake this year. Last year was a 30 year odd exception and just because it was bad last year doesn’t mean it will happen this year. Yes there is a demonstrable chance it will, but it is most likely that it wont.
In all markets I watch, there is a common propensity for people to look at the most recent history and start projecting that forward. This often results in demand overshooting in either direction. Identify this overshoot, have the mindset to swim against the crowd and its possible to profit from this behaviour. It’s work wonderfully well for me over the years.
Go short snow shovels!
The fifth, five years on
Posted by Peter Webb in Betfair, Horse Racing on November 26th, 2011
It’s the fighting fifth at Newcastle today. It’s often a small field and can be a bit tricky, but it usually contains some opportunities. Only five runners and Binocular is almost evens, that’s a tricky set up.
It’s also the Hennessy Gold Cup. I have fond memories of this race as five years ago today I traded it live at the IX Investor show for Betfair. Seeing a betting company at an investor show was a shock for many people and we had trouble getting people to come near the stand; so I just rolled up my sleeves and traded live for everybody. A slightly unorthodox set up, but it worked. As the profits flowed in it inevitably brought people to the stand to try and understand what market I could possibly be trading on Saturday and making money. If I remember correctly I bagged £250 on the Gold Cup in about ten minutes.
Last year I did even better, which was miraculous if you remember the difficulties we had with the weather. Last year the weather had just started to really go downhill and on the Saturday and we had a very limited card on display. Newcastle wasn’t on at all and the fighting fifth ended up at Newbury. From that point onwards the weather got colder, and colder, and colder and colder. The coldest winter for 30 years! This year is balmy by comparison, lets hope the opportunities are too!
Trying to explain that this isn't a stock chart
Poor show
Posted by Peter Webb in Horse Racing on November 21st, 2011
Fired up the racing cards this morning and watched the tumbleweed drift across the screen. Small fields, uncompetitive racing, not a lot to hang your hat on! There are some trading styles will suit the markets today, but I know it won’t really work that well for me. Especially as it’s a Monday. I had a good weekend, so I’m looking to inject some quality, not quantity, into my life today.
I’ll run some automated stuff and perhaps dip in and out of the markets but generally “it’s a no from me” for today.
I’m doing some work on the footy at the moment in a completely new area, so I could do with some quality time on that. Plenty of other things to sort out ahead of the end of the year also! Good luck if you are active today.
Too early!!!
Posted by Peter Webb in Football / Soccer, Horse Racing on November 19th, 2011
I was out last night at a charity auction event, doing my own personal bit at this time of year.
The recession must be in full effect as I haven’t seen such low bids at such an charity auction event for some time. In an effort to get things going I was bidding on most items. I got a bit lucky at one point as I nearly ended up with a wedding dress, having started off the bidding, only to see no-one else bid on the item. But some lucky lady outbid me, phew!
I tried to get use of a Aston Martin DB9 for the weekend, but was outbid. I did get eight corporate hospitality tickets for a football match however, so the evening ended on the right note. Lots of money raised and a good night was had by all.
So this morning I woke up with a bit of a sore head but a warm feeling inside. Then I realised the first race of the day was at 11:40!
Having come to terms with that, I remembered that this throws up an opportunity as when the race starts early it, obviously, finishes early. Therefore, as the racing draws to a close, I can move straight onto the football at half time. This is perfect for looking at the first half stats and making some judgements on the second half.
So that’s my action plan for today! Not forgetting to get an early night as well!
'Hangover' is recommended film
Bombs away
Posted by Peter Webb in Horse Racing on November 14th, 2011
Every now and again in the racing market an individual arrives that doesn’t make much sense. From a trading perspective at least!
The come into the market and back a selection for a large amount of money, then back again and again and again! I’m not sure the oft quoted description of ‘mad bomber’ is accurate, maybe there is a better description. But what is certain is the impact they have on the market. You could view this as a negative, but if you know the way they work then it’s a big positive.
If somebody is backing in large amounts repeatedly then you should seek a speculative open order on the back side first. If you are on another selection then you need to lay first. It could also be possible to catch a bounce when the price gets backed in heavily, but you never know how aggressive this individual is going to be, so I prefer catching the top.
Why they are doing it is another discussion altogether!
R&R
Posted by Peter Webb in Australian, Football / Soccer, Horse Racing on November 2nd, 2011
The Melbourne cup went pretty well and I’m looking forward to finishing off the whole carnival in style if I can. I’ve put a few other things on the back burner this week to focus on the meeting. I’m feeling too old to burn the candle at both ends and get away with it! It was interesting to note that matched bet turnover on the Melbourne cup was lower this year than last. It reached about £3.6m vs. £4.4m last year, therefore my turnover was lower as a result. I had expected turnover to be up.
I’m skipping the Champions league tonight so I can get some rest and relaxation, though I am intrigued by the Villareal vs Man City match this evening. I think most of the other matches can be read reasonably well, but in this one I’m looking for clues City can translate their UK success into a credible European campaign. They certainly have the players to do it, but don’t seem to be firing on all cylinders at the moment in europe. This match will be an interesting test.
