Daily Blog
It is hard to reconcile that in 4 weeks time we will be immersed in the Cheltenham Festival
with some major races and big field handicaps and many bemoaning the fact that the puzzles
are impossible to solve, we don't think any racing puzzle is impossible to solve, but that's an aside.
How frustrating therefore that we have 2 National Hunt meetings today at Kelso and Leicester;
the Racecourses have provided some decent races and we should have some very competitive
racing, and yet, there is just one race on those 2 Cards with 8 runners, none with more than
8 runners and at Kelso, the three best prize money races each have just 4 declared runners.
When you add to the Menu some dire AW fare at Chelmsford and Lingfield and a below par
Irish Card at Clonmel; it all becomes a deeply frustrating day.
There are many Tipsters who at this point would churn out a ,ist of odds on and short priced
favourites, go "boom" all over Twitter when one wins and eulogise about a "fantastic day";
we are not like that as in our opinion "tipping" is about finding the value and consistent
profit from that value, that the lay man or woman, or the person who does not have the time
to study form, is likely to find, and on days like today, with likely most races turning in to
tactical dawdles, we will not waste your money by tipping the blindingly obvious.
I feel pretty confident that the likes of Edgar; Storming Strumpet; Crosspark; Song Saa;
Reivers Lad; Saphir Du Rheu and Black Thunder will win today, but I doubt any will
be priced at much better than 9/4, and most will be closer to even money or odds on.
The tracks have delivered the races but for some reason the Trainers want to stay away.
It is a great shame, and maybe a reflection that someone in the BHA needs to stand up
to the Bookies who want a diet of race after race that is merely fodder for their gluttony
and we need to look long and hard at quality over quantity and above all BETTER PRIZE
MONEY to encourage more trainers to have more horses in fewer races with a worthwhile
prize. It makes no economic sense to drive a 600 mile round trip with 2 staff for a return
of a few hundred quid for a place that will barely cover the costs of the diesel in the horsebox.
We will all love Cheltenham, the big players will gorge huge prize money yet the 90% of
Trainers who keep racing going will see precious little of it and like Soccer at Premier League
level, whilst the chosen few get infinite riches, the rest are slowly drowning!
I don't think there is much more today, we won't insult you by tipping odds on shots and
when we can't find value, we will say so, we will be back tomorrow when hopefully we
can find some of the ilk of the 16/1; 12/1; 10/1 and 8/1 winners we have
had in the past 10 days or so from a small number of tips.
Regards
Ian