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Good afternoon all. Profitable day yesterday with 8/1 advised winner Cave Court and each way placed El Champo (adivsed 15/2. 3rd). Do think today's jumps action (what's left of it) is as poor as it get's and ideally would not normally play but for some interest have decided to put up some OTB selections' which are simply picks that do not undergo my usual selection process and are next best plays at best. So for today I will go with these with fingers firmly crossed they perform with some sort of credit: Punchestown 1.40 LAKOTA BLUE @ 10/3 Plumpton 3.50 VISION DU MAINE @ 9/4 Plumpton 4.20 TARA ITI @ 4/1 Very best of luck to you all today.

Daily NAP 6.00 Wolv - Bossy Parker - 6/5 with 365 11/10 others - Won over CD x 2 last year from higher marks, and has unfortunately run into handicap blots the last twice. Trainer Stella Barclay is in good form with 2 wins, 3 placed from last 9 runners. Daily EW 7.00 Wolv - Bill Plumb - 12/1 generally but 1/5th 4 places with 365 - Trainer Phil McEntee is 3 wins, 6 places, from last 14 runners. 2nd top course jockey Luke Morris rides. Came back from a 496 day absence 11 days ago, and ran well enough over 5f, this 6f is more his thing and has 2 x CD wins.

Have had a little look at tomorrow's jump action and although Chepstow is subject to a precautionary inspection I will alert you to this one early as currently double figure price with Bet365 when generally 7s or lower elsewhere: (Tuesday 28 January) Chepstow 2.15 BOYLES HILL e/w @ 10/1 (b365) 3 places Dreadful effort off a 97 day break over this course and distance is a concern, but that was sandwiched in between two wins at Market Rasen and most recently Ffos Las. Isabel Williams retains the ride for her dad and providing ground stays on the soft side (softer the better) the horse is on a fair enough mark for tomorrow's contest.

Tancredi 7 30Wol 1/40th of a pt ew 60/1

Diplomatic Ash 2:20 Plumpton (2/1 general). Was backed last time in better race, now drops into a class 5. Showed good level of form over hurdles at this track when splitting Idy Wood and Bob Bob Ricard (both produced mid 120's RPR's since). The fav has already finished 2nd 3 times, so look very beatable. Drop back in trip on this deep ground could be the way to go. Hopefully outclasses this lot with the jockey taking off a useful 5lb. 1pt win 2/1 P/L: + 6.5pts. Completely woeful effort, scrubbed along from the off and barley left the ground at most of the fences ☠️

@yossa6133 Thread says Tuesday, but it's Monday ... guess it's been a long weekend. 😆

Plumpton 14.50 £20 Risk It All @8/15 William Hill Can't find anything else but this very short priced horse.

This kicks off for real today. 2 pm. I'll be going with the following : 5pts Gilbert -1.5 to beat Woollaston 4/5 Bet365 5pts O'Connor to beat Maguire 11/10 Bet365 1pt accy - Gilbert -1.5, O'Connor, Anda & Xu Si 8/1 Bet365 0.5pts Kowalski to beat N.Robertson 7/1Bet365 I've done pts to show how little a stake I would place on Kowalski. It's just an interesting bet as it's hard to know what Robertson turns up. Gilbert was excellent this last week gone, at the Championship League and made a 147. I can see Gilbert having a decent German Masters. O'Connor was poor in the last round of CL but before that, he was on fire and that could be because of prep for this. I fancy him to beat Maguire, he's beaten him the last 2 times.

Won Profit +£70 Month +£173

Be VERY careful, I have a friend who did this with Skybet (opened an account in his fathers name as father doesn't bet). He did this because they stopped him betting with them ( he only played on the Greyhounds ... which is the easiest way to get stopped BTW). With the 'new' account, he used his father's details but still bet from home with his own ISP. He noticed a track bias and started backing trap 1 in all races, it took about 7 or 8 wins to be noticed. When he wanted to withdraw £1500 they asked for bank statement proof ... foolishly he had transferred the betting money into his fathers account before opening the new account. They refused to pay out as he was not allowed to bet with them but HE had 'broken the rules'. I would have helped get him his money ( I know a couple of bigwigs at Skybet ... that's another story) but the bank statement didn't give him a leg to stand on. Think he still bets ( not sure if with them), but he doesn't make the same mistake any more.

Did ok in end. Also had a 20% boost on cook, batkley and mclaurin any td. So decent returns. Going into superbowl with a win either side. Will see if any freebies or special for the game.

I think I will start previewing these tournaments earlier. Murphy for example for 20//1 + literally before I posted and even on Exchange it's now 11/12s. Guodong the same massive pull-in once I posted for some reason. I guess people start looking the day it starts.

