30nov11 G'day Bruce

Drama at the top of the comp today with Kevin slotting in an early winner at 13-8 but Mark Quinn banging in a 7-1 winner later on to zoom into 2nd place only 99p behind and Kevin Dighton has 4 more bets left to have.  Overall 6 winners from 54 bets, others were Steve Walton doing his usual end of comp surge (if only he didn't give everyone a 20 bet start), Kevin Hall 15-8, a very sweet 10 pointer for Kevin Wood and Michael Brook picked up and 11-4 winner down in the depths.

In the plate among the top 4 everyone scored 2 points except Kevin Wood with his 10 point winner which certainly did him some good moving to within 22 points of 2nd with a bet in hand - not impossible

30nov11 top 6 - today's bets

Kevin Dighton - Kumbeshwar, Hereford 1.20 (result 1ST 13-8f)
Wayne Morton - Silenzio, Kempton 6.30
Paul Berg - Quinder Spring, Catterick 2.00
Mark Quinn - Nosecond Chance, Hereford 2.50
Alan Mabb -no bet
Mark Kelly - Ours, Hereford 2.50

next comp initial proposal

Early thoughts still to be confirmed are start on Sunday 1st January (nice Cheltenham meeting for the first day) and end at Stratford on Saturday 31st March - for those attending the last day of this comp further discussions will happen when you all meet up at Cheltenham week Saturday (I'm at Man U v Wolves).

Costs and cash arrangements etc. will still all remain as is

Any comments or thoughts on this welcome

29nov11 2nd gets a win

Just 4 winners today from 46 bets.  The biggest was Lee Constable 10-1 that lifts him up to 10th and on the bubble just 27p behind Vince Paige in 9th.  Wayne Morton still sits in 2nd place despite being the only one from the top 6 to get a winner but now is only £1.72 behind Kevin Dighton but Wayne Morton has had two more bets than him so convention would have it that he is really leading.  Other winners were Howard Kelly 9-2 and Tim Catlin 10-1 both of these guys sit a long way back.

No change at all in the plate.

29nov11 top 6 - today's bets

Kevin Dighton - no bet (NR)
Wayne Morton - Emmuska Lingfield 1.45 (1ST 13-8f)
Paul Berg - no bet
Mark Quinn - Chokidar, Lingfield 3.20
Mark Kelly - Hever Road, Southwell 12.20 (unplaced 100-30)
Alan Mabb - no bet

28nov11 puntersmate.net

5 winners from 50 bets today, as you can see none of the top 5 had a winner and Alan Mabb sat out so gaining £1 on them all.  Tom Feeny collected a double with an 11-2 winner to move from 10th into the cash in 7th and a very nice 8-1 winner from Dave Kingsbury lifted him to +£4.82 and 8th.  Other winners were Steve Walton 9-4 and both Barry Pemble and Stuart Bentham picked the 2-7 shot.  Not sure of those tactics from Barry Pemble there as he sits right by me so you can rest assured if he is down there 2-7 is going to help :-)

So the winner for Stuart Bentham moved him to only 27 points behind Justin Sercombe (who failed to score) with just 8 bets remaining for them both, don't think you can quite write off Stuart Bentham's chance of catching him yet.

28nov11 top 6 - today's bets

Kevin Dighton - Spinning Waters, Ffos Las 2.55
Wayne Morton - Shannon's Boy, Ffos Las 3.30
Paul Berg - Shipboard Romance, Folkestone 12.30 (Unplaced 11-10f)
Mark Quinn - The Black Baron, Ffos Las 1.45
Mark Kelly - Elegant Olive, Folkestone 2.35
Alan Mabb - no bet

Rule Reminder

In the event of a tie for any of the cash places the result will be decided on the total number of winners.  If total winners are the same then the prize will be shared.

27nov11 25-1 winner!

Only two winners today Tom Feeny shoots into 10th place on -50p rising from the depths occupied by the likes of me after securing a very nice 25-1 winner.  Hard luck to George Casserley who sort of let Vince Paige talk him off that horse as well.  FYI George that would have put you in at 7th just above guess who Vince Paige!!  The other winner was for Alan Mabb 5-2 that further consolidates his 6th place and puts him also well in the mix.   All of the top guys sat out apart from the leader, Kevin Dighton, who picked a runner in a very tough 25 runner race at Navan - presumably to try and put this to bed in one mega hit - try again :-).

All quiet in the plate Justin Sercombe is on 234 points still from 52 bets and Stuart Bentham is 2nd on 202, level bets.

