General Chat

[Redbridge]

Sometimes they say in the T&C’s that the extra places are only valid with a certain number of runners. Were there a few late non-runners?

Cheers mate.

[Redbridge]

Try the live chat mate, that's my usual go to.

Thanks mate

[kinloch brae]

Not about Cheltenham but Dovecote today. Know one of the owners of Frere D’Armes. They’re quite optimistic so worth chucking in if any each way luckys or yankees being done today. Presently 8/1

I backed it so I am afraid it was never going to win. If I had betting slips they may as well go straight into the bin. Big drifter which is surprising if connections fancied it. The horse went from travelling well enough to folding as soon as he came under pressure. He didn't come close to seeing the race out. The other horse I backed at Kempton - Haafapiece - was a massive drifter, but again having travelled into the race looking like he would have every chance he also found next to nothing. Why did nobody want the horse, particularly as the form had been franked twice by Ballyandy?

After today I think I have got two options - give the game up, or just concentrate on the Festivals. There comes a point when you just can't convince yourself that things will turn.

[Silverbirch]

I backed it so I am afraid it was never going to win. If I had betting slips they may as well go straight into the bin. Big drifter which is surprising if connections fancied it. The horse went from travelling well enough to folding as soon as he came under pressure. He didn't come close to seeing the race out. The other horse I backed at Kempton - Haafapiece - was a massive drifter, but again having travelled into the race looking like he would have every chance he also found next to nothing. Why did nobody want the horse, particularly as the form had been franked twice by Ballyandy?

After today I think I have got two options - give the game up, or just concentrate on the Festivals. There comes a point when you just can't convince yourself that things will turn.

Calm down mate. This all comes with the game we play. I concentrate on the Fez, and yeah it sucks when a horse bombs or gets injured but then when I step back, at least this as a hobby is something to take your mind away from all other things in life, eats up minutes and I enjoy reading and trying to find a winner (even if it's crap and loses).
IMO it's a good getaway from life. Just don't let it sink in too much because you simply can't affect some things.

[Ray]

I backed it so I am afraid it was never going to win. If I had betting slips they may as well go straight into the bin. Big drifter which is surprising if connections fancied it. The horse went from travelling well enough to folding as soon as he came under pressure. He didn't come close to seeing the race out. The other horse I backed at Kempton - Haafapiece - was a massive drifter, but again having travelled into the race looking like he would have every chance he also found next to nothing. Why did nobody want the horse, particularly as the form had been franked twice by Ballyandy?

After today I think I have got two options - give the game up, or just concentrate on the Festivals. There comes a point when you just can't convince yourself that things will turn.

concentrate on the festivals if thats how you feel or have a good month off then come back with fresher eyes

[Lobos]

Unless I actually go racing, I concentrate all year and bet purely on the Cheltenham Festival and nowt else. I made the decision a number of years ago and haven't looked back since. It is so much easier making sense of races and carrying form-lines through when you haven't actually had a bet. By just studying 100% on one target you can't help but to get things right.

[opatcho]

I certainly learned to narrow my focus down to key races (king George, tingle creek etc) and the Cheltenham meets

I’m terrible when it comes to ascot, sandown and kempton… i look at the race card and spend 30 mins trying to profile the race. Learned to only bet in races where I’ve got some experience betting in the race and when I look at the field I know most of the horses in there

Jumping from meet to meet, course to course, can leave you totally messed up

[kinloch brae]

Appreciate the advice.

I have got closer to just restricting myself to weekends, but clearly that isn't working very well. It might help if I could understand why so many are running like drains. Let's see what happens at Cheltenham. By my standards I had a good meeting last year, fingers crossed for a few winners again this year.

[Ice]

Reading these last few messages i think I'm gonna try a more selective betting strategy, mainly the festival and the bigger jumps fixtures, i find myself betting on the Saturday afternoon meetings when i don't actually fancy anything, just to get the free bets, which i then only use on the festival anyway !

[Outlaw]

Punting is hard graft, don't let the success of many on here fool anyone. If you haven't the time to keep top side of regular results and form study apart from enjoying the sport for what it is, making money from it is very difficult. As some have touched on being phlegmatic is a key fundamental as it's oh so easy to look at races with pre conceived opinions and in the aftermath, make ill judged opinions based on monetary losses as opposed to rational unbiased conclusions. Betting is also a great leveller irrespective of betting knowledge/success and social media will have you thinking why ain't I winning like %99 seem to on there ,but providing you have a genuine interest/passion for the sport the bets can sometimes find themselves even with minimal input.

[Saxon Warrior]

Reading these last few messages i think I'm gonna try a more selective betting strategy, mainly the festival and the bigger jumps fixtures, i find myself betting on the Saturday afternoon meetings when i don't actually fancy anything, just to get the free bets, which i then only use on the festival anyway !

I went mostly antepost, years ago.

I use the weekdays and weekend races to research and find the antepost bets for horses.

Occasionally have a weekend bet.

Have backed midweek/weekend purely for Rollover opportunities onto antepost bets too.

[Redbridge]

74 now and have always enjoyed my racing specially attending meetings but the restrictions forced me into closing accounts in the recent past rather than be insulted by derisory offers and with all the reforms on the horizon it has prompted me to close the few remaining accounts upon settlement of this years fesitival,
I will still attend race meetings and as always I don't have to have a bet but chip in with my pals in doing a placepot which normally ends at race one.
GLA with your punting at this years festival and in the future and I'll always be reading this site.

