Friday 16 March

Well it doesn't get much better than yesterday !!!!! What a fantastic result in the last race with the top-rated Oscar Park winning at 18 on Betdaq having traded as high as 30 in the morning.

I declare my profits based on the price at the off - so that meant a profit on the day of 28.5 points but I know many of you e-mailed to say you took advantage of some of the earlier juicier prices.

18 was still pretty good compared to the 14/1 SP and I couldn't believe how well he was travelling two from home. However, as always, it's never easy at Cheltenham and Material World made a spirited challenge up the run-in to make things nerve wracking in the last 100 yards. I'd covered Material World in the staking plan so it wouldn't have been by any means a disaster but it certainly meant a big different to the profit and loss on the day.

So, having finished 14.5 points down on the first two days (and still slightly annoyed at not including Gaspara on the opening day) we are now 14 points up at the Festival - and we are staking less than that today, so whatever happens we'll finish the meeting ahead - which judged by the carnage this week is some achievement !!!

Well the 5.20 race was kind to us yesterday and we're sticking with it today for the concluding race at the meeting - the Vincent O'Brien County Handicap Hurdle for which all 28 go to post.

We've got so many 'above the line' horses today - so a slightly different approach on the staking plan. We'll focus in on the three that are a little way clear and have small 1/2 point wins on the remainder just as insurance bets more than anything else. Some are very good prices and we wouldn't want to miss out.

Caracciola and Whispered Promises are tied for top spot - but going into decimal places Caracciola is actually the official top-rated. I'd feel a lot more confident if Nicky Henderson's runners were sparkling a bit more - but interesting to note a positive move on Betdaq already for this one from 24 into 16.5.

Whispered Promises is trading at around 30 and his chance has been boosted by the drying ground.

Irish raider Pedrobob also gets a good rating and is solid around the 16 mark.

Our small cavalry of support bets are numbers 4,5,7,9,10,13 and 24 - in the case of some (Osana for example) it will not cover the total stake of 8.5 points - but at least save some of it.

Recommended Bets
2 point win Caracciola
1 1/2 point win Whispered Promises
1 1/2 point win Pedrobob
1/2 point win Crow Wood
1/2 point win Osana
1/2 point win Fair Along
1/2 point win Papini
1/2 point win Kawagino
1/2 point win O'Toole
1/2 point win Gods Token

Comments

[Ray]

Hi Dave,

You've done it again, well done.

Ray

[Gareth]

Another great result! It's a tough ask picking those at Cheltenham, nice work.

Gareth

[David Stewart]

Cheers Ray / Gareth

Thanks for the comments.

David