The ATR Interviews (11) ~ Mileni4uk

[BillyHills]

After a pretty successful first series of ATR Interviews, the ratings were considered high enough to let me loose with a second series, so here goes. Just to make things tidy, Milen was the only Mod I didnt get round to doing last time so he's first up. Milen I think you'll agree is a pretty popular guy around the ATR, for those that dont know, he lives in Bulgaria and joined the PL back in August 2006. For someone who lives in a country that doesnt cover horse racing its amazing the passion he has for the sport and equally amazing that he quickly made his mark here by winning the Most Improved Punter award in 2007 and then the Best Punter award the following year. I think Milen has a great attitude towards life and it comes through in his posts, I had the pleasure in meeting him the one time he came over to the UK to watch 'live' horse racing at Stratford, a first for him. His report on his visit was one of the most enjoyable posts i've read on the PL and if you missed it its here. http://www.punterslounge.com/forum/f25/pl-race-meeting-xi-sun-sep-14th-stratford-carnage-65663/index19.html#post1184120 Hope you enjoy our ramblings:ok Please dont hesitate to grill him a bit more. ________________________________________________ Previous Issues in case you missed them;

• Bowles10
• Ralphie7
• Fintron
• RussP
• Billy The Punter
• Chris34
• Mowgli77
• Spooner
• Stewartd14
• Gingertipster

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[BillyHills]

Re: The ATR Interviews (11) ~ Mileni4uk 1. You joined the PL in August 2006, how did you come across the site in the first place? All good things in life are accidental.

2. Are there any sites in Bulgaria that devote their time to Horse Racing? I used to think I am the only one interested in this sport here. Now I think it’s 2. Me and Ogi. That’s pretty much how popular this sport is in my country.

3. Do you think the PL differs or offers anything more than the many other betting forums out there? I don’t really venture in other forums, but I have stumbled upon a few and they are nothing compared to PL. I don’t think there is any other forum as ours. The banter on the PL meet up I went was second to none. And on the poker tourneys around Xmas when I play the odd poker game with PL-ers is unbelievable. It’s just like one big family with some great people involved and it’s like a 2^nd home to me.

4. Your individual thread was a success this NH season, have you changed the way you look at races at all over the last couple of years? I learn every day. This was my first full jumping season and I’ve been following the sport for only 3 years. I don’t think I’m the finished article yet. In fact I’m pretty certain there’s a long way to go. I have to get into the flat and I need to keep my consistency over the jumps. The only significant change I made in the last year or two was looking at markets and understanding what is good and what is poor value. I don’t really approach a race thinking what will win it. I approach the races trying to spot where the market has it wrong. If the prices are right then simply the chances of winnings is what goes your way in the long term. Saying that I don’t think I’ll ever be odds compiler and I’m firmly of the opinion that I don’t have to make my own books to be successful at the game. Having the feel when I see the market and the cards is more important for me. Quite possibly I might have to switch to compiling my own odds eventually. I’m very close to having only Betfiar where I can put proper bets on. We’ll see how this one goes next season. Also one other thing I’ve learned this season. I used to think a horse is a no bet when there is a doubt over him seeing out the trip. Now I approach such situations asking myself: “is it worth checking if he stays the trip at this price?”. Recent example - Planet Of Sound. Everything is about the price really. Even when a horse might not like the ground, if the price is ridiculously big for his ability or his handicap mark, then the punter has to get involved. Jockeys, ground, track, trainer are all factors for me to have a bet or not to have one. They are all 2^nd factors though. The 1^st factor is always the horse ability and his handicap mark. If I like those two, then I start looking at the 2^nd factors and try to work out if the particular horse is value or no value. And there’s also the odd “feel” bet, where I just have a feeling the horse will run a big race. I think everyone is allowed one or two of those too.

5. Is there anything that annoys you on the PL or improvements that you would make? Not at all.

6. Do you think the role of a moderator is appreciated by the members? Even if it’s not appreciated I don’t really care. I don’t see any difference between mods and non mods. Especially on ATR. Guys like Ratty, Ted, RB for example and many others are as much part of the section as we are. It’s just a great place to be.

7. You came over to the UK for the PL meeting at Stratford, any plans to come over and see some more racing? Yea I was considering Ascot, but Epsom in April was a no go for me. I’ll definitely come for a new meet up soon and might also stay for a few days to go up and down the country. I know Ogi is very keen on coming as well, so we’re definitely going to do something about it.

