Diary of a spread bettor (Week 20)

Thursday 8th October

I went to pick my three-year-old up from Nursery for the first time and introduced myself to the women on the gate as ‘Eliza’s dad’. She looked at me as if I was on ‘that list’ and said that she would escort me to where Eliza was playing. ‘Look who it is’, she said when we eventually found her. Eliza looked up and said nothing. She had enormous power over me for the first time in her life. ‘Who is it Eliza?’ It was her moment. Her moment to throw a rope to her drowning father and utter the words…’Daddy’ or even ‘Dadda’. Instead, she opted for the words, ‘I don’t know’! To make the situation even more awkward than it already was, when probed again, she simply said ‘nobody’. I had a Ravi Boparaesque walk of shame back to the car park and was eventually bailed out by my wife.

To add more misery to the day, I bought £10 of Astonishment at 13 in Newbury’s 3.55pm index and after travelling like the winner, he could only finish fourth losing me £30. However, Tenessee ran a cracker on debut thirty minutes later and my £20 buy at 7 on the index was rewarded with a £60 profit.

Friday 9th October

I got home in the early hours of the morning having attended an evening of horseracing at Frankie’s Bar and Grill at Stamford Bridge the night before. It had been a great night and I’d even won a signed Petr Cech glove in the raffle!

However, the night was made a lot more interesting by Frankie Dettori who told everyone assembled that his mount Peligrosa would win the second race at York the next day. He was asked on several occasions whether he was confident and all he kept saying was that it would win!

Well, cutting a long story short, I bought £25 of the beast at 18 on the 50 index before travelling up to a lunch in London and listened to the commentary on my mobile phone from the loo in the restaurant. Frankie sent Peligrosa to the front and the pair were never headed. I was suddenly £800 richer and the staff at Livebait in Waterloo haven’t heard whooping like that from the loos since George Michael last visited!

I love Frankie Dettori… he is so good for racing… and even better for my bank balance!

Saturday 10th October

As the song goes… ‘Did you ever have one of those days?’ Well, I had a cracker of a day which started off with a few really good results on the horses. I bought £10 of Our Jonathan at 18 on the index for Ascot’s opener and netted a £320 profit when Jamie Spencer nipped through to nick it on the line. I followed that with a £10 buy of Royal Rock at 10 in the 2.55pm race and when George Baker swooped to take the honours late on, I was in dream land. If things couldn’t get any better, I also bought Opinion Poll at 21 in the next and added another £290 profit to the day’s work.

I gave £240 back with a silly buy of Wigmore Hall at 24 in the next and when Michael bell’s charge finished stone last, decided to quit while I was way ahead. Anyway, we were just a few hours away from the start of the Grand Final.

Well, if truth be told, I wasn’t going to be able to watch the game live as we had to head out to a children’s tea party, so I decided to place my bets and watch the game (as if live) on Sky Sports Extra at 11pm. I bought £30 of Leeds at 13 on the 25 index giving up 4.5 points and also bought £10 of Danny McGuire’s try minutes at 17.

The replay of the game was delayed a bit as the Horse of the Year show ran on by about 15 minutes, but soon we were underway. St Helens were all over them for the first 20 minutes and I feared a whitewash. However, the Rhinos managed to level things up at 8-8 at the break and I still fancied them to beat the 4.5 handicap.

McGuire played brilliantly, but didn’t cross the try line. Yet, he did set up the try which eventually took Leeds over the magic 4.5 victory margin. It was a thrilling game and I went to bed knowing I had lost £170 on the try minutes bet, but £360 on the handicap.

Sunday 11th October

I completely forgot about the England game the night before – huge result as I fancied them to win and they got beaten! Nothing to report on the punting front… just a quiet day at home with the family.

Monday 12th October

Flaming Flaming Miracle! Why is it when you finally give up on a horse it goes and wins on its very next run! Having backed Andrew Balding’s two-year-old at Ayr and Wolverhampton, I decided to let it run unbacked in Salisbury’s 1.35pm race. Surprise, surprise, it won… I hate that horse.

Flaming Miracle’s win meant that I now had to back another old friend Signor Peltro in the 4.20pm contest. If that won without my cash, I’d have to give the game up. I backed it (£10 buy at 11 on the index) and surprise, surprise… it lost. Mug’s game this!

Tuesday 13th October

Another dreadful day of sport, but got a decent message for John Gosden’s Deidre in Newcastle’s opening race. I bought £20 of the filly at 23 on the index and listened to her bolt up on my mobile phone. Sadly, I gave £180 of the £540 profit back by buying her stablemate on the index in the next – nevermind.

Nothing much else to report except that I sold £150 of goals in-running in the Ireland v Switzerland U21 game at 2.1. The sides went into the break goalless which was great news, but both teams managed to score in the second half which wasn’t quite so great – particularly as Ireland’s goal came about 22 minutes after the game should have ended. Nevermind, a £15 profit on the game… small acorns and all that.

Wednesday 14th October

Another dreadful day of sport with England’s pointless game against Belarus being the highlight. I couldn’t believe that supremacy could be sold at 2.2, so decided to sell £150 to make the game more interesting. I was convinced that England would be ‘not-off’ and would only scramble a one goal win at best…