Full results excel will go out later tonight

27nov11 top 5 today's bets

Kevin Dighton - Wicklow Lad, Navan 2.20
Wayne Morton - no bet
Paul Berg - no bet
Mark Quinn - no bet
Mark Kelly - no bet

26nov11 Carruthers stirs it up

7 winners from 52 bets (assuming the late 8.50 bet from Dave Fifield loses).  So Carruthers was the selection of Pete Long but also more importantly Paul Berg. That win fires Paul Berg into 3rd on +£26.18 less than £2 behind 2nd place Wayne Morton.  The other winners were a 4-5, 10 point winner for the plate boys Stuart Bentham and Kevin Wood, the final winners were Kevin Hall 7-4, George Casserley 7-2, Adam Slater 5-2.

Off to download the cash from my Betfair account after the 1-3 win :-)

Oxford 1 Cheltenham 3

So how many backed this I got 40-1.  Kevin good job you refused to lay this :-)

See post on 23nov11!!

26nov11 today's top 4

Kevin Dighton - Aiteen Thirtythree, Newbury 3.15
Wayne Morton - Michel Le Bon, Newbury 3.10
Mark Quinn - Fistral Beach, Newbury 3.45
Mark Kelly - Great Endeavour, Newbury 3.10

Good luck guys - mine has already been brought down in the first!

25nov11 late update

Had to wait yesterday for my winning nap in the 8.50 at Dundalk which was the joint best winner of the day at 4-1.  In total we had 8 winners from 51 bets and the other two winners with different 4-1 winners were of more significance than my rise to 34th place, they were Paul Berg who remained in 6th but pulled more than £11.00 clear of Vince Paige in 7th and Wayne Morton who has snatched 2nd place leaping over both Mark Quinn and Mark Kelly.  Other top 10 winners were Alan Mabb 7-2 and Justin Sercombe 10-11 all three are now putting Kevin Dighton the leader under intense pressure.

In the plate Justin Sercombe got the only winner - he is now 42 points clear on 234 points which long ago broke the best ever score in the plate which was previously him at 223. Still nothing as good however as the 204 scored by Heather Plant in December 2004 she got 204 on the old system a quick recalculate of Justin Sercombe's current score using the old system would put him only on 149!

25nov11 today's top 3

The bet cutoff has closed and so the selections for the top 3 today are:

Kevin Dighton - Cue Card Newbury 1.35
Mark Quinn - Kasbadali, Newbury 2.45
Mark Kelly - Ben Cee Pee, Doncaster 2.00

24nov11 Thanksgiving

Just 2 winners from 51 bets today those were Justin Sercombe 10-11 to move from 10th to 8th (the only top 10 mover), and John Roach 11-2.

At the top of the plate Stuart recorded his 2nd consecutive 0 points for the first time this comp! the others in the top 4 all got 5 points. So Justin Sercombe remains well clear on 229 points 38 ahead of Stuart Bentham in 2nd who has 2 more bets to come than the leader.  Kevin Wood sits 3rd on 163 points, 28 away from 2nd with 2 bets in hand so not all over there and the move from 3rd to 2nd is worth £50.

23nov11 big match Saturday

Oxford v Cheltenham - prediction 1-3 (35-1 on Betfair tonight) Kevin I'll have £20 for £700 willing to lay it? and £30 for Cheltenham to win any score to win £70, Oxford draw or win then I'm paying your next comp entry.   Cheltenham win by any other score than 3-1 you are paying mine, Cheltenham win 3-1 your done.

Notice new top 10 feature which should help and keep my notes a bit shorter! 6 winners from 45 bets today Paul Berg was the only player in the cash to get a winner so that saw him pull away from Vince Paige in 7th with a nice 100-30 winner, Gary Cawsey dropped out of the top 10 replaced by Justin Sercombe who must have picked his longest priced winner of the comp with another 100-30 winner.  10th place is the bubble.

Only Martin Long of the top 4 in the plate didn't get a winner but no change in the order - can't see that changing now.  FYI Justin Sercombe can now only be caught by one of the other guys in the top 4 so is certain of at least a £50 collect.

22nov11 don't worry Kev

The two Marks, Kelly and Quinn both bet and neither won so Kevin Dighton's lead extended to £7.36 but Mark Quinn in 2nd has had three more bets.  Overall today 6 winners from 49 bets nothing special so no great movers in either competition.  I suppose Wayne Morton with a 9-2 winner deserves a bit of a mention while he remains in 4th place he does move up to within 25p of Mark Kelly in 3rd spot and Mark Kelly is 4 bets behind.

