30oct11 one hour

5 winners from 34 bets, best or at least most significant was Justin Sercombe's 10 point winner to really turn the screw in the Plate.

Steve Walton, a founder member, has picked up three winners now in the past 5 bets and that means he has moved into positive +25p still only 14th but in the mix.  Special mention for Joanne Hutson whose 66-1 short was beaten into 2nd by a short head by another 66-1 shot!

Four more join the list of dormy players, Mark Dighton, Gary Pascoe, Barry James, and Trevor James

Excel is sent

29oct11 two days

Sorry for delayed update been away on a course in Scunthorpe!

Friday 43 bets 5 winners and Saturday only 27 bets and just 2 winners.  The only one that really needs highlighting for the main comp is Lee Constable who hit an 12-1 winner not on the heels of an 11-1 winner a 2 or 3 bets ago to storm into the cash on  +£10.73 and 7th place.  A result that pushes Vince Paige out of the cash  :-).

In the plate Justin Sercombe drew a blank on Friday while Stuart Bentham sat out and they both rested Saturday, so changes at all!

27oct11 Scunthorpe rules

8 winners from 44 bets again too many to mention all of them the best was Dave Fifield at 7-1 but the most impressive was the 100-30, 10 point winner for Justin Sercombe in an eighteen runner race in Eire that brought up a treble and took him 21 points clear of Stuart Bentham with a bet in hand.

The rot has well and truly set in for Stuart Bentham now with a second bet in 3 days that has missed the frame!

26oct11 biggie again

New to the major headlines we have Ben Callaghan with a 25-1 winner today.  which, of course, rockets him up the table into =5th place - well done yet another player zipping past me :-(

Overall 6 winners from a very busy 44 bets today other winners were Steve Walton 7-1, Kevin Hall, Howard Kelly, the two leaders in the plate both of whom shot over to Eire and collected 10 point winners.

The gap between these two leaders in the plate, Justin Sercombe (123 points), and Stuart Bentham (112 points) and the rest is now vast 5th placed Wayne Morton is only on 55 points and has had more bets than both of them - still will be interesting to watch these two battle it out for the rest of the comp.  I suppose Kevin Wood may have something to say about that he sits 3rd on 78 points but has 9 bets in hand but have they slipped the field?

25oct11 results delayed

Problem with detailed results at Catterick, they were unavailable so update delayed.  I know all the winners so nothing dramatic missing.  There were 43 bets and 5 winners Rod Brown who has now had 4 winners in the past 8 bets to draw level, Robert Baker 4-1, Justin Sercombe, Dave Fifield & Adam Slater.

Justin Sercombe's winner took him 11 points clear 1 bet in hand in the plate.

Massive drama with Stuart Bentham for the first time in his 32 bets so far his horse failed to finish in teh fiorst 4 and he lost his 100% record.

Paul Pritchard went dormy today

24oct11 winner for leader

Kevin Dighton strikes again - this time 14-1 to go to +£47.11 and a full £25+ clear of everyone, that has the look of a killer blow unless we can find some massive winners when the 33-1 restriction is lifted (last 21 bets - so quite a while yet).  But well done anyway this is turning out to be one of the definitive performances ever.

Overall 4 winners from 34 bets, the other 3 winners were Alan Mabb, John Collins & Jed Parramore.

Very few points gained by the leaders in the plate so no changes there.

Gary Cawsey went dormy today to join Mark Orlando, Barry Pemble, Dan Burgess & Alan spark as the five players with no spare bets left.  Paul Pritchard only has one spare left and Barry James and Mark Dighton only two.  

23oct11 wow 6-1

Brilliant match too far away to see Sir Alex's face - what a shame.  The City fans were brilliant.  All my bets won as well!

Slow day in the comp only 24 bets and just two winners - 22 of the bets were at Aintree so a good job we didn't go there as the best we did was Tom Feeney's 4-1 shot the other one was Barry Pemble with a 2-1 winner. Both of those were well down the pack so no changes in the leaders.