That's when needs can differ MC as i'd be a lost soul without bookmaker access via one way or another for the bad e/way stuff as the exchange is totally useless for that type of punting , god forbid if there was ever a choice required between exchange and bookmaker it'd take me a lifetime to decide which one to keep. Having two betting outlets in your life is as important as having two women 😁

Day 1 -£2.31.

I've never had an issue when needs must MC but obviously families differ , one thing i always use is a VPN which i need anyway as i've an illegal firestick via Rocket Media which is great for £80 a year for two rooms with what seems like a million tv options. I think a syndicate of like minded is a great move tbh but realize there can be all sorts of complications in the wrong hands , have to admit i've been incredibly fortunate to keep one going for over 17 yrs with no fall outs or hiccups but it did take me months to put together whilst i was working my 6 months notice period , luckily we have great technology these days as there's a 183 miles journey between me and the furthest away so no real need to meet up more than once every couple of years , would add though someone could walk away with thousands of my money anytime they chose but 99.9% sure that would never happen and it's never been a consideration.

Port Vale to beat Colchester seems a pretty nice bet. Can't figure out the reason for these odds. They have 11 more points, they are the best away team in the league and are also strongly supported by ELO ratings. Currently @3.55 in the exchanges

Day 17 -£31 @Carole-dawney picks one more to come

27th January 5 Runners :- Plumpton 2.20 Diplomatic Ash @ 10/3 2.50 Risk It All @ 3/10 3.50 Invincible Nao @ 4's 4.20 Tara Iti @ 7/2 Wolves 5.30 Dancing Colours @ Evens

Must admit to having very little interest in them ........ when I watch racing on TV I tend to have the sound muted and only turn it on when the stalls open and turn it off again when they cross the finish line ..... In fact now that I no longer have the racing channels I usually only watch the races on the Racing Post site or replays on the Sporting Life site and they don't show the pre and post-race interviews So I don't care if the TV companies just stop doing them if they don't want to stump up No idea what other sports do ....... I think in football the press conferences are written into contracts as part of the job. I suppose the difference is that trainers are self employed and won't have employment contracts. Also I can't imagine that players are paid for the short post match interviews

Day 131 +£605 4.10 punchestown midlelton rare 10/1 £10 e/w bet365

Murphy to win German Masters 20/1 Betfair Guodong to win German Masters 40/1 Betfair Gilbert to win German Masters 75/1 Betfair

Bet 174 P/L -£119.20

Elina Avanesyan to beat Katerina Siniakova at 1.80 with Bet365 Avanesyan seems to have made some improvements in the off-season, but this is mainly against Siniakova, who won the AO doubles on Saturday and who doesn't have the greatest of records in Linz (1-7 if I see correctly). Hard to see her being 100 percent after the trip + celebration + big change in conditions.

I'm hoping Karolina Muchova can rid herself of these injuries and get back to the player we know she can be , she has a highest ranking of around No8 but without her recurring injury issues she has the talent to reach at least No8 again this year. Go Karolina 😁

Fair point Zil they love numbers punters , can't believe i'm discussing playing slots and numbers but needs must sometimes. One other point i should have made about the attempt to keep bookmakers from seeing negatives in your a/c is never opt out of gaming which is something you're given the option to do somewhere along the line as that gives them reason to dislike your a/c even more when analyzing.

You could swap doing the spins for the irish lottery, pic 4 no's bet the trebs and the 4fold to small stakes weds and sats all 3 draws

