I’ve had better weekends. On Friday in the day my main fancies ran badly, although I found a couple of winners to limit the damage. I had three runners in the evening, all fancied a little bit and they all finished tailed off! I decided to have a go at the Scoop6 on Saturday – I put only one in each of the first two races and covered most of the runners in the last four. The bet cost me £8k – it blew out on the first leg when Markab came second.
All my adult life I’ve had a problem with headaches – I had one on Saturday that had me reeling for the whole day. In the days when I played bridge for a living my headaches were a huge liability – I’d spend weeks building up money in my account and blow the lot in one day, turning up at the club with a splitting headache and playing like a complete novice. Saturday was a bit like that – I lost a stack of money punting injudiciously throughout the afternoon.
I woke on Sunday without a headache but with a terrible cold – often a headache for me is the sign of a cold coming. I found out later that I’d made a small profit on my Scoop6 – I hadn’t realised that there was a place pool as well, and the accrued place dividends came to £9k.
On Sunday night I did a terrible thing – I watched I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. I watch very little TV these days – I haven’t got time for it and there isn’t a lot I want to watch anyway. I don’t watch reality shows in general – the only one I’ve ever enjoyed is IACGMOOH which seems to appeal to the sadist in me. Having watched one episode I now know I’ll be glued to the set for the rest of the series. Oh well.
I’m looking strange at the moment – I’ve been growing a moustache in November for charity. It’s an Australian custom called Movember – Betfair is full of Aussies, all suitably moustachioed right now. I’ve gone for a Hulk Hogan number accompanied by sideburns and a little extra bit under my lower lip. Every weekday morning I drive my daughter and a few of her friends to school and I’ve been getting very strange looks from the mums. Only a few days to go.
I tried to claim a horse today – Kinigi in the 1:10 at Southwell. It was an obvious claim and there were 21 claims in – she went to Conor Dore.
I’m fairly positive about the three runners on Friday. Effingham was hopeless – beaten at the first bend – but he’s better than that. He’s a tricky ride and he probably needs strong driving – he has a slight leg problem and can be a slow starter. He’s been dropped 7lb – if we can get inside his head there are races to be won with him. Shepherd’s Warning could do with coming down the handicap a bit – she was dropped 2lb but I doubt that’s enough for her. She’ll be back in claimers soon. I don’t think King’s Head enjoyed being crowded – he might be better being dropped right out the back and coming with a late run from there as he did at Epsom.
Mon Michel is currently in for a novice chase at Taunton on Thursday, and he’s likely to stand his ground. It could turn out to be quite a hot race, but we’re ready to take our chances.