All very close just outside the cash in the main comp Kevin Hall who sits 19th on -£7.05 is less than £8 behind 9th place that pays £50.

Go Benfica go

21nov11 Kev's getting worried

Respectable 8 winners from 44 bets today (inc. 13 forced losers).  Mark Kelly bang in the middle of a purple patch and he tells me he backed them today at Ludlow, hits his 5th winner from the past 6 bets and selects the best price winner of the day to boot.  Lucky or what, also our rule 16 means the 25p deduction for rule 4 in his race doesn't apply - Kevin Dighton must be hoping he doesn't lose by £2.00! well he probably hopes he doesn't lose period :-).  Dave Fifield also picked that winner to move up to -£3.50 and 16th spot only £5.32 from the cash.  Paul Berg edged a bit further away from Vince Paige in 6th with a 11-10 winner and Gary Cawsey picked the same horse to go positive on +£0.10!

But Mark Kelly remains the man on the move here only £6.10 behind the leader now and less than £2.00 from 2nd place, Prizes are £1,100/£500/£300.

Martin Long was the only point scorer in the plate today with a 2 point 2nd.

Don't forget gloves are off now we are in the final 21 bet period so the restriction on the SP of any winning bet is lifted so even Pat Quinn Jnr who is £44.00 down after 44 bets can challenge - well not really

Cheltenham Festival Tickets

Don't forget end of next week is the last time for the early booking discount!

Thursday saves £10.00 £60 instead of £70 and Friday £5.00 £75 instead of £80 for club (those are the two days I'm going)

20nov11 foggy

5 winners from 45 bets today but that total does include 15 forced losers so really pretty quiet.  Howard Kelly & Bert Peart both picked the same 13-2 winner Kevin Wood and Stuart Sercombe both picked the same short priced winner at Punchestown (some good horses running there today none less than Last Installment already only 16-1 for the RSA at Cheltenham).  The other winner was Mark Kelly who remained in 4th place despite his 11-2 winner but now sits just behind Wayne Morton.

Excel has been sent

19nov11 Kauto superstar

51 bets 5 winners and only one of them was Kauto, Alan Mabb so that very nice 6-1 winner moved him up a place into 4th on +£19.73, other winners were Paul Berg with the best of the day 10-1 which following his 20-1 winner yesterday has shot him into the cash in 6th place - relegating Vince to 7th :-). The three others were Kevin Hall, Mark Kelly, and Adam Slater.

In the plate all the leaders had 5 point 2nds today so no changes.

Hopefully that will keep Kauto Star in the Gold Cup which he won't win and make the price on Long Run all the better.

18nov11 gamblers in need

Ignoring Joanne Hutson who has picked something running at 9.15 tonight we have had a busy but less than profitable day.  A total of 51 bets with 6 winners, the main two of note was Mark Kelly with a 4-1 winner to move into 4th above both Alan Mabb & Vince Paige, but a 20-1 winner from Paul Berg moved him up positive but still only in 12th.

All quiet in the Plate

Resign Blatter - enough said!

Michael Johnson

17nov11 2nd place drama

Mark Quinn hits another big winner 9-1 to put himself only £2.36 behind Kevin Dighton for the lead both on 47 bets.  Overall 49 bets and 6 winners, other 5 winners were Gary Dighton, Kevin Hall, Pete Long, Paul Pritchard and Wayne Morton again who helps his cause in 3rd and puts himself more than £10.00 clear of Alan Mabb in 4th.

A rare happening in the plate the leader Justin Sercombe had a bet and failed to score a point!

I'm off to listen to the greatest athlete of all time on the radio now - answer tomorrow

16nov11 Johnno gone - no!

6 winners form 44 bets and they were Mark Nutting & Tom Feeney both with a nice 8-1 winner, Wayne Morton 9-2, Stuart Bentham usual 30-100 shot from Eire, Kevin Wood a slightly more impressive 2-1 winner in a 16 runner event across water, & Gary Cawsey with a 7-2 winner.

All of that didn't make that much difference apart from Wayne Morton opening up a healthy gap between himself in 3rd and Alan Mabb in 4th.  Kevin remains £12.36 ahead of Mark Quinn now on level bets.

16nov11 good start

Kevin Dighton kicks the day off with a loser in the 1.00 at Wariwck - that's £1.00 clawed back

15nov11 average

46 bets just 4 winners they were Roger Dore again continuing his steady progress, Justin Sercombe, Mark Kelly with a small consolidating 11-8 winner and Gary Pascoe who is now starting to take things a bit more seriously now he is dormy with 4 winners from the last 7 bets having brought up a double today with a 5-1 winner to follow the 3-1 yesterday, he still sits in only 18th place but it could be a nicely timed run from the back.

