Went to the races today and they were called off (probably a blessing in disguise in hindsight) so it was a phantom meeting and I was a punter on fire - picked the eyes out of what a few good judges tipped and had 7 bets of which the first 6 won and the 7th (Morphettville r6#1 Magnifique Soleil was home for all money and got done on the line) - needless to say some muppet went the early crow and got him beat!!! The muppet was me.....
Anyway, I left the races and went to the local beer factory as didn't trust myself with a fist full of fifties getting bored at the track and that plan worked fine until I started on the North Queensland lager, aka Bundy. I was super keen on one in the first at the Geelong trots called Schnappy driven by master reinsman Patsy Caraffa who duly saluted to put more in the kick so it was time to put the cue well and truly in the rack or so I thought!!
Met up with the boys from the player's trip and they went missing early after the big weekend so I was left to my own devices with plenty of ammunition but being cognisant of that I tried to give the races a wide berth and that was the case - or so I thought!!
Back in my bad boy punting days, I would always wake up with a few tickets like Mandurah r12#5 $120 a win and not have even heard of the dog but thought I was over that but I got home tonight and found myself about $3500 light on what I should have in cash so I empty out all my pockets and find that I have 4 TAB tickets from around the nation including betting on the barkers. MG R8#6 x $240 a win was one of them so I dubiously checked the results and it won paying $2.80 but I seriously had no idea so was pure madness (must have won easily though lol). The cream of the crop though was a ticket for $3000 @ $1.03 Australia to win the medley relay in the swimming - wtf?? I can vaguely remember trying to deposit the money into my phone account and the girl had no idea how to do it so I can barely recollect thinking the next best thing was to put it on a moral and Australia did win all 4 individual races that comprise the medley relay so was akin to bank interest. Fkn 3k on a swimming bet ffs!!
The scary part is that I won about $600 on the bets in my pocket but quite easily could have slaughtered a few thousand.
Thought I was over doing garbage things like that but is a lesson learned with no damage done thankfully.
Bloody 4 in the morning QLD time, Tassie starts in 12 hours and haven't done nearly enough form study. Don't like the meeting much at all to be honest but still should put more time in.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Friday Tips
Pretty quiet night for me with very average fields
Melton
small bet on an old fav who I believe is an underrated little horse and should be around the $16 mark I reckon. If it steps and gets a cosy pegs run will be ultra competitive
R5#2 Villageburner
Harold Park
Following team Douglas here
R1#2 The Blur + quin with #1
R3#1 Heathbern Diamond + quin with #4
R4#5 Our Madagascar (best bet)
Stable should also win with Our Hillview Gold later but will be short
If anybody sees this in time as race starts in 7 mins, at Horsham R6, #7 Never Waver Lombo is very well fancied and I am on as only has to be half fit
Melton
small bet on an old fav who I believe is an underrated little horse and should be around the $16 mark I reckon. If it steps and gets a cosy pegs run will be ultra competitive
R5#2 Villageburner
Harold Park
Following team Douglas here
R1#2 The Blur + quin with #1
R3#1 Heathbern Diamond + quin with #4
R4#5 Our Madagascar (best bet)
Stable should also win with Our Hillview Gold later but will be short