Excel has been sent

23oct11 united v city

Off to the match tomorrow

City are 11-4 to win and as Steve O'Hare from Atlanta emailed me to say this has to be the best chance they have had for a generation to win at Old Trafford might be just that he is a devoted Liverpool fan and its really wishful thinking!  So taking Advantage of Bet365 offer of a free bet in running the same as any bet placed on the match before the start I have backed them at 11-4 and can hedge out for nil if they are losing or double up.

Might even correct score it at 1-3 my favorite score after backing Cheltenham to beat Crawley Town 3-1 at 28-1!  Those interested 1-3 is currently 25-1 with Bet365

22oct11 CTFC in 3rd

4 wins from 35 bets today, they were Lee Constable 11-1 to shoot up to +£0.73p and 11th, James Foley 5-2 and other two were Rod Brown and Vince Paige both with the same 9-4 winner.  That was not enough to move Vince Paige up from his 7th position he now sits on +£8.57.  The leader, Kevin Dighton, is +£34.11, £12.29 clear of Dave Kingsbury in 2nd and £13.48 ahead of Wayne Morton in 3rd.

The top 3 in the plate all picked the same 4-6 shot from Eire that got beaten into 2nd so they all had to settle for 5 points each.

Today saw us pass through the 200th winner but from 1320 bets that's a strike rate of only 15% less than one in six!

21oct11 paultry

Just 2 winners from 41 bets - what's going on! The winners were Kevin Wood 13-8 and 10 points and John Roach 8-13.  So all we saw was Kevin Wood leap over Martin Long (urghh!) into 3rd in the plate.

Top of the plate is as follows:

Justin Sercombe 102 from 28 bets
Stuart Bentham 95 (29)
Kevin Wood 72 (22)
Martin Long 63 (23)
and on the bubble is Wayne Morton 55 (31)

BBC NEWS FEED ADDED

Check out the headlines on the R/H side

BLOG REDESIGN

Note the new functionality you can now sign up by putting your email in the box and all posts will be emailed to you - save you logging on

There is also a new views counter so I can see if anyone is actually looking at what I post. It says that there have been 364 in the past 7 days which implies 50+ per day - don't believe that!

Or could be, I suppose, Vince 40 times when he is bored in the office!

20oct11 big winner

Congratulations are due to Dave Kingsbury for a very nice 25-1 winner the rockets him up to 2nd place on +£22.82 just £13.29 behind our leader Kevin Dighton. 6 winners in total yesterday from 40 bets.

3 of the 4 leaders in the plate all picked the same horse that finished 2nd in a big race in Thurles so no changes at the top of the plate

19oct11 plate boys r back

41 bets today and just 4 winners usual culprits and all short prices so no action at the top of the main comp apart from Martin Long sneaking into the cash in 8th on +£4.01.

So we have the big 4 at the top of the plate and a new leader Justin Sercombe, 2nd Stuart Bentham, 3rd Martin Long, and 4th Kevin Wood - OK everyone else let's concentrate on the real money :-).

Well done for the two players who both spotted that I had missed losing bets (this can happen when people use other phones) and got me to correct them even though this was to their disadvantage - good sportsmanship thanks.

Two more gone dormy today Mark Orlando & Dan Burgess - at least they get a mention!!

18oct11 2 penalties!

Kevin Dighton strikes again - is this the same man we know and love? - I demand a DNA test

6 winners from 36 bets the best was Kevin Dighton's 8-1 winner to stretch his lead to back out to £15.48. He also becomes the first runner to be more up than remaining bets so he now is certain to finish positive pretty impressive this early. Adam Slater had a 7-2 winner Mark Nutting 2-1 the rest were small.

Again very quiet at the top of the plate so no changes there

17oct11 tipple

Just three winners Steve Walton, Rod Brown and the most important Wayne Morton who brings up a double with his 10th winner of the comp and moves into 2nd and now only £6.48 behind Kevin Dighton but he had had more bets than anyone else so is 7 ahead of Kevin Dighton - a case can be made for Wayne looking like the leader on that basis.