Later this morning UK time I’ll be returning to Flemington for more Melbourne action. Today isn’t the best day of racing so it’s a bit ‘hardcore’ to suffer the effort required to do today. So if you didn’t get on with the big race, I wouldn’t recommend getting up early to do today. It’s usually been pretty weak in the past. However, I’m pretty confident I can earn more on this than the football, so that’s what I will be focusing on today.
Good start to a good day
Posted by Peter Webb in Australian, Horse Racing on October 15th, 2011
Got up early this morning to give the Caulfield cup a bash and got it just right for a really good result.
We have a ton of really good racing at Ascot today so that should produce some really good potential as well. I am sure everybody will be keen to see Frankel run again and at such short odds you would expect the win to be a formality.
Such short odds in such a big race will mean the market is stuffed full of money on both sides of the book. While this sounds great it can be a bit of a mare as the fill rate will drop and this will increase the risk you are taking in the market. In line with my recent policy I will be using both Betfair and Betdaq today. This is because the fill rate on this race will most likely be higher on Betdaq. I reckon I could get a really good result on this race on Betdaq so I will be putting more funds into my account to give it a really good bash. It’s worth getting Betdaq Angel fired up and ready to go on this race if you find yourself stuck behind £50k on Betfair.
Domestic football is back into the fold today and the Rugby world cup semi finals will also add to the interest today. It’s going to be a busy day!
Final day of a busy week
Posted by Peter Webb in Golf, Horse Racing on June 18th, 2011
Well done to Rory McIlroy who continued to rip through the US Open. Unfortunately this scuppered my trade which needs a competitive field to work. At 1.40ish this leaves only one possible strategy, to back or lay McIlroy. I reckon most people will lay McIlroy given his blow up in the US Masters. It’s a clear fact however, that the error most people make is to take past trends and extrapolate them into the future. Rather than go on gut instinct, I’m going to knock up a spreadsheet this morning and see just what McIlroy has to do to hold onto his six shot lead over 36 holes. I reckon he has learned from his Augusta disaster, he certainly interviewed well last night.
Ascot was tougher yesterday, but I’m well ahead of last year year; I have done well to learn from my experience last year. I don’t think I’ll be able to manage a record but you never know. I’ve aimed for my second best ever and will see where I end up. I managed to pick up some decent results from other races yesterday so that balanced things out. Overall it’s been a good week.
Royal Ascot / Open Golf Thursday
Posted by Peter Webb in Golf, Horse Racing on June 17th, 2011
Another good day in the bag for Royal Ascot, but I left it late today. I didn’t get a real blockbuster race till near the end of the card. I had to work much harder than yesterday and I took my foot of Betdaq, as working harder meant I couldn’t keep focus on two exchanges effectively. I did broaden my activity out on Betdaq though to other races and they worked well. So after Ascot I’m going to continue my work there.
I did have a hiccup mid afternoon when my Internet connection went down. Quick as a flash I went to my back up connection and continued, but I never found out why it was only my main machine that failed. A quick reboot between races brought it back to life.
Overall, The weather made the markets a bit jumpy and there were some real moves around. The biggest was when the trainer of a horse came on and said his horse was unlikely to win because of the ground. See the graph below for what happened next. The weather has been incredibly poor this week and heavy rain has set in again this morning. So I think we could be in for another tricky day today unfortunately.
I got off to a great start on the US open golf, so it looks like it is going to be a very good week indeed. Here is a list of the top ten +ve movers overnight.
Rory McIlroy – 23 to 3.8
Charl Schwartzel – 80 to 14.5
Sergio Garcia – 90 to 25
Y. E. Yang – 170 to 24
Graeme McDowell – 70 to 28
Bubba Watson – 55 to 38
Louis Oosthuizen – 250 to 32
Brandt Snedeker – 70 to 38
Jason Day – 46 to 36
Stewart Cink – 100 to 50
For a full list of movers, visit the forum.
Record day
Posted by Peter Webb in Betfair, Golf, Horse Racing on April 12th, 2011
Phew, what a weekend that was!
We are now entering peak season for all things sports related and this weekend was a good warm up for the months ahead. It also set a new bench mark for me as the Saturday just gone turned out to be my best ever day on Betfair! Whether I can ever beat such a storming weekend is another question. When you have been going for as long as me, you need a little luck now and again to deliver an exceptional result.
Saturday wasn’t without it’s problems though. Betfair gave us a sharp reminder why it pays to be vigilant. I hinted in the recent newsletter, again, that you should have a back up plan ready for Saturday and so it proved. The site was under a lot of pressure on Saturday and it coped pretty well, but eventually an API server went AWOL before being taken off-line 1/2 hour later. In that time prices via the API were all over the place. However, no sooner had we picked up that an API server was throwing out false prices than I switched to a different connection mode and continued. Not the first time this year I have had to do that! At moments like that, the connection modes on Bet Angel are utterly invaluable. Despite this occurring about 45 mins before the Grand National, I was able to continue with confidence and well beat last years total. That was a big step forward on the way to a good day.
