Double Dutch, 31st December 2013 Another good day for us yesterday as the well backed Theatrical Star (SP 7/2 from our advised 6/1!) stayed on well for the extended run-in (just 2 fences per circuit!) at Taunton yesterday to score by a good 7 lengths. All of which meant we’d a decent stake on the […]
Stat of the Day, 31st December 2013 As expected, Adam Kirby was amongst the winners at Lingfield yesterday, landing an 11/1 double from his six rides, but he could only finish fourth on board our selection. Royal Etiquette was well backed from our 7/2 advisory into 9/4 favouritism at the off and was a little […]
Stat of the Day Update: 23/12/13 to 29/12/13 Not much post-Christmas cheer for SotD and its followers, I’m afraid. Boxing Day went fine with a small profit, thanks to an 8/1 E/W placer, but it was all downhill from there. Three successive unplaced horses made for a loss of 2.5pts for the week. We’re definitely […]
Double Dutch, 30th December 2013 Little/no surprises yesterday, as both first picks won fairly comfortably at Leopardstown. I was very happy to get 5/4 about “the Fly”, whilst a slight easing of the odds (13/8 to 7/4) of the winner of the last race meant we helped ourselves to a 5.19/1 double on the day. […]
Stat of the Day, 30th December 2013 Nobody wanted to back Granaruid yesterday, as he drifted out to an SP of 12/1 from our advised 17/2 and the lack of market support as fully justified, I’m afraid. He didn’t travel at all well and had to be coaxed along from about the halfway point. He […]
Double Dutch, 29th December 2013 Twice Lucky was just held off in race 1 , whilst Allanard was a distant third and my forecast came to grief as Wilde Blue Yonder came a cropper late on. I did get the winner of that race, but it didn’t really count for anything, but my own male […]
Stat of the Day, 29th December 2013 Zip Wire ran well enough for a first crack at hurdling, but the extra three furlongs eventually took its toll. He wasn’t able to keep up with the leaders and eventually came home fourth, some 12 lengths off the pace. The bright spots came from beating the bookies […]
Double Dutch, 28th December 2013 No 5-timer yesterday as our festive winning run finally came to an end. The day started well enough with a 1-2 finish and a 9/1 forecast as Baile Anrai just got up ahead of the visibly tiring Christopher Wren, who had looked like landing us a nice 4/1 winner to […]
Stat of the Day, 28th December 2013 Utopie des Bordes showed she had the stamina to get over 3 miles on soft/heavy ground yesterday, but she lacked the necessary pace late on to keep up with the leaders and had to eventually settle for 4th place. She was sent off at 3/1, a good deal […]
Double Dutch, 27th December 2013 The prices were admittedly a little skinny yesterday, but getting the 1-2 home in both races meant it was a fourth consecutively successful day for followers of this column. A 13/8 winner followed by a 3.02 forecast produced a 6.93/1 double in the end and if I’d had the courage […]
Stat of the Day, 27th December 2013 Tukitinyasok just failed in his bid to land yesterday’s race, after taking the lead with 2 furlongs to go. He didn’t have the necessary late pace to hold off a couple of unlikely sorts (16/1 & 25/1), but did still hold it together enough to hold on to […]
Double Dutch, 26th December 2013 Matt signed us off for Christmas with a hat-trick completing 13/4 double to keep the ball rolling and now it’s my turn to sit in the DD hot seat into the New Year, as I try to continue our good run. Yesterday’s results were as follows: Classic Move: won at […]
Stat of the Day, 26th December 2013 Wayward Glance wasn’t completely out of it, when he fell four fences from home on Sunday, but fall he did and that took away our chances of entering the Christmas break on a high. I, of course, had taken leave last weekend and after a hectic few days, […]
Stat of the Day Update: 16/12/13 to 22/12/13 We kicked the week off with a 3rd place from a 10/1 E/W shot and followed that with a nice 6/1 winner up at Catterick. Although we drew a blank for the remainder of the week, it was still enough to make a (21.4% ROI) profit on […]
Double Dutch, 20th December 2013 You just couldn’t script what happened yesterday. Two horses fell at the eighth fence in our first race. They were nowhere near each other, so the falls weren’t related, but Sod’s Law was in operation and it was both of our selections hitting the deck within fractions of a second. […]
Stat of the Day, 20th December 2013 We backed Yasir at a very healthy 11/4 yesterday and it was looking a very good bet as he was sent off the 6/4 favourite having briefly dipped as low as 5/4. Unfortunately that was as good as it got for us despite the horse finishing third. The […]
Double Dutch, 19th December 2013 I got that deja vu feeling yesterday as once again we found one winner from two and we were only denied by Honey of a Kitten getting nailed late on for the second time in three races. She was beaten by less than half a length this time, but beaten […]