8. Do you think there are enough 'discussion' threads on the ATR or is it all about tips and individual threads? Well it’s called “Punters” Lounge, so tipping has to have the 1^st place. I could do without discussions and I could do with discussions. I’m that type of person, doesn’t bother me. At the end of the day you have to believe your opinion is the right one. When you back a horse you have to disagree with the odds compiler and take him on. So in essence in every discussion I believe I’m the one who’s always right J

9. You won an award for most improved punter in 2007 and followed that up with the best punter award in 2008, How do you feel about the PL Oscars and being nominated by fellow members?

It’s great fun the Oscars. It was a proud moment for a PL-er to win those and I am a bit disappointed I didn’t really follow up in 2009 losing all my interest after Cheltenham, but sometimes the summer just takes you away in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian sea and the Greek sea are just 200 miles from you and you can’t resist. Thank God the jumps are not in the summer J

10. You join in the competitions on the ATR, do you think these are an important part of a public forum? The competitions are the best part of ATR imo. I doubt there is another forum having so many as we do. I just wish my pal RB was a bit better at them, so we could have proper bets between us. So far he’s too easy to win against, but I think he’s going for English horses in next season’s TTTF, so we might have a new wooden spoon holder next term ;)

Horse Racing & Betting

1. What got you interested in Horse Racing? It was Slapdash’s system he was running at the time. I started following him not knowing anything about horses. Then I started using the Betfair markets myself looking for e/w value against short priced favorites. And it went from there. Few months later I started looking at form and I ended up studying form more and more and taking a real interest at the sport.

2. We know you prefer the jump racing, why is this, is it from a betting point of view or just the spectacle? I think it’s the fact I know all horses and they reappear every year combined with the fact that I rarely stay at home when summer comes. I am taking a genuine interest at flat this year though and I’ll slowly try to get into it more and more. As for spectacle, there’s nothing like Cheltenham and even the flat boffins can’t disagree on that.

3. If you could change one thing in Racing or Betting overnight, what would that be? Keep horses like New Approach and Sea The Stars racing as 4yo’s.

4. Can you remember your first bet, how old were you and where did you put it on? Don’t remember exactly, but I remember it won. It was on 3 football games in acca and I had Milan, Manchester United and some other team to win away from home. I think it returned 25 quid from my 5 quid stake.

5. Can you reveal your biggest win to date, you don’t have to be specific about the amount but what was it on? When I was starting to get into horse racing I was playing e/w doubles every Saturday collecting all the horses posted on ATR by the senior members. Then I’d put 8 or 9 in doubles and watch the races. Made two big hits with this strategy. Hit 5 winners once and then 6 winners the next Saturday. I think both returned four figure sums and these were massive returns for me at the time. I think I equaled these returns this year with my bet on Thousand Stars at 54/1.

6. You have said it can be difficult to get bets on at some bookies, can you explain this any further? Yea it has been frustrating these last few months. I was banned from one bookie and limited pretty much all over the others. I don’t have that big stakes, so I can split around, but the more I win, the more I will find it tough to get on. I think bookies used to limit you to small amounts before, but now they are just banning and not taking any chances. Some have even closed my accounts with notification on my e-mail: “due to the unprofitable nature of your account”. This is the biggest joke I’ve ever seen. What is unprofitable nature of an account? That they are not winning from me? I think it’s a bit of a joke to send this to a customer, but I guess bookies can send whatever they want. I can still put my bets splitting stakes around. The real problem starts if you decide to have a go like a pro. Then you need bigger stakes and the more you win the easier is to be banned. It only takes one or two big winners and bookies are scared of you. When a horse is gambled from 33/1 to 8/1 and wins, then they think you have some inside information and they ban you. Of course inside information has nothing to do with the win, you just have worked this out for yourself studying form, but there isn’t any way of explain that to bookies, is it? As I mentioned in my thread, I’ll have to adjust my style of betting and go onto win bets with savers, but I may find this difficult, because I’ve always been an e/w punter and the way I approach a race is looking for the e/w value.

7. What is the racing coverage like in the Bulgarian media, and is betting popular in your country? Coverage is zero. Betting on horses is not popular at all. We had it in betting shops few years ago, but there wasn’t much interest and they got closed. I like it that way though. While people are sitting in our bookie shops betting on football and trying to beat impossible odds, I smile and remember my last double priced winner I’ve tipped on ATR. And I also enjoy having an interest at something no one else is following. It’s like my private little world that no one knows about. Only my friends are aware of what I do and they never ask me about it, because it’s far away from their world.