Bet365 In Philadelphia both teams to score 20pts at 2/1 + £20.00

I've a few things i do to help stay under the radar , try and keep myself away from suspicion and also make sure i can get an amount on that's worth the effort put in. -I formed a syndicate in 2007 which is still going strong using 3 ex-colleagues who are both trustworthy and reliable , they also have decent sized families and access to plenty of high street shops in various parts of the country. -Get some information but not as much as when i was working in the industry , best ways i find to utilize this is to either take the 2nd or 3rd best price advertised and ignore the top price available on oddschecker , so if the phone rings and we have say a 14/1 shot we need to get on that's really live for dodgy connections then take say 12/1 and even 10/1 if need be as you know it'll end up around 9/2 anyway , taking 14/1 just alerts and the price collapses so you've no chance of getting the 12/1 or 10/1 as oddschecker becomes a sea of blue in no time because " faces " have got on , this way the price lasts longer and you get infinitely more on rather than peanuts at the best price , another method whilst talking about information is the SP knock out way so the confidential stuff providing they all keep their mouth shut means using betting shops at SP which doesn't alert anyone and therefore the last thing you need to do is take a price but these are pretty rare as it's a job well planned so don't see many these days ( had one in the last 12 months in Ireland ) -As for online accounts the days are gone when you just have a bet , beat the SP , receive your winnings then rinse and repeat the next day so the need to do things different is a necessity , one method we use to prolong accounts is to say spend a tenner a week playing 10p spins so say 100 spins at 10p is staking a tenner and tbh you're likely to get say an average of maybe £7 back anyway to you're effectively giving them £3 a week on average to help retain the a/c for longer , we've a few accounts that really should be restricted or closed by now but i'm convinced the 100 spins a week mostly late at night as they tend to think you're becoming an addict , has saved them , having worked at a high level in the industry i know that trading and marketing have conflicting opinions as to restricting accounts and and marketing always tend to have the edge in debates until it becomes too unprofitable as generally the " freebies " come out of their budget. -Also whilst most of us hate these horrible big bookmaker handicaps you see them promoting with all sorts of extras , why not have a small e/way yankee or lucky 15 on the tv races once a week , pick these 5/1 solid looking shots and most times you'll end up getting your money back anyway and it does confuse them when they analyze the business mix , so along with playing the slots you're effectively giving them nothing in exchange for prolonging your a/c for all the other stuff so even though you're in profit they're reluctant to do anything because your intentions seem honourable , hate playing the spins myself so get my nephew to do it and last July he ended up with all these yellow flying saucers coming from everywhere and got £847 back in one spin. -A large chunk of my profitable punting comes from bad e/way singles ot acca's but as bookmakers are well aware these days that's generally something the syndicate would use in the high street and sticking to SP as there's no real need to want prices , in the perfect world BOG would be fantastic but would never happen for longer than a day for bad e/way races so for all the place overbroke stuff it's a case of staying under the radar the best you can , bookies detest you beating them mathematically and react accordingly and place overbroke acca's certainly do that better than anything in my view for the long term , plan to start a bad e/way thread on here one day but you'd need betting shops as well as online as these bets would destroy your online accounts. Sorry for the ramble i get carried away -

You can use actual bookmakers in shops , human beings are allowed to go outside despite all the media & tech giants fears that something terrible will probably happen to you so to counteract this , stay indoors , put your bets on , do a charity lottery , order some grub , do your food shopping , blah blah blah . The downsides to going back into a shop is similar to rails bookies is the value isn't there compared to online , the upside , you get a ' free ' pen 👍 I used to bet 4-6 days a week , only small time wagers , now 1 or 2 times , I've had loads of online accounts but now only 2 & restricted on both & the main reason is for taking out withdrawals & never needing to deposit anything which for me , is a good thing & after around 45 years of being a bettor I'm not that bothered .