Stat of the Day, 19th December 2013 Halfsin made a gutsy effort to control the race from the front on Wednesday evening, but finally relinquished the lead with a couple of furlongs to go and the receded through the field, I’m afraid. The end result was that it was a 10th place (of 12) finish […]
Double Dutch, 18th December 2013 It was another of those frustrating “1 from 2” days yesterday and we normally love to see horses winning at 100/1, just to upset the natural balance of things from time to time, but not when we’ve backed against them! Things kicked off nicely as Frost Fire was yet another […]
Stat of the Day, 18th December 2013 Beatu was outstanding yesterday and defied a big drift in the market to surge home and win by a good six lengths easing down! He hit the front with a couple of furlongs to and within a furlong had pu the race pretty much to bet. AP drove […]
Double Dutch, 17th December 2013 Half a length was the margin yesterday as we failed to land a 10.81/1 double. As expected Matraash had just enough in his locker to take the opener at 5/2 (from 7/2) ahead of 3/1 shot A Little Bit Dusty. I didn’t think there’d be much between them and the […]
Stat of the Day, 17th December 2013 Makethe Mostofnow was sent off at 15/2 (from our advised 10/1) and although he never looked like troubling the winner, he did stay on well to snatch 3rd on the run in. We’d gone E/W about a horse who loves the tough going at Ffos Las and he […]
Double Dutch, 16th December 2013 Despite landing a tidy 3/1 winner yesterday, the Double Dutch suffered a dismal washout of a weekend, as Kaki De La Pree’s effort at Carlisle had already been rendered somewhat of an irrelevance after drawing a blank at Southwell 25 minutes earlier. There, the 3/1 shot Oscar The Myth looked […]
Stat of the Day, 16th December 2013 The best Midnight Belle could manage was third yesterday and the bare result makes his run look a little better than it actually was. If you had a closer look, you’d see that he was well beaten by some 16 lengths or so and even relinquished second place […]
Stat of the Day Update: 09/12/13 to 15/12/13 Last week proved to be a very disappointing one for me in more ways than one and results for SotD didn’t help my feeling of general malaise. One selection fell foul of the weather and one was a good winner at double its SP, but only one […]
Double Dutch, 15th December 2013 I kind of almost got it right yesterday at the same time as getting it very wrong, if that’s at all possible! I had a feeling that longer priced horses could well take both races that seemed to lack quality and depth, I just didn’t get the right horses! Race […]
Stat of the Day, 15th December 2013 Glen’s Melody ultimately proved somewhat of a disappointment for me, the SotD backers and of course, Ruby Walsh who travelled over from Ireland for just the one race. The horse itself ran well enough until push came to shove and then there was nothing there and he folded […]
Double Dutch, 14th December 2013 I’m running a little late today due to a couple of unavoidable family commitments, but our action is from this evening’s Wolverhampton card, so you’ve still plenty of time to get those bets on! It was a losing day yesterday, despite getting the first two home in the opener, where […]
Stat of the Day, 14th December 2013 Magika was a nice 3/1 winner yesterday for us, despite going off at half that price on course, further highlighting the value of the early BOG prices. Martin Harley gave another account of himself at Wolverhampton last night with a well-timed ride. He sat patiently in behind the […]
Double Dutch, 13th December 2013 Porteous went down by a length and a half in the second race yesterday, putting paid to our hopes of a 13/1 double. The eventual winner got first run and although Porteous quickened and stayed on, he couldn’t get to the leader. All this came after Funny Star had prevailed […]
Stat of the Day, 13th December 2013 Yesterday’s race was the proverbial handicapper’s dream scenario as all 9 runners were only split by about 3 lengths from first to last. Unfortunately, it meant, though our selection gave a decent enough performance to get within a couple of the leader, it actually meant we finished 6th […]
Double Dutch, 12th December 2013 It was a winner of sorts yesterday, as our second race was taken by the fog that descended across much of the South East. We’d already bagged a nice 4/1 winner and a 10.4/1 exacta in race 1 and although we were unable to complete the double, our 2pt stakes […]
Stat of the Day, 12th December 2013 The fog descended yesterday in the South of the country and took the bulk of the Lingfield card and all of the Kempton meeting with it. This meant that we had a no-bet day, but I’m assured the fog has lifted and normal service is to be resumed […]