The National wasn’t a record day for Betfair however. Matched bet turnover was £7m by post time this year vs. £7m last year and £7.5m in 2009. I doubled my turnover on the race year on year, so if you strip out that activity and that of others it’s quite an interesting story behind the numbers.
Racing went well and would have been great on it’s own, but it was the US Masters that delivered a nice bonus. I managed to get the eventual winner at 120′s and a host of others at good prices. Of course I didn’t hold these positions, I traded them out as they shortened. But when you back at three figures and lay off at short odds, that’s big green up territory. The Masters was exceptional trading fodder this year. In the morning I was on BBC radio Berskhire and tipped a lay on McIlroy. As I stated at the time, I didn’t want to do this as it would have been great to see McIlroy win, but my research had told me it was a good laying opportunity. I didn’t expect him to blow up so badly, so I hope it doesn’t become an issue for him. He is still young and has a big career in front of him, so I am sure it is just a matter of time before he is competing for honours again.
No doubt like Mr McIlroy, I’m taking a rest at the start of the week. I was exhausted after this weekend, so I need some time to recharge my batteries.
Tiring weekend ahead
Posted by Peter Webb in Golf, Horse Racing on April 8th, 2011
First day of Aintree is now behind me and I can take that knowledge forward to today. I had a difficult start yesterday but ended up doing OK on the day overall in the end. I think I could have done better, but lets see what today brings. If you remember Cheltenham, you will be pleased to know that the Betdaq markets are working well at Aintree also, so bear than in mind today if you are finding the going tough on Betfair. The extra money on Betfair can hold things up and slow down your fill rate, that doesn’t happen on Betdaq. It’s a sort of goldilocks effect, not too little not too much.
I got off to a good start on the Masters and despite only correctly tipping Immelman to open well I managed to pick up some meaty prices on others so it all worked out in the end! I know little about Alvaro Quiros but did managed to back him at 190, his odds are now at 15′s. Thank you Alvaro! A few of the favoured players have already blown up so it’s been a pretty favourable start.
Plenty of racing on today, Masters this evening and the National tomorrow; football can take a back seat for the moment. It’s going to be a tiring weekend.
The week that wasn’t
Posted by Peter Webb in Greyhound racing, Horse Racing on December 6th, 2010
I picked a good week to be ill last week. Never will a chest infection and fever be so well timed!
It’s never fun to be ill but with so much racing cancelled last week and some football, there was little going on in the markets. It can be really tough making money sometimes but a complete absense of opportunity obviously isn’t going to help either. But I actually quite enjoy the lack of pressure to perform and the chance to do something else. I’ve been working so hard for so long that I’d sort of forgotten what a normal life is like!
Another problem I also face, is that on the days where there is one meeting on the card, it’s really tough to get enough out of it to make an material difference. I’ll often just pass on those days and focus on investing instead. Sometimes even two low quality meetings can exhibit the same issues. But I can’t really complain, as this is an issue of scale.
I managed to pull in some reasonable results over the weekend, but other than that I didn’t do much. The snow and ice prevented me from getting far in the car either so it’s been a funny sort of week. For those solely into horse racing its been a bit of a disaster but these weeks are very rare. I can’t remember when the week was so bad from a racing perspective.
It would be a disappointing end to the year if the weather continues like this. I had a good December last year so it would be financially costly this time around. You would guess continued bad weather unlikely, but we need that jet stream to move soon to have a hope. If you are suffering on racing, take time to look at others markets such as greyhounds and football. Both present reasonable opportunities and if you are doing nothing else, they are worth a look.
A rare sight last week
Speechless
Posted by Peter Webb in Greyhound racing, Horse Racing on November 29th, 2010
You could claim to be speechless about the prospects of racing this week. It looks like only the ‘all weather’ racing will survive, with all the other courses likely to struggle. But this title refers to my inability to speak well this week thanks to flu. Time for a break!
[Edit : Got a text from my local school saying there were 72 children off with the same thing, I hope you don't get it]
Back to the weather, it’s not uncommon for weeks like this in the winter and they are well factored into my plans. But if you are just starting out it can be depressing. As I stated in a previous post, I worked hard to bank some good times in the summer, so I can comfortably sit this out. But it is unusual this year in that we faced the same issue early in the year. As a result, lost meetings will probably set me back a good five figures in 2010. However, I’m already up on last year so everything is a bonus from here, but the lack of racing is going to deliver much less upside than could have been possible. It would be nice to end the year on a flourish.
With the lack of racing and the flu I will probably spend this week doing other things and a bit more research. It will be a good opportunity to get Christmas shopping out of the way and generally have some R&R. I will probably do some more work on the greyhounds, as this is an area where I am probably not performing at full capacity and they don’t seem to mind the cold, so it will be interesting to have a play. I’ve got an impending office move to plan as well. Bad weather is inevitable now and again, so if you push the boat out in the summer don’t fret in the winter, it’s inevitable. It’s difficult on the tough days to have a result that makes any material differnce to me so I’m not going to worrying about losing the odd day or two.
Use this time to do other things, other sports or to push forward on new projects or research. If you have snow and kids, then go out and enjoy it!
Freezing Folkstone is on, off, on, no its definitely off! Not a surprise.