Bit late to start this thread this season, but as I have done for the last few seasons I will keep a thread for all the latest news regarding the Festival Hunter Chase. This is the one race at Cheltenham which gets little attention, but I am here to rectify that again. One of the reasons I have been slow to start the thread this season is because the betting has been slow to appear and has been a bit messy. Things have settled down a little although there are lots of horses priced up. In this first post I have covered the majority of horses that have been priced up by most of the bookies who have a market on the race. Its On The Line - Looked like he was going to be well beaten on his seasonal return at Down Royal on Boxing Day, but in the end stayed on strongly to finish 2nd behind Big Interest. I thought it was a perfectly decent start to the season and its easy to see why he should be at the head of the market at this stage. No doubt he will probably head to Naas again next as per last year. Angels Dawn - Won the Kim Muir 2 years ago off a mark of 131 and that will no doubt catch a lot of peoples attention, but she will have to run to a higher mark than that to win this. She was 3rd in last year's Thyestes off a mark of 138 and then fell in the Kim Muir when challenging at 2 out off a mark of 142. Connections have now decided to go down the point to point and hunter chase route and she won a match at 1/20 first time out. That clearly told us nothing, but she then qualified for this by winning a much more competitive Open over Christmas. She beat Ryehill by 6L who was 4th at Punchestown last season albeit 29L behind Its On The Line. Obviously you can't be certain she is still at the top of her ability, but at least that win gave us a clue to what she is still capable off. She isn't a top class horse on the downgrade who don't win this race anymore and rather a solid handicapper who might not be on the downgrade. We know she handles course and distance and we see time and time again horses run well at Festivals year after year. I wouldn't mind seeing her again though I suspect connections might go straight to Cheltenham rather than go to Naas next month. Sine Nomine - Has gone down the handicap/mares races route this season and so far yet to finish in 2 starts. Connections look likely to carry on down that route though and at this stage she would be an unlikely winner. Winged Leader - Is 7/1 with Bet365 and Unibet, but I'd be amazed if he ran in the race. He is currently on a 15 race winning streak in points and I suspect that will be where he remains. Big Interest - Only had 3 runs having finished 4th on debut last February and then the following month bolted up by 30L. It was some effort to go from that straight to Down Royal on Boxing Day. It was an impressive performance as well as he pretty much made all. Given the trainer decided to take a quiet approach with Ferns Lock (same owner) I just wonder if he will go for the race, but of course things didn't work out with him so maybe he will feel that you may as well go for it. What is certain though is he isn't qualified yet and will either need to win an Open point or finish 1st or 2nd in a hunter chase to do so. Famous Clermont - Last season it was all about Aintree with him only for it to come up testing and he didn't run. He's yet to be seen this season and I've seen nothing to suggest they will go to Cheltenham this year so likely to be Aintree again. Forest Chimes - Mentioning him as Unibet have him priced up, but sadly he has passed away. Ferns Lock - Looked an absolute nut case before the race last year and duly pulled up. He was then beaten at 2/7 over Easter before pulling up at Punchestown. Yet to be seen this season and impossible to back on what we saw last season. Con's Roc - Only had the 4 starts the first of which saw him finish 2nd in December 2022. Was off for 441 days when winning a 3 runner maiden and was then the only one to finish in a winner of one. His seasonal debut was at Limerick over Christmas and I thought he did it very well that day with Rocky's Howya a disappointment in 4th. Clearly open to improvement, but like Big Interest needs to get another qualifying run in. Gracchus De Balme - Ex Joesph O'Brien who looked very good when winning on debut for Hannah Roach at Knightwick in November. That was a Mixed Open so that is one of his qualifying runs in, but he might be more of an Aintree horse. The trainer and Joe O'Shea have split so I'm not certain who is training him now, but I suspect he will be in Joe's name next. Fairly Famous - Was being touted as a Cheltenham horse last season, but things didn't go right for him early on and he pulled up at Wetherby when a short price to beat Sine Nomine. He bounced back well though to beat Premier Magic on Cheltenham hunter chase night and ran perfectly well when 3rd to What A Glance in the Horse & Hound Cup at Stratford. Gave Gina her 500th winner at Horseheath on New Year's Eve when having a fairly simple task at 1/4. Could easily turn out to be the UK's leading contender. Shearer - Not been seen since winning a 3 runner race at Aintree in Jun 23, but has had a leg problem since then. Paul Nicholls stated he would go hunter chasing this season and daughter Olive will ride. Cheltenham wasn't mentioned as a target though. Wilitgoahead - 2nd to Con's Roc at Limerick, but had already had 3 runs in points so hard to think he will reverse the form although he had won all 3. Set to run at Thurles on Sunday. Wonderwall - Only rated 118 over fences when with the Bowens although has won both Irish points in the Autumn in good style. Those wins have qualified him for this, but on his old rules form he wouldn't be an obvious winner at this stage. Fier Jaguen - Was nowhere near as good last season as he was the season before and he's never struck me as being one for this race anyway. What A Glance - Had a superb end to last season winning on Cheltenham Hunter Chase night and then the Horse And Hound Cup at Stratford. Those efforts suggested a tilt at this race was worthwhile, but he was beaten by Allmankind on his seasonal return on New Years Eve at Horseheath. Suspect he will improve for that though and should be a contender. Iskandar Pecos - Another massive improvement from a horse trained by Joe O'Shea (in Hannah Roach's name last season) and won 3 on the bounce including the Intermediate Final on Hutner Chase night at Cheltenham. Was beaten by Forest Chimes in the John Corbet Cup, but I don't think that was his true running and I know his trainer is confident about his chances for this race. Yet to run this season. Eva's Oskar - Was set to run at Ludlow on Thursday before it was abandoned. Could turn out to be a Cheltenham contender if retaining his old ability. Jeux d'Eau - Won the Lady Dudley Cup at Chaddesley Corbett last April, but then disappointed behind What A Glance at Cheltenham. Could be the race came soon enough and he really impressed me when winning a Mens Open at the same venue over Christmas when beating Premier Magic by 15L. He's only 7 and there could well be more to come. Premier Magic - The 2023 winner disappointed last year and whilst he has won well since then he does look past his peak now. Angels Breath - Won the opening hunter chase of the season for the Vaughan's at Taunton, but might be their Aintree runner rather than their Cheltenham runner. Could depend on how Eva's Oskar gets on. Rockys Howya - Looked a really good horse in 2023 in Irish points and backed that up with a superb effort behind Premier Magic when not quite seeing it out. Sadly had to miss the 2024 season and returned by nearly beating Winged Leader in a point. He wasn't so good at Limerick though when his jumping let him down a bit. If he can bounce back from that he would be a huge player for me based on what we saw in 2023. He is set to run at Thurles on Sunday and how he gets on in that will tell us plenty if he is still up to that 2023 level.