Double Dutch, 11th December 2013 It looked very much like a four-timer was on the cards yesterday, but the strongly fancied (SP of 10/11 from our 15/8 BOG) Lily Waugh didn’t have enough in the tank to get up the hill at Fontwell and finished third, a couple of lengths shy of the winner. This […]
Stat of the Day, 11th December 2013 No joy with our American angle yesterday as Hussar Ballad was a tad disappointing and never really got on terms. Having taken an early 4/1, we beat the market by half a point, but after chasing the leaders to the pole, he was then ridden along in an […]
Double Dutch, 10th December 2013 After successive wins at 20.6/1 and 41/1, there was no big win yesterday. However, with another two winners under our belt at 2/1 SP and 85/40 BOG, that was still good enough for us to secure our third win on the bounce at odds of 8.375/1 to keep the recent […]
Stat of the Day, 10th December 2013 No excuses and no regrets from yesterday, Cape of Hope just wasn’t good enough on the day. He ran well enough to the 2 pole, and when he was asked for an effort, he wasn’t as quick home as three other horses. No deep analysis needed, he was […]
Double Dutch, 9th December 2013 Well, what a difference a weekend can and did make. DD was certainly on the ropes and enduring a difficult spell on the cold list, before Matt stepped in to deputise for me on Saturday and landed a nice 20.6/1 double to get us back on track. Naturally I felt […]
Stat of the Day, 9th December 2013 Sunday was a good day for both Donald McCain and SotD. Mr McCain improved his already impressive recent record at Kelso with two third place finishes and then two winners at 4/1 and 15/8. Thankfully, not only were we on the longer priced of the two winners, but […]
Stat of the Day Update: 02/12/13 to 08/12/13 We maintained our recent momentum with another couple of winners (5/2 & 9/2) this week to give our selves another 2pts to add to the bottom line. This recent good run is 8/20 for 27.3pts in the last three weeks and will hopefully serve as reminder of […]
Double Dutch, 8th December 2013 I was unavoidably absent on Saturday and Matt kindly stepped in at short notice to cover for me. Not only did he ensure there was no break in service, he played the captain’s role to a tee guiding us to a magnificent 20.5625/1 double at BOG prices. Yesterday’s results were […]
Stat of the Day, 8th December 2013 Whisper ran a pretty decent race yesterday and did, as expected, finish ahead of Upswing again. Unfortunately the pair were 3rd and 4th and the race was taken in great style by Paul Nicholls’ Saphir du Rheu who travelled best of all to romp home by 8 lengths. […]
Stat of the Day, 7th December 2013 We got no kind of run from our selection yesterday, who was another big drifter (7/2 to 6/1 this time!). Jockey Eoin Walsh kept the horse pretty handy in the first half of the race, but when he needed to improve his position in readiness for the home […]
Double Dutch, 6th December 2013 Just like the current weather, I remain in the grip of a cold spell and even a change of scenery with a trip over the Irish Sea didn’t bring about a change in fortune for us yesterday. Daryl Jacob decided to take the wide scenic route aboard Lumpys Gold and […]
Stat of the Day, 6th December 2013 I was quietly confident about Boogangoo’s chances yesterday, despite his drift in the market from our advised 4/1 out to an SP of 6/1. He started well and grabbed the rail just behind the leaders who he tracked until 2f out. Once a gap appeared, he moved forward […]
Double Dutch, 5th December 2013 My recent mini-slump continues unabated, I’m afraid, as I wasn’t even able to find a single winner yesterday, never mind the double. Uramazin was just touched off by a head at a decent price of 5/1, but that was about as good as it got, as I’d a non-runner and […]
Stat of the Day, 5th December 2013 Back to winning ways yesterday as Oscar Hill made all once again and prevailed by the best part of two lengths. He raced clear from the off and although he was joined briefly, he soon pulled clear again and the result was probably a shade more comfortable than […]
Double Dutch, 4th December 2013 Tuesday was another losing day, but at least we got back on the winning trail with the 9/4 winner in race 2. I know it’s scant consolation, but it is a step back in the right direction after the failings of the last few days. Earlier, Moorlands Jack fell 2 […]
Stat of the Day, 4th December 2013 Monbeg was terribly disappointing on Tuesday afternoon and never really featured in the race at all. He was in the rear throughout and began to struggle quite a long way from home and was left a long way behind the others. Although he plugged on to complete the […]
Double Dutch, 3rd December 2013 We drew another blank yesterday in what is proving to be a testing time for the double dutch. We had to settle for a pair of runner-up positions yesterday, although the bare results look better than the actual performances. Mister Wiseman was beaten by a good 12 lengths and although […]