If anybody sees this in time as race starts in 7 mins, at Horsham R6, #7 Never Waver Lombo is very well fancied and I am on as only has to be half fit
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Launceston Sunday 10/10/10 early markets
Bit of a scary date, lets hope it brings better luck this week. These markets are all done prior to looking at form guide so will obviously change but just like to see what my first instincts were on a race as its amazing how many times its right when a race confuses you and I can sometimes tend to over analyse those races
Race 1
1 SHEZALITTLERUSTLER 34
2 NOELSGIRL 3.5
3 SMOKIN MUSTARD 6
4 PACKEDTOTHERAFTERS 8
5 BENJI VEE 13
6 MIGHTY MYF 34
7 RUBYS LIFE 8
8 TIME TO PRAY 34
---------- Second Row ----------
9 APACHE ALBA 26
10 SMILEUPONUS 13
11 JUST DANCE BABY 5
12 HESADIEBERKNIGHT 34
Race 2
1 JAGER BOMB NZ 4
2 EL JAYS MODEENA 11
3 SCARLETT BLAZE 7
4 SHEZA WESTERN ROSE 13
5 TOP PREMIER 11
6 AAPENNON 7
7 THE DETONATOR (Em 1) A
8 LOOK LOOK 21
---------- Second Row ----------
9 MELMAN 7
10 LINE THE POCKET NZ 13
11 INTHENICKOFTIME 34
12 ANOPTOMIST 7
13 WATTLE CREEK 34
Race 3
1 ROYAL ALCHEMIST 1.4
2 SAAB QUALITY 8
3 BARKERS RUN 101
4 THE JOUSTER 17
5 CRASH CART 17
6 AS YOU WISH 51
7 MATAI NIGEL NZ 26
8 LITTLE ELF 26
---------- Second Row ----------
9 CHANCEABET 21
10 STEELINGTON NZ 26
11 EARL HICKEY 101
12 OUR KAIZAN NZ 51
Race 4
1 BORNFIRST 26
2 SPECIAL GALLENTI 4.5
3 SANREOS 7
4 HELVIK 11
5 PRETTYBOYTOBY 15
6 DENVERS BOY 4.5
7 KEPT CALM 21
8 PRINCE PLANET NZ (Em 1)
---------- Second Row ----------
9 THABELA BRIOSO 9
10 COMMANDER DATA 67
11 BALENCIA 8
12 GLORY IS ILLUSIVE 21
13 MY CENTURION NZ 17
Race 5
1 REMEMBERPREECE 5
2 MI MADEMOISELLE 17
3 KING ALBERT 17
4 BONNY LENA 13
5 MIAMI ROCKET NZ 3.5
6 FORTY TWO GRAND 26
7 KING OF BLING 6
8 RESURGENCE 4
---------- Second Row ----------
9 WINGSOFANEAGLE 26
Race 6
1 KOIZORA 21
2 ROCK THE POCKET NZ 3.5
3 ALMA GRANT 6
4 BAJARDO RIVER 17
5 CYCLONE DYNASTY 21
6 NIGHT IN VEGAS 4
7 LOLA BROMAC NZ 7
8 MONICAS NOTCH 13
---------- Second Row ----------
9 SOPHIES PLEASURE 17
10 BREATHING FIRE 15
Race 7
1 TOPUP 21
2 ALLA BREVE 8
3 CASTASPELL 11
4 JUMPIN JACK JASPER 13
5 DANCE OF THE DEITY 7
6 ULOS 11
7 MAJESTIC EMPEROR 15
8 THE MUSICS OVER NZ 6
9 ANGUS MCGREGOR 34
10 COSMIC UNDER FIRE NZ 2.8
Race 8
1 COSTA SMERALDA ($5,000) 15
2 WATERLOO BAY ($5,000) 4
3 WAYNE ROONEY NZ ($5,000) 21
4 THE CHEROKEE CHIEF NZ ($5,000) 7
5 THE APPRENTICE ($5,000) 21
6 BONNY WEE LADDIE ($6,000) 4
7 JEFFERSON NZ ($7,000) 8
8 ALBERT JONES ($7,000) 4
Race 1
1 SHEZALITTLERUSTLER 34
2 NOELSGIRL 3.5
3 SMOKIN MUSTARD 6
4 PACKEDTOTHERAFTERS 8
5 BENJI VEE 13
6 MIGHTY MYF 34
7 RUBYS LIFE 8
8 TIME TO PRAY 34
---------- Second Row ----------
9 APACHE ALBA 26
10 SMILEUPONUS 13
11 JUST DANCE BABY 5
12 HESADIEBERKNIGHT 34
Race 2
1 JAGER BOMB NZ 4
2 EL JAYS MODEENA 11
3 SCARLETT BLAZE 7
4 SHEZA WESTERN ROSE 13
5 TOP PREMIER 11
6 AAPENNON 7
7 THE DETONATOR (Em 1) A
8 LOOK LOOK 21
---------- Second Row ----------
9 MELMAN 7
10 LINE THE POCKET NZ 13
11 INTHENICKOFTIME 34
12 ANOPTOMIST 7
13 WATTLE CREEK 34
Race 3
1 ROYAL ALCHEMIST 1.4
2 SAAB QUALITY 8
3 BARKERS RUN 101
4 THE JOUSTER 17
5 CRASH CART 17
6 AS YOU WISH 51
7 MATAI NIGEL NZ 26
8 LITTLE ELF 26
---------- Second Row ----------
9 CHANCEABET 21
10 STEELINGTON NZ 26
11 EARL HICKEY 101
12 OUR KAIZAN NZ 51
Race 4
1 BORNFIRST 26
2 SPECIAL GALLENTI 4.5
3 SANREOS 7
4 HELVIK 11
5 PRETTYBOYTOBY 15
6 DENVERS BOY 4.5
7 KEPT CALM 21
8 PRINCE PLANET NZ (Em 1)
---------- Second Row ----------
9 THABELA BRIOSO 9
10 COMMANDER DATA 67
11 BALENCIA 8
12 GLORY IS ILLUSIVE 21
13 MY CENTURION NZ 17
Race 5
1 REMEMBERPREECE 5
2 MI MADEMOISELLE 17
3 KING ALBERT 17
4 BONNY LENA 13
5 MIAMI ROCKET NZ 3.5
6 FORTY TWO GRAND 26
7 KING OF BLING 6
8 RESURGENCE 4