[robith]

I was in one of my favourite pubs today watching the rugby, and the pub had the racing on too. Table next to us clearly loved their racing, but bet on every single race across almost 4 hours. I was stunned. How on earth are you going to make money like that? They were nice guys so I didn't want to be rude to them, but it was actually making me feel nauseous.

Betting is all about finding an edge you can extract - for me and Cheltenham it's all about patterns and having a year of evidence to support you. But you cant have an edge in every race.

I'm sure everyone's felt like that at times kinloch. I'd say take a break and refresh.

A little thing I do when I'm feeling like I can do nothing right is to go through the cards, make selections but put nothing on them. Watch the races for fun to see if I was right. Not for everyone but reminds me why I enjoy the sport beyond the betting

[nortonscoin200]

Appreciate the advice.

I have got closer to just restricting myself to weekends, but clearly that isn't working very well. It might help if I could understand why so many are running like drains. Let's see what happens at Cheltenham. By my standards I had a good meeting last year, fingers crossed for a few winners again this year.

Hi KB, completely understand how you feel.

In my younger days I used to bet every Saturday and devoted a lot of form studying time in preparation -until finally the pressure got to me and I really wasn't enjoying it (that's putting it pretty mildly). Just a case of putting too much pressure on myself - probably betting beyond my means at a time when I had a mortgage and young family.

Nowadays I concentrate almost exclusively on the Cheltenham Festival and Grand National ( plus for the sake of total honesty some fun bets on tennis Grand Slams and Golf majors which I enjoy watching on the tv).

And I've found that just backing horses for the Festival gives me a year-round financial interest in the game while not having to continually have a bet on day to day races.

It allows you to keep the dream alive (in most cases!!!) which is a big part of our punters DNA - we need the dream of the big pay-day.

And then when the Festival comes - unless you completely bomb out on everything - you get some cash back from winning bets, even if you lose overall at the Festival.

So in effect you end up saving money during the course of the year and the dividend payment comes in mid March.

That may sound cockeyed but I think there is a logic to it.

If you set, for example, a 100-point betting limit on the Cheltenham Festival every March - that means your total betting outlay for the year will be 100 points.

That's the most you will lose from gambling in a year.

And whatever you get back from Cheltenham - win or lose - means you will have spent less than 100 points on betting during the year.

I'm sure doing it this way has saved me money - it's stopped me backing too many horses in too many races. And it's certainly stopped me making those last minute impulsive half researched bets just to have an interest in a race.

The important thing to get right is setting the limit in the first place.

If you are content to lose 100 points a year on betting then that's fine - stake it on Cheltenham throughout the year and you have a hobby that keeps your interest day in day out and could yield a profit - or at worst an affordable loss.

I always think being a punter is a bit like being a bank robber!!!

Do one hit and you have a chance of getting away with it - keep coming back to rob bank after bank and sooner or later you're bound to get caught.

Good luck at the Festival Kinloch - I'll be rooting for you big time pal and will be thrilled to bits if it all works out well.

[Quevega]

Hi KB, completely understand how you feel.

In my younger days I used to bet every Saturday and devoted a lot of form studying time in preparation -until finally the pressure got to me and I really wasn't enjoying it (that's putting it pretty mildly). Just a case of putting too much pressure on myself - probably betting beyond my means at a time when I had a mortgage and young family.

Nowadays I concentrate almost exclusively on the Cheltenham Festival and Grand National ( plus for the sake of total honesty some fun bets on tennis Grand Slams and Golf majors which I enjoy watching on the tv).

And I've found that just backing horses for the Festival gives me a year-round financial interest in the game while not having to continually have a bet on day to day races.

It allows you to keep the dream alive (in most cases!!!) which is a big part of our punters DNA - we need the dream of the big pay-day.

And then when the Festival comes - unless you completely bomb out on everything - you get some cash back from winning bets, even if you lose overall at the Festival.

So in effect you end up saving money during the course of the year and the dividend payment comes in mid March.

That may sound cockeyed but I think there is a logic to it.

If you set, for example, a 100-point betting limit on the Cheltenham Festival every March - that means your total betting outlay for the year will be 100 points.

That's the most you will lose from gambling in a year.

And whatever you get back from Cheltenham - win or lose - means you will have spent less than 100 points on betting during the year.

I'm sure doing it this way has saved me money - it's stopped me backing too many horses in too many races. And it's certainly stopped me making those last minute impulsive half researched bets just to have an interest in a race.

The important thing to get right is setting the limit in the first place.

If you are content to lose 100 points a year on betting then that's fine - stake it on Cheltenham throughout the year and you have a hobby that keeps your interest day in day out and could yield a profit - or at worst an affordable loss.

I always think being a punter is a bit like being a bank robber!!!

Do one hit and you have a chance of getting away with it - keep coming back to rob bank after bank and sooner or later you're bound to get caught.

Good luck at the Festival Kinloch - I'll be rooting for you big time pal and will be thrilled to bits if it all works out well.

Sounds a bit like affordability checks though.
They are designed to achieve the same result.
To cap maximum losses.

It’s always sensible advice to only bet what you can afford to lose.
The pain and frustration when you have a bad run is more manageable if you do.

If you know you can’t do this or will chase things.
Then place your affordable stakes on a Saturday morning after studying and then go and do something else like walking.
watch the replays when you get home.
And withdraw any returns till next Saturday or designated day you can study and bet.