8. Do you get to watch any racing on the net or listen to any commentaries? I watch RUK’s live stream during the jumps season and watch replays on ATR. Or trade bets at Betfair and watch for free ATR live. I think a new satellite will be sent in space in 2011 and it will be possible to get ATR with a normal 1m satellite dish. At this moment I need a big 3m one to get it. When this happens I’ll get a dish and pay for RUK as well and follow both channels on TV. There might be some issues getting RUK on TV in Bulgaria, but there are ways to do it. Many people share different encoded channels and you just need a decoder and a password given from them. I am just waiting for that bloody satellite to be shot in space, lol J

9. What aids do you use to follow form, sites, books, software? Nah, just the Racing Post and the replays on RUK and ATR. That’s all I require.

10. Might sound silly, but is the Racing Post in your own language or is it in English? I don’t know if Racing Post can be in Buglarian and if it will ever be. My phone, my TV, my everything is in English. I don’t even know the Bulgarian terms of all this stuff. Especially with racing it is a must to be in English. I need to think at least 2 minutes to tell you what sheepskin cheek-pieces means in Bulgarian.

11. Have you a favorite type of race you like to get involved with, whether it be novices, staying chases, top class races etc.. Handicap chases are my favorites, but I bet everywhere. Rarely in novice hurdles and novice chases, mainly handicaps. The graded races always provide good value as well. If it is a class 1 or class 2 handicap chase with more than 8 runners, this is my type of race.

12. Do you think the exchanges have made a difference to the way people bet since they were introduced? Well they possibly helped a bit the odds compilers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes. They do and actually sometimes they blindly follow the Betfair evening and early morning market, which is very good for me, because I can get some unbelievable prices in the morning when I start placing my bets.

13. Do you think Horse Racing is 'clean' at the moment and does this affect the way you bet? If you can spot value it doesn’t matter if it’s clean or not, you’d still be on profit. I think racing is clean with the occasional non trying jockey and yard trying to cheat, but for me this is part of the game.

14. Do you have many Ante Post bets and do you look to trade them? I did a lot of antepost betting this year and I happen to think I was quite unlucky with it. Will probably have a few this year as well. There’s no reason to give up, I think it was just bad luck with most of them. This year I am optimistic the late injuries and the early season setbacks won’t be on my horses and I’ll get a better return from my antepost betting. And yes I try to trade them, because there’s always a risk of a horse not running at all or going for a different race.

15. As far as betting is concerned, where do you see yourself in five years from now? This question reminds me of a job interview. Don’t worry I’m PL through and through and I won’t go to another forum. It’s either PL or retirement. I am ATR bred and still relatively unexposed ;)

Probably the straight answer to this question is: “In five years I see myself on Betfair”, lol J

16. Do you invest in the Jackpots or Scoop 6 bets? Very rarely I try a placepot for fun. Have had at least 10 times 5 out of 6 placed, but we’ve all been there.

17. Do you bet on other sports aswell as Racing, if so which do you think brings you the most profit? Used to, but not much. It’s all horse racing now.

18. Kauto Star or Denman? Denman forever in my heart. Although if that 6/1 keeps hanging there on Kauto I’d be tempted. He’s been knocked down a bit too early imo. There’s still one big year in him. He’ll win the King George again. Possibly all his season will be geared towards Kempton. I’d love to have one final Gold Cup return from him. Never managed to get him right and the two times I backed him he flopped. I can see myself having a bit of that 6/1 though. It will be nice if he can win a GC and be retired. After all, the horses we love are the horses we’ve had returns from. It’s not just about the money, it’s about the excitement and all and for that reason I’ve never been in the Kauto camp, because he has always been odds-on or just a shade odds against. I’ve been opposing him his entire career, but I will definitely have a sentimental bet next season. He’ll probably win the KG and be fav at Cheltenham again.

19. Binocular or Hurricane Fly? Hurricane Fly will beat Binocular if they get him fit and ready next March. The Fly all the way!

19: AP McCoy or Ruby Walsh? Don’t mind both. Paul Townend isn’t far away and is probably hungrier than both though. This Ruby injury came at the right time for him. Will soon be recognized as one of the top jockeys in the sport.

20. Nicholls, Mullins or Henderson? Mullins of course

Quick Questions 1. What is your homepage at the moment? Don’t have one, always on blank, but could easily be one of these three - Oddschecker, Racing Post and the ATR section on PL.