---------- Second Row ----------
9 WINGSOFANEAGLE 26
Race 6
1 KOIZORA 21
2 ROCK THE POCKET NZ 3.5
3 ALMA GRANT 6
4 BAJARDO RIVER 17
5 CYCLONE DYNASTY 21
6 NIGHT IN VEGAS 4
7 LOLA BROMAC NZ 7
8 MONICAS NOTCH 13
---------- Second Row ----------
9 SOPHIES PLEASURE 17
10 BREATHING FIRE 15
Race 7
1 TOPUP 21
2 ALLA BREVE 8
3 CASTASPELL 11
4 JUMPIN JACK JASPER 13
5 DANCE OF THE DEITY 7
6 ULOS 11
7 MAJESTIC EMPEROR 15
8 THE MUSICS OVER NZ 6
9 ANGUS MCGREGOR 34
10 COSMIC UNDER FIRE NZ 2.8
Race 8
1 COSTA SMERALDA ($5,000) 15
2 WATERLOO BAY ($5,000) 4
3 WAYNE ROONEY NZ ($5,000) 21
4 THE CHEROKEE CHIEF NZ ($5,000) 7
5 THE APPRENTICE ($5,000) 21
6 BONNY WEE LADDIE ($6,000) 4
7 JEFFERSON NZ ($7,000) 8
8 ALBERT JONES ($7,000) 4
Its time to give UNiTAB a pat on the back
What's this I hear you say? A punter giving a compliment to a TAB, cannot be correct surely!!
I am referring to their Fixed Odds service and more to the point, the amount of meetings they actually cover and the percentage they bet at. The service is excellent, they have fixed markets in place for a lot of obscure meetings and also incorporate a number of Harness and Greyhound meetings over the course of a week.
Sure there are a few drawbacks that the naysayers will point to such as cutting back bet sizes, etc but lets look at the big picture. Most bookmakers at country meetings bet at around 125-130% nowadays yet UNiTAB are generally around the 115% mark come the jump (can get to under 110% for metro meetings) so have a higher risk element and it is common sense that they won't hold enough on an average country gallops race to even out their book so I completely understand them limiting punters wanting to back a single horse to win a stack. I am quite sure if that same punter went to the same country track and bet with an on course bookie that there wouldn't be much hope of him being set for a great deal more despite betting at a far higher percentage and thus being able to offload the majority of the bet on Betfair or surprise, surprise UNiTAB.
As a trots punter, I am happy for any sort of fixed odds service and glad they are at least providing a service of sorts, sure they could put markets up earlier or hold larger amounts but I am not naive enough to believe that this will actually happen with what they currently hold on those races.
We need to compare apples with apples. They are first and foremost a TAB and therefore should be measured against the same ilk and compared to the service offered by TabCorp and The TOTE, they are the length of the Flemington straight ahead. A few even use the argument that TAB Sportsbet never cut back their bet size yet UNiTAB do but do the TAB cover the same range of meetings or bet outside their own state apart from metropolitan meetings where the turnover is huge. Plus their account base is infinitely higher which obviously allows them to square up their books. I still don't know of anybody who gets their bet size reduced at a metropolitan meeting either with UNiTAB.
Instead of concentrating on the couple of negatives, lets look at the numerous positives from this initiative and I am sure that their client base will grow as word of mouth spreads and thus create stronger betting markets which also by extension will lead to them being able to accept larger wagers on the smaller races.
It won't happen often from me but they do deserve a pat on the back in this instance.
I am referring to their Fixed Odds service and more to the point, the amount of meetings they actually cover and the percentage they bet at. The service is excellent, they have fixed markets in place for a lot of obscure meetings and also incorporate a number of Harness and Greyhound meetings over the course of a week.