Wayne Morton now also site 4th and in the cash in the plate the only player at the top of that leader board to have a bet today.

16oct11 octopus

busy weekend so light on updates - sorry

Great day out at Ascot for the new big showpiece event - brilliant racing and got four winners from the 5 races we saw, of course the one loser was my nap!

Kevin Dighton had a quiet weekend so as those around him lost he has extended his lead a bit. Wayne Morton is probably the biggest mover over the last few days along with Martin Long who hit a treble on Sunday to go 3rd in the plate and 10th in the main comp (which is the bubble)

Excel sent for full details

130ct11 best day

10 winners, the best of the comp so far, from 40 bets. Too many winners to mention them all so just the best one which was Maurice Edgington (me!), 9-1 OK a couple of others then, Dave Fifield got off the mark with a nice 8-1 winner (that's actually pretty early in the comp for a first winner for Dave!), Wayne Morton continued his good progress moving into 4th and Jimmy McGarrity, the defending champion, also went positive after picking up a 9-2 winner in Eire and moved into about 8th place now.

All quiet in the plate a smattering of points among the same old leaders

12oct11 correction

Billy Bray winner is no more!

Billy Bray sent in Mark Dighton's nap for him - I didn't notice and allocated it to him no great shakes as it was only a 4-5 shot.

12oct11 another biggie

3 people affected by the void race leaving 6 winners from 43 bets. The winners were Billy Bray, Dave Palmer, Kevin Wood, Pat Quinn Snr, and both Barry Pemble & Tom Feeney get off the mark. Billy brought up a quick fire double and Pat Quinn hit a 20-1 winner to get back in the hunt.

Again not much action at the top of the plate

VOID RACE RULING

3.25 at Wetherby was declared void today.

New circumstance for the comp so the decision is that all selections in that race will be entered as 'no bet'. Clearly some bookies used this opportunity for some favourable PR and refunded losing bets and paid out on the 'winner'. That probably has more to do with the fact that the price was only 7-2 and how much money they would likely have at risk on a poxy race at Wetherby in mid week.

I'll now go and check if that affects anyone

11oct11 better

What a strange day to be the busiest day so far with 44 bets and that's after a few non runners. Six winners in total and by far the best was Billy Bray with a fine 12-1 winner but that still didn't lift him positive but a good start. Also worthy of mention is Mark Kelly with 9-2 to lift him to 5th on +11.50, 4 bets more than 4th and only 57p behind.

None of the big players in the plate hit a winner so not much change there

10oct11 Tuilagi

4 winners from 30 bets today, 3 all picked the same 7-2 winner Paul Berg, Robert Baler and Shaun Johnson, the other was a little 5-4 winner for Wayne Morton. So no change at the business end of the main comp

With only Justin of the leading 4 runners in the plate playing today it was all pretty quiet there as well.

It's a rugby tour for God's sake, we need players not afraid to get out there, to take chances and become winners - Go Tui he was/is our best player

09oct10 Wales France :-(

Just 2 winners today from a pretty healthy 27 bets for a Sunday and rubbish winners for that 5-4 and 4-6 for Alan Mabb & Stuart Bentham respectively.

So after yesterday's big winner the top of the table is:

1st - Kevin Dighton +35.11 (from 17 bets)

2nd - Mark Quinn +24.00 (18)

3rd - Alan Mabb +18.48 (21)

4th - Vince Paige +13.07 (17)

5th - Wayne Morton +10.88 (21)

Stuart Bentham is 4 points clear of Justin Sercombe at the top of the plate having had one more bet

All details in excel that's on its way

08oct11 big winner

Quick update as I missed Saturday Mark Quinn bangs in a 25-1 winner of the Cesarewitch to move to + 24.00 and 2nd place - nice one only 3 other winners Kevin Wood, Paul Evans and Gary Cawsey.

More to come after Sunday update

07oct11 TFI Friday

Well if you guys are thinking I'm waiting for selections running though to 9.15 at Wolverhampton before updating - dream on, its a Friday night!

