In the Betting Ring

Bad start for us unfortunately. We lost on five of the seven races. No complaints – we laid what we wanted but the results went against us. Basically we didn’t win enough in the two handicaps to cover the losses on the big races.

Our usual policy is to lay the first two in the market and pray for a result. In the first, the Irish all backed Min and the English backed Altior. They were our only two losers but we had no chance.

At 1/3 you had to lay Douvan (returned 1/4) and we also laid Sizing John ‘without’ the winner, so I was gutted to see Vaniteux fall.

There was decent betting in the three-mile handicap chase. Un Temps Pour Tout was backed from 14/1 in to 11/1 but he was a small winner for us. The placed horses (Holywell, The Young Master and Morning Assembly) weren’t great for us.

The Champion Hurdle was a similar story to the first race – all the Irish were on Annie Power and the English backed The New One. Any other result would have been a winner for us.

To make matters worse, loads of punters who collected on Annie Power just reinvested the money on Vroum Vroum Mag. Before racing we were offering 30/1 on the Mullins accumulator but Min cleared them out. A lot of punters then managed to win back what they had lost by backing the other three, who all won. We went 2/1 the double on Douvan and Vroum Vroum Mag, which was popular.

Minella Rocco had been 4/1 favourite for the four-miler a week ago, so it was strange to see him drift out to 8/1 on the day. Still, a lot of punters will always row in with J.P. and Jonjo, so it didn’t go unbacked. They generally backed the front four in the market with us – the winner, Southfield Royale, Pont Alexandre and Ballychorus. We kept Native River for ourselves – pity he didn’t get up.

We won a bit on the last-race though the winner, Ballyaloton, was backed from 14/1 to 12/1. Even if the runner-up Bouvreuil (14/1) had got up it wouldn’t have made much of a difference to us.

Looking ahead to Day 2, we’ll be sticking with our strategy. We’ll lay Yanworth and Yorkhill in the first, and we’ll take on More Of That and No More Heroes in the second. Un De Sceaux has to be a lay at 4/5 – he’s not unbeatable.