Sure there are a few drawbacks that the naysayers will point to such as cutting back bet sizes, etc but lets look at the big picture. Most bookmakers at country meetings bet at around 125-130% nowadays yet UNiTAB are generally around the 115% mark come the jump (can get to under 110% for metro meetings) so have a higher risk element and it is common sense that they won't hold enough on an average country gallops race to even out their book so I completely understand them limiting punters wanting to back a single horse to win a stack. I am quite sure if that same punter went to the same country track and bet with an on course bookie that there wouldn't be much hope of him being set for a great deal more despite betting at a far higher percentage and thus being able to offload the majority of the bet on Betfair or surprise, surprise UNiTAB.
As a trots punter, I am happy for any sort of fixed odds service and glad they are at least providing a service of sorts, sure they could put markets up earlier or hold larger amounts but I am not naive enough to believe that this will actually happen with what they currently hold on those races.
We need to compare apples with apples. They are first and foremost a TAB and therefore should be measured against the same ilk and compared to the service offered by TabCorp and The TOTE, they are the length of the Flemington straight ahead. A few even use the argument that TAB Sportsbet never cut back their bet size yet UNiTAB do but do the TAB cover the same range of meetings or bet outside their own state apart from metropolitan meetings where the turnover is huge. Plus their account base is infinitely higher which obviously allows them to square up their books. I still don't know of anybody who gets their bet size reduced at a metropolitan meeting either with UNiTAB.
Instead of concentrating on the couple of negatives, lets look at the numerous positives from this initiative and I am sure that their client base will grow as word of mouth spreads and thus create stronger betting markets which also by extension will lead to them being able to accept larger wagers on the smaller races.
It won't happen often from me but they do deserve a pat on the back in this instance.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Meeting Summary, Hobart October 3
Blackbookers
Cullens Count
Harbhajan
Rock The Pocket
Its A Hoot
Magnificantcamelot
Teejay Fella
Cosmic Under Fire
Run of the Night
Teejay Fella, did it at both ends and apart from the horse who had the cold sit on him all the way nothing else could go with him late. Will definitely win better races this time in
Drive of the Night
Nathan Ford (Brian Buster Brown), there weren't too many contenders this week and Nathan came awfully close to winning last week and his drive in the first just showed how much he has matured. When all others kept taking off before acceptances, he kept his head and not surprisingly won easily.
Driver Votes
N Ford 3
G Rattray 2
Scott Ford 1
Slaughter of the Night
Danny Malone (Ultimate Heir), its hard to believe he drove it worse this week than last week when a nominee for this award. At least the stewards agreed with me this week and gave him time. Driving a $101 pop forward from barrier 7 in a 34.7 lead time is bad enough but to then persist to try and get the death for a further 400 metres is just plain unacceptable. I also struggle to comprehend why he keeps driving the horse forward from bad gates - sure it led once when in against a very slow front line but handed up anyway so why use the horse up.
Plenty of other nominations here:
All the drivers in race 4, letting the leader run a 37.6 lead time then a 70.6 opening half is insane but even that wasn't the worst part of it. To then let the leader run 31.5 down the back is almost incompetent
Ken Austin (Dreamon Donny), another driver to drive a $101 pop as if it was Halwes
Alex Ashwood (Still Royal), got beaten for speed by the fav in run to the first corner then inexplicably came off the pegs to sit outside the favourite and finished tailed off last
Simon Ford (Angus Macgregor), hard to believe they wanted to keep the front on the despised outsider especially when the speed was on. It was a simple decision to anybody watching - hand up and be a great chance of running a place or keep the front and run near last. No need to say what option was taken
Cullens Count
Harbhajan
Rock The Pocket
Its A Hoot
Magnificantcamelot
Teejay Fella
Cosmic Under Fire
Run of the Night
Teejay Fella, did it at both ends and apart from the horse who had the cold sit on him all the way nothing else could go with him late. Will definitely win better races this time in
Drive of the Night
Nathan Ford (Brian Buster Brown), there weren't too many contenders this week and Nathan came awfully close to winning last week and his drive in the first just showed how much he has matured. When all others kept taking off before acceptances, he kept his head and not surprisingly won easily.
Driver Votes
N Ford 3
G Rattray 2
Scott Ford 1
Slaughter of the Night
Danny Malone (Ultimate Heir), its hard to believe he drove it worse this week than last week when a nominee for this award. At least the stewards agreed with me this week and gave him time. Driving a $101 pop forward from barrier 7 in a 34.7 lead time is bad enough but to then persist to try and get the death for a further 400 metres is just plain unacceptable. I also struggle to comprehend why he keeps driving the horse forward from bad gates - sure it led once when in against a very slow front line but handed up anyway so why use the horse up.