Most winners @Johnrobertson moves clear at the top and looks a strong favourite

Interesting that you know a couple of bigwigs at Skybet - they're one of the less popular bookies in these parts.

4.26 Wolv Fior Di Bosco 0.25 w at 16/1, My Brother Mike 0.25 w at 20/1, Al Suil Eile 025 w at 22/1, Light Up Our Stars 0.25 w at 25/1 = total 1 pt staked for hopefully a fun packed race

I don't mind them at all tbh as they're part of the racing coverage package and as long as you take it as entertainment rather than act on it it's all good and most of the time pretty interesting. From a personal point of view being a strategical player i'd be a million to ever actively get involved in what they say but when watching the coverage in relaxation mode with no bet i'd miss that part of the coverage , also most of the chat tends to surround future plans and giving clues for ante post plays but as i've never or ever will be a horse racing ante post player it's for personal interest only. As for whether they get paid i've honestly no opinion nor interest either way.

Result: Risk It All 2nd. Lost £20 January profit to date £177.13

sorry these are exchange prices

You can still get similar prices on the exchange @amity

Dotties Star 18/1 Bet 365 14:50 Plumpton

1 pt win Clondaw Robin 33/1 Bet365 Plumpton 2.20

Todays lot - Plumpton 2.20 Diplomatic Ash 2/1 £2.00 Coral Plumpton 3.20 Fortuna Ligna 11/4 £2.00 W Hill Plumpton 3.50 Fantastikas 5/1ew £2.00 Fred and betfair - Plumpton 2.20 Diplomatic Ash 3.30 £2.00 £4.60 Plumpton 3.20 Fortuna Ligna 4.00 £2.00 £6.00 Plumpton 3.50 Fantastikas 6.40 £1.00 £5.40 and betfair BSP - Plumpton 2.20 Diplomatic Ash BSP £2.00 Plumpton 3.20 Fortuna Ligna BSP £2.00 Plumpton 3.50 Fantastikas BSP £1.00

It is about her level. The top 50 are playing in Austria and she is in the lesser 250 event. Most tennis coaches are relatively easy going. For her to be unable to find one she can work with kind of sugests it is not easy working with her.

Two matches where I like the underdog to win. Salkova to beat Erika Andreeva odds 1.90 Cirstea to beat A Rus odds 2.15

3.40 Plumpton: Invincible Nao @ 7/2 (Bet365)

Lost +£605 day 130

Main bet on barkley or hurts 1stbtd, got a couple of team bets on hertz and Robinson for 1st team td. Fancy Eagles but Washington and the in form Daniels could well bring a surprise. Fancy bills to beat Chiefs, but can never rule out Mahomes. Went Allen for 1st td and also 1st team td. But looking doing Cook with a bet builder. Probably use betfair bets for team td. Got a few free bets to use.

Must admit I submitted my entry and thought it was this week until I cottoned on yesterday afternoon!

I must admit I've never had a message that I spend to much time online, that's a new one to me. As to the work of the settlers, I assume it is mostly automated so that shouldn't cause them much of an issue. Making lots of withdrawals may be an issue if it increases bank charges for them, I tend to leave mine in until my bank reaches £1,000 (not very often) and then withdraw or else withdraw once a year. I also only deposit the minimum.

Although I didn't win first place, I'm proud to have reached the final in a row. Congratulations to the winner @por matriz and thanks to everyone for their support!

Results update, 6/11 +9.15pts One I like in the Anytime Goalscorer market for tonight (11pm start time) is: Gabriel Vilardi (Winnipeg Jets) 2.90 Bet365

I suppose it depends on why you are no longer able to access the offers Skybet appear to have been doing the best offers recently but presumably they're not very keen on customers who only use the account for the offers So I guess the thing to do would be to identify which firms offer the best offers and do your day-to-day regular bets with them so they see you as a 'loyal customer' ........ local offers for local people. (Which is obviously the purpose of the offers - to foster customer loyalty) Skybet are probably not quaking about my regular £1 bets but I only do the Cash Back offers, ie the Can't Lose ones ....... not the bet-builder types which is what they want to encourage people to get into the habit of doing. I wonder if they might catch up with me on that basis ?