All quiet on the plate front except for the inexorable rise of the Justin Sercombe lead which now has stretched to 40 points over Stuart Bentham in 2nd. remarkably more than 50% of the field haven't even scored a cumulative total of 40 points!

Come on Capello surely you can now see that the only way we can win is to get rid of all the old guard they have had their turn and messed up so bye bye, Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand, Gerrard, etc.

No place for sentiment

Blog page views

Well done to us we have just passed through the 10,000 page views on the blog - positive this puts us well ahead of loads of these things

SPREAD THE WORD!

14nov11 busiest day

48 bets and 8 winners, most significant was the 3-1 winner for Kevin Dighton to bring up a double and to stretch his lead to £11.36 nice piece of consolidation tactics from Kevin there.  Other winners were nothing special Roger Dore kept his recent decent form with a 5th winner from the last 12 to go to +£2.17 and on the bubble.

All but Stuart Sercombe popped over to Limerick again today but it got turned over :-) and annoyingly Kevin Dighton has nipped past both Vince Paige and I into 6th in the plate - only playing for honour but need to clip his wings a little bit.

Dave - final table in the Sky Primo last night assume you weren't railing

13nov11 some nice winners

8 winners from 41 bets winners worthy of special mention Kevin Dighton 9-4 to extend the lead a little bit to £7.36 ahead of 2nd placed Mark Quinn.  16-1 winner for Paul Evans that lifts him into the top half, Lee Constable 15-2 to move back up at +£7.23 and in 9th place, Jimmy McGarrity picked the same winner as Kevin Dighton but just sits mid table all the rest were odds on.

In the plate good winners for everyone other than Kevin Wood and Justin Sercombe broke through the 200 point barrier and sits 33 points clear on 209! The record points total for the plate is 223 already held by Justin Sercombe for the comp that finished January this year that looks certain to be smashed - unstoppable.

FYI the biggest winning total in the main comp was Lee Constable in December 2005 with +£118.91 the only time the £100 barrier has been broken and the lowest winning total was Maurice Edgington (me) at -£15.87 in April 2001 one of only three times the competition has been won with a negative total.

12nov11 just a brace

47 bets (OK 10 forced losers in that) but still only 2 winners Justin Sercombe popped in another short priced winner from Naas for 10 points and the only other winner was Rod Brown with a nice 15-2 shot to move him to +83p and in 9th place the last cash position.

Other wise all very quiet - we did have 8 naps all on Wishful Thinking which is what that turned out to be!

11nov11 busy but bad

One result to come - I'm going to London so can't wait - its a 25-1 shot in some crap race tonight at Wolverhampton for Billy Bray so that has loser nailed all over it :-)

Only 3 winners from 47 bets Vince Paige & Stuart Bentham both picked a 13-8 shot and the best of the day was by Mark Kelly at 13-2 to put him back to 7th but a lot closer to the pack in the 3rd through 7th spots where there is a decent spread of prize money.  Gap between Kevin Dighton and Mark Quinn in 2nd remains as it has been all week £4.11

Justin Sercombe missed out today but 2nd through 4th all got 5 points with a couple of +16 2nd places for Martin Long & Kevin Wood.

Update for Saturday will be done Sunday morning

Mackeson excitment

Open meeting kicks off in less than 2 hours and are we excited - well pretty much not really

Main thrill for me will be waiting for today's change by the BHRA (Behind Hopeless & Really Amateur) to the whip rules - what a shower

It will always be the Mackeson for me! - actually I'm going to by some today in honour of their sponsorship

As a special 4 winners today at Cheltenham will be!

1.45 Rileyev, 2.55 Steps to Freedom, 3.30 Shuil royale, 4.05 Grands Cru

10nov11 Frankie who?

Expect Vince Paige knows all about this - what utter crap!  The sad thing is 1 in 5 watch this show each week!

Quieter day just 5 winners from 44 bets, best was Michael Brook with a tasty 8-1 winner, his first for a long time so well off the leaders, then Gary Pascoe with a double and a 11-2 winner.  The others were Paul Evans, Roger Dore & Wayne Morton.  Roger now just 2p away from 9th and the first cash spot but he has had 10 more bets than Lee Constable just above him.

In the plate only Martin Long scored points with a 2 point 2nd but top 2 sat out.