So with 3 bets to still run so far only 3 winners from the 31 bets. They are Vince Paige 7-2, George Casserley 7-2 and Pete Long 9-4. So that lifts Vince Paige to 3rd overall.

It's OK for you lot you don't have him ringing you to relive the nap every time he hits a winner - well maybe some sympathy for Kevin Dighton here think he gets the same :-)

Plate pretty quiet

06oct11 wine please

Surprisingly good number of mainly moderately priced winners today given that Ayr was abandoned causing a few no bets, 8 in total from the remaining 30 bets. Best was Alan Mabb to surge clear of the group sitting in 2nd through 5th with his 11-2 winner. He is now only 17.88 behind and has had 3 more bets than leader Kevin Dighton. Who I understand is unhappy with the Eire racing rule and Vince Paige unhappy with the points system in the plate - no pleasing some eh! Either of them can swap with me any day and I expect Stuart Bentham the leader of the plate would say the same :-). Other winners were all 11-4 or worse Kevin Hall got off the mark with one of the 2 11-4 winners Steve Walton recorded the other.

In the plate Stuart failed to get a winner only recording a 1 point 2nd but as Justin Sercombe sat out he retained the yellow jersey.

Cup was couriered to Jimmy McGarrity this week expecting to see a photo of it in prime position in his office for publication any day soon

05sep11 Go Dave

30 bets 7 winners , nothing massive so no real movers. In the plate all three of the big players picked the same 10 point winner at Navan. So 1st place Stuart Bentham & 2nd place Justin Sercombe moved to 68 & 63 respectively and Martin Long, a long time plate player, moved up to joint 3rd with Alan Mabb both on 36.

04oct11 and again

31 bets and a very poor 3 winners, who were Vince Paige, Billy Bray and Justin Sercombe.

Vince Paige and Justin Sercombe both scored a 10 point winner so that moves Justin to with 3 points of the leader in the plate.

So the England to win by 6-10 points bet is on at 9-2. Also a Saturday special for the three games I will be watching Wales to beat Ireland, England to beat France, and Cheltenham to beat Dagenham & Redbridge (football) odds for the treble are 6.76-1 that bet is also on

03oct11 meeserly

27 bets just 3 winners 2@ 7-4 and one 5-6 so not much action in either leader board. Winners were James Foley & Wayne Morton (who brought up a treble) and Billy Bray got off the mark with the odds on shot.

Anyway who cares what the Rugby lads get up to just keep winning!

02oct11 too sunny

smallest day of the comp only 16 bets but a good strike rate of 25%. The 4 winners were Alan Mabb, Gary Pascoe, John Roach & Ian Walters, the last two getting off the mark. So Alan Mabb got a little bit closer to the leader as he moved back into 2nd place only 23.38 behind Kevin Dighton.

No change on the plate Alan Mabb's winner was only a 3 pointer so he remains 3rd there.

Excel on its way

01oct11 leader wins

Yes Kevin has done it again 17-2 to go substantially clear of the field on +£37.11 that's £24 clear so looks like we could be playing for the second prize now :-(

Still he could have a run of 46 losers for his remaining bets which wouldn't exactly be out of character

Other winners were Bert Peart, Martin Long, Ken Jones & Justin Sercombe, don't panic Stuart Bentham didn't miss out he had a rest day

That moves Justin Sercombe into a clear 2nd place after his second 10 point winner in 2 days, now 12 points behind Stuart Bentham.

30sep11 France next

33 bets and just 3 winners Wayne Morton brings up his treble with the best of the day 3-1 and the same old culprits Justin Sercombe and Stuart Bentham both picked the same 7-4 and 10 point winner in Eire.

So not much change in the main comp Wayne Morton edges into 3rd above Alan Mabb but in the plate Stuart Bentham moves on to 55 points 22 points clear of the 2 guys in joint 2nd Alan Mabb & Justin Sercombe. Alan Mabb retains 2nd by virtue of one more winner

Go England Go - bring on France Hey we could win this thing :-)

Bet went down start again with the France game