A day to forget

There are some days when no matter what you do the punting gods ignore you as if you had the bubonic plague. I had such a day yesterday which started with a place bet on old Sir Slick. He did his best, as usual, but it was either the 2200m for the first time or the fact he could not lead as he often does which brought his downfall.Not to be worried I bet against Star Encounter in Race 1 in Perth by taking a hefty exacta with Cezanne to win plus a win bet as well. Jessica Hill did everything she

There are some days when no matter what you do the punting gods ignore you as if you had the bubonic plague. I had such a day yesterday which started with a place bet on old Sir Slick. He did his best, as usual, but it was either the 2200m for the first time or the fact he could not lead as he often does which brought his downfall.

Not to be worried I bet against Star Encounter in Race 1 in Perth by taking a hefty exacta with Cezanne to win plus a win bet as well. Jessica Hill did everything she could to pocket the favourite but in the finish Cezanne was the one that weakened and a little hole started to appear in my wallet.

It is an extremely rare event but due to some quite reliable information I decided to back a tip on Funtantes in the Sires Produce and after a fairly gutsy effort from a wide barrier she weakened in the last 100m. I could now fit a finger into the whole in my wallet.

Punting is about having a go so I stepped into Music Review in McKell Cup at Rosehill for a win and the exacta with Ready To Lift and Keepin' The Dream. Ouch! I sat in the corner and sulked for a few minutes asking myself why didn't I reverse the exacta as a saver. I will keep this strategy in mind for the future.

After considering all things possible I decided to only have one bet in QTC Cup and that was to lay Ortensia. She had nothing in her favour bar a good barrier and Craig Williams and if you ever want to see a brilliant ride just watch the replay of Mr Patience lifting her over the line. This is quite a filly and as a mare will be a force to be reckoned with in the Spring but before that she goes to the Stradbroke. She needs to break a historical precedence to win the race but am I going to lay her again?? By now four fingers worth of hole in the wallet.

Now I know Theophorus blew like the north wind in the betting but you cannot always take notice of drifts as sometimes it is all just a correction of tight opening markets. Wow, what a breathless win by mudlark Prince Braeman (well, mudlark at this stage) and I wondered how nice the $2.20 the place could have been on Theophorus. There had been two saving opportunities by now and I had bypassed both.

All is not over as there was still Race 7 in Perth and I was keen on Hadabeclorka at the 10/1 on Betfair so I stepped in there and on Superscenic at 85/1 for the win and 14/1 the place. Alas the first up winner Grand Nirvana did it again with H never getting warm and Superscenic running a very nice race just outside the placings. I will follow him this campaign. I was now able to put my fist through the whole wallet!!

As my partner and I were about to head off to a 40th birthday party I thought what the heck: I need to listen to one last race and I backed two roughies in the last at Perth: Kanturk and Manhatn (had a great win off him last year) and all that happened was the racecaller declaring Kanturk ran a mighty first up race or words to that effect. After such a savage beating who remembers the exact phrase!!

Oh well, at least the party was fun. It is after punting days like this you wonder why you bet? I know the answer to that question. It is because I love a bet and somedays have the will power of a gnat and when you combine the two the possibility of disaster is on the cards. I am reminded of the words from some song of my past which said "momma said there would be days like this".