Plenty of other nominations here:
All the drivers in race 4, letting the leader run a 37.6 lead time then a 70.6 opening half is insane but even that wasn't the worst part of it. To then let the leader run 31.5 down the back is almost incompetent
Ken Austin (Dreamon Donny), another driver to drive a $101 pop as if it was Halwes
Alex Ashwood (Still Royal), got beaten for speed by the fav in run to the first corner then inexplicably came off the pegs to sit outside the favourite and finished tailed off last
Simon Ford (Angus Macgregor), hard to believe they wanted to keep the front on the despised outsider especially when the speed was on. It was a simple decision to anybody watching - hand up and be a great chance of running a place or keep the front and run near last. No need to say what option was taken
TOTE Tasmania finally gets with the times
Tasmanian based parimutual operator The TOTE has finally delivered on its promise to introduce Flexi Betting this week, only problem is that they have missed the bus by 4-5 years. I shudder to think how many patrons they have lost over that time frame to interstate competitors who have been offering that facility for years. Most punters are simple folk, they don't want multiple betting accounts so if any opened a TabCorp account for the purpose of taking Flexi Quaddies or Trifectas then its logical that this would then become their primary betting account going forward for all bet types.
Complaints were numerous from consumers but the standard response was "it is coming in a couple of months" but those months turned into years. The TOTE have been spoilt since their Betfair alliance gave all Betfair customers access to bet with The TOTE via the Betfair site.
This issue should have been a priority and whilst their bottom line may still look okay currently due to the aforementioned Betfair alliance I really doubt they will get the majority of punters back who jumped ship. Seems an awfully strange time to introduce it as well with the spring carnival in swing and I would rate it a $1.20 chance that the upgrade will cause a major computer glitch at exactly the wrong time. Surely the middle of winter is the time to introduce this facility to ensure all chinks are ironed out prior to the high turnover season.
They have really dropped the ball on a few issues recently and whilst the decision to not fast track Flexi Betting was totally absurd, their decision to change to a sports betting alliance with Centrebet wasn't far behind. Prices are a dead set joke and not even half competitive and it needs to be seriously looked into prior to anything being renewed on that front as they make TAB Sportsbet look like the most generous bookmakers on earth and they are far from competitive on a national level. I know its hard to believe but it really is that bad and if anybody wants proof then have a look at the Betasport prices on The TOTE site and compare that to the Centrebet odds for the same event who I believe actually underwrite the bets.
No wonder all the buyers jumped ship when the proposed recent sale was meant to be a fait accompli.
Whilst I have given The TOTE a bit of a bagging for this issue, I do commend them for a few things they have done recently. Their TasRacing site is excellent, they have recently introduced youtube previews for their gallops meetings and have also embraced the social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Complaints were numerous from consumers but the standard response was "it is coming in a couple of months" but those months turned into years. The TOTE have been spoilt since their Betfair alliance gave all Betfair customers access to bet with The TOTE via the Betfair site.
This issue should have been a priority and whilst their bottom line may still look okay currently due to the aforementioned Betfair alliance I really doubt they will get the majority of punters back who jumped ship. Seems an awfully strange time to introduce it as well with the spring carnival in swing and I would rate it a $1.20 chance that the upgrade will cause a major computer glitch at exactly the wrong time. Surely the middle of winter is the time to introduce this facility to ensure all chinks are ironed out prior to the high turnover season.
They have really dropped the ball on a few issues recently and whilst the decision to not fast track Flexi Betting was totally absurd, their decision to change to a sports betting alliance with Centrebet wasn't far behind. Prices are a dead set joke and not even half competitive and it needs to be seriously looked into prior to anything being renewed on that front as they make TAB Sportsbet look like the most generous bookmakers on earth and they are far from competitive on a national level. I know its hard to believe but it really is that bad and if anybody wants proof then have a look at the Betasport prices on The TOTE site and compare that to the Centrebet odds for the same event who I believe actually underwrite the bets.
No wonder all the buyers jumped ship when the proposed recent sale was meant to be a fait accompli.
Whilst I have given The TOTE a bit of a bagging for this issue, I do commend them for a few things they have done recently. Their TasRacing site is excellent, they have recently introduced youtube previews for their gallops meetings and have also embraced the social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Monday Tips
Maryborough
R2#7 Forward Press (bit risky so half bet)
R3#1 Wya Mya Macray
R4#3 Western Thunder
R2#7 Forward Press (bit risky so half bet)
R3#1 Wya Mya Macray
R4#3 Western Thunder
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