Why do I lower my stakes when my confidence has gone? I made £130 selling goals in last night's Chelsea game, but it should have been more. I was going to sell £150 or £200 but bottled it late on… annoying Nothing much else to report to you on the punting front. I normally like to get stuck into some of the NFL action but I missed the start |
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of the Green Bay v Detroit game as I had to go and pick up one of the dogs from the vet. Daisy, our seven-year-old pug (like the dog from Men in Black) had some teeth removed. Well, if the tooth be told (see what I've done there) she had the whole lot (bar three) removed. Her breath has got gradually worse over the last few years, but we didn't realise that was because her teeth were rotting. I had presumed it was because she literally eats sh*t! I picked her up just after 6pm and she was feeling very sorry for herself. However, not as sorry as I was when I got the bill… £287.50! I wanted the vet to put them all back in! She got given some special soft food to eat (stuff you can eat without chewing) that would last until the weekend… which took the bill over the £300 mark. |
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I made a handful of schoolboy errors today. The first was not putting Daisy's 'soft food' out of our Labrador Stanley's reach overnight. I can report that his teeth are in cracking working order as he managed to open and munch his way through all four cans.
The second error came in Newbury's 2.40pm contest. I thought that Nicky Henderson's Punchestowns was a terrific sell on the index at around 38 on his chasing debut. My £15 sell looked doomed almost from the very first fence and he virtually didn't touch a twig throughout. He cost me £180 and looks set for big things.
On the subject of big things, my third error was not to think of the consequences that four tins of sensitive 'soft' dog food can have on a Labrador's digestive system. I had to clear up the said consequence just before buying £10 of Henry King at 20 on the index in Newbury's last. He was travelling really strongly when he crashed out at the second last. A very expensive 24 hours and I blame Daisy!
All eyes were on Denman. Could he cement his place amongst racing all-time greats by landing the Hennessy Gold Cup off top weight? I just couldn't see it and thought that the horse was a terrific sell at 22 on the index. He had looked a shadow of his former self last season and I thought he was highly unlikely to complete. I fancied Irish raider Chelsea Harbour to outrun his almost insulting odds of 100/1 and bought £10 of him at 3.
Well, after two fences I knew I'd lost £30 on Chelsea Harbour as he was out the back sulking in his first time blinkers. However, I was confident that £220 was on its way to me as Denman was struggling to get to the front. Yet, as soon as I started to count those chickens, he got into his stride and repeated his stunning 2007 performance. He was simply breathtaking and reduced his trainer Paul Nicholls to tears. In fact, he nearly reduced me to tears, but for hugely contrasting reasons.
Thank God for Australia! I bought £20 of Australian supremacy at 8 at half-time in their game against Wales in the rugby and won £260 back when they ran out 33-12 winners. I was still a loser on the day, but I'd got back a little of what I'd lost earlier.
We went to a terrible local Christmas Fair in the morning and got back in time to see England tear through the South African batting line-up. I bought £5 of supremacy at 35 when the damage had already been done, but still made a tidy 35 point profit when they sealed an emphatic seven wicket victory.
I left the Everton v Liverpool game alone and instead opted to sell goals in the Arsenal game. I half looked at buying Drogba goal minutes at 20, but opted to leave it. It was one of the most infuriating decisions I have ever made in my life as I let a 100+ point profit slip though the net. Instead, I lost £80 on a poor sell of goals.
A very busy day on the work front and I ended up driving to London – it took forever. The evening was spent at the Centaur Academy launch party and then the EGaming Review Awards Dinner. Former 1991 Wimbledon Champion Michael Stich was at the former and was a lot taller than I expected – he would have been a hard man to lob (although he also looked like he may have been blown away in a strong wind!).
I fancied the Blackpool Preston game to be low scoring and was about to sell when Clarke scored a 1st minute goal. I should have then sold at 3.2, but I lost my bottle. The game eventually finished 1-1, so I should have stuck to my instincts.
I was informed by my six-year-old that there are twenty-four more sleeps until Christmas before the alarm clock had even gone off. The first doors of the advent calendars were all open before 6.30am and the day began early (which wasn't great as the previous one had ended only a few hours before).
The pick of the action was Man Utd's Carling Cup tie with Spurs and when Gibson gave them a 16th minute lead, I opted to sell shirt supremacy for £5 at 32. The youngster had 28 on his back and I fancied Spurs to strike back straight away. Sadly they didn't and Gibson scored again meaning United suddenly led the shirt market by 56. The game finished 2-0 and I lost 24 times my stake… who is Gibson anyway? I presume it's not the same bloke that used to bowl very fast for the West Indies!
"Dad, guess how many sleeps there are left until Christmas"… were the first words I heard again this morning. It's going to be a long December!
More Carling Cup action and I've decided to sell £150 of Man City/Arsenal at 0.6. I fancy the Gunners' youth team to teach the senior side a lesson! Also stepped in and backed Twist Magic at 7/2 to land the Tingle Creek this weekend.
By the way, there are only 23 more sleeps 'til Christmas!