2. Name a site on your favorites that may surprise us? http://www.audible.com/ - It’s a site for audio books and I love listening to books. Living in Bulgaria I can get quite a few in English, but not all of them. And while the translations are good they are still translations and I prefer exactly how the author has written them. So I either buy them in English or listen to audio books. Which btw makes the 40 minute jogging quite pleasant, because I usually can’t wait to finish it after 20 minutes have passed. Now with audio books I barely feel it. And the narrators are great as well. It’s a completely different experience really to listen to a book and not read it.

3. Favourite Music, song, band? I like every genre out there really. Bulgarian music, Rock music, Pop music, Latin music. That’s probably because I used to play when I was in school. Learned to play the guitar my brother bought for himself, but never touched. Had a small electric synthesizer, which I adored. A very interesting fact from the kindergarten years. I must have been four or five when this happened. We used to play in front of an audience at the end of the year, all kids parents etc. When I joined the kindergarten every one of the older kids had an instrument, but no one was on the drums, because no one could put a beat together and sustain it. Straight after I was put I managed to keep the rhythm. I remember the lady explaining to my mother that “I MUST UNDOBTETLY” start playing instruments and go onto learning the piano and so on. Which of course my mother never fulfilled being the woman she is (a teacher), I had to learn and study. So instead of becoming a great performer, I ended up on PL ;) I guess I have this feel of music in me since I was very young and while every boy at school was listening to Spice Girls and every girl to Backstreet Boys, I was buying Blur, Oasis and Placebo albums. I performed on the city festival once. Sang Nirvana’s Polly and Beatles’ Twist And Shout, lol. I like Garbage and Eminem a lot, but it’s really anything that can catch my ear.

4. Favourite TV show, not sport related? I used to like Soccer AM a lot when Tim Lovejoy was part of it. Not the same show anymore. I loved the Prison Break series as well. Can’t really watch series though. Prefer a 2 hour movie with beginning and an end. I’m too impatient to watch series season after season.

5. What was the last book you read? The Pelican Brief by John Grisham. Just started reading The Beach by Alex Garland.

6. What do you do for a living? I work for HP and do some consulting on a specific HP product, but basically it’s not just the product but all the software stuff. Windows, Exchange, Oracle, MSSQL etc. This HP product is a backup solution and interacts with all these.

7. What Car do you drive or would like to own one day? I drive an old Opel Astra (Vauxhall in the UK) and I would one day drive a Jaguar. They stopped producing the S-Type, but that might be the next car I’ll drive. It’s just so damn sexy and the new S-Type is the XF, which is a great car, but I just love the S-Type four head-lights and not many cars left with such fronts anymore.

8. Do you have any hobbies away from sport? You mean “away from horse racing”, don’t you? ;) To be fair I rarely watch even footie nowadays. The only sport I follow is the horses. And might just stop following football if Rafa remains in charge for next year. All in all my hobbies are horse racing, books and movies. Give me those three and I’ll be a happy person. I love to write as well. Have done all kinds of crazy stuff as stories and sent to friends during the years. Might just pop up with a book one day, who knows. To be a good writer you have to be a good reader first. And I am of the opinion I am at least 1000 books short to even start thinking of compiling a story myself. I might give it a shot one day though. If I publish, do buy it please. It will be one of your own, Mileni from PL :)

9. What Football team do you support? Liverpool (next year is definitely our year!!)

10. What was the last live sporting event you attended outside of Horse Racing? My mate is a ballroom dancer, so it has to be the national championship of ballroom dancing.

11. What gadgets do you own, Ipod, Mobile, Xbox, etc. Sony Ericson p1i is my mobile. The other notable gadget I’ve got is an HD video player attached to my TV. No Ipods, PS3s and similar. Oh and a Sony mp3 player. That’s pretty much it.

12. Biggest personal achievement so far? University graduation and a promotion at work, but I’m still young and a lot more to come I guess.

13. Ambitions for the future? Don’t really have any goals set or anything. I take every day as it comes. I live easy with myself. The only ambitions I have are to keep enjoying my horses, try to stay on profit, enjoy my books, enjoy my movies, keep busting my mate’s asses at pool, keep enjoying the banter with the colleagues at work and keep having fun with all the things I do no matter how many years have passed.

Any other comments? That’s enough I’d say. Get back to me for a 2^nd interview after I’ve written that book or after I’ve turned pro at horse racing ;)