09nov11 fix it for me

A very healthy 9 winners from 41 bets today with winners for Wayne Morton, Vince Paige, Stuart Bentham, Paul Evans, Kevin Wood, Justin Sercombe, Gary Pascoe, Gary Cawsey, and Alan Mabb who brought up a treble.  All pretty short priced so no major changes some important consolidation and a gradual reeling in of Kevin Dighton.

Top three in the plate all had the same 10 point winner Justin Sercombe, the leader, is now 108 points ahead of 5th place Alan Mabb - pretty securely in the money I would say

08nov11 grasshopper

8 winners from 42 bets today among them were a repeat set of winners as yesterday for the Alan Mabb Adam Slater duo and the best priced of the day was Dave Fifield at 11-2. That winner moved Alan Mabb into 3rd in the main comp on +£16.23 but £19.88 behind Kevin Dighton the leader.

In the plate another very quiet day with only Justin Sercombe and Kevin Wood having bet, almost goes without saying that Justin Sercombe's won for another 5 points to put him 28 points clear of Stuart Bentham on level bets.

07nov11 quiet day

Rubbish racing and a performance to match, just two winners, the same horse twice, from 39 bets.  Winners were Alan Mabb and Adam Slater at 7-2.  So only change was Alan Mabb moving above Vince Paige into 6th.  The inevitable slide back down the table into obscurity didn't take long to start for Vince did it after his 12-1 fluke yesterday!

Only one bet by the leaders in the plate today Justin Sercombe sneaked a single point for a 3rd place and sits far away in the distance for most of us on 174 points, 5th place Alan Mabb, who is on the bubble, is a massive 103 points behind and he is best placed - gulp

Found a link for some of the Breeders Cup coverage that I will leave up for a few days for anyone that is interested.

Where's those old photos please

06nov11 action

9 winners from 40 bets, best was Vince Paige with a 12-1 shot to lift him back into the money in 6th place on +£11.57.  Of more significance was the 8-1 winner from Mark Quinn this pulls him to with £2.11 of the leader Kevin Dighton. Kevin Hall also picked the same 8-1 winner, usual culprits popped over to Eire for a 10-11 winner (well all except Martin Long).

Pretty disappointed that Sea Moon didn't make it in the Breeders Cup finishing only 2nd, ended up with three 2nds from 5 bets over the two days.

05nov11 bang flash

Nothing - not a sausage from 41 bets today

What more can I say

next best in Breeders Cup

Look out for Plum Pretty in 11.30 (GMT) tonight I think 5-2 is a great price for her in the 3yo fillies dirt

04nov11 1 for 1 in Breeders

10 wins from 42 bets but five of them were the same 4-5 winner at Down Royal and just like yesterday the top four in the plate all picked it along with me!

All the others were pretty short as well apart from Gary Cawsey who sneaked in a 4-1 winner seems like going dormy has galvanized him a bit!

I got evens on the banker of the of the whole Breeders Cup meeting Secret Circle this morning and that has just popped in at 2-5!!

03nov11 symmetry

7 from 45 today but nothing spectacular for the main comp - very strange in the plate all of the top 4 picked the same horse running at Thurles in a big handicap there, it won at 1-2 so they all scored 10 points and left the rest of us even further behind!

Paul berg recorded a double but still sits well back at -£8.25 which is 24th=

Noticed a fair few very large odds as selections recently 100-1 and 80-1 please note that the limit of 33-1 maximum odds applies until bet number 40 i.e. with 21 to go (rule #25) so watch out.

Poker Bad Beat story

Hey Kevin

So in UKOPS 210 runner NLHE
<60 left I'm about 25th
I have JJ in the hole from UTG - standard raise x3
SB flat calls
Flop 3 rags unsuited - SB bets 4xBB
I put him all in he he calls with A6off
Turn he hits 6
River hits another 6
Not out but left with <10 BB so out effectively which was the case next hand!
Sky poker BS eh?

02nov11 Papandreou

Papandreou go go go - tell them to get stuffed what's the point of accepting a generation of poverty and only getting a 50% write off how much worse can it get what else can they do to you guys - just default and call their bluff.

Enough politics

Early update because playing in this Sky TV covered online tourney in 30 mins.  Good luck to those of the napscomp clan currently in USA for the Breeders Cup, Gary Pascoe at least, anyone else? Well that's a guess really but he is having a lot of forced losers.  Unlucky today Gary with your horse didn't feature.

A miserly 2 winners today from 37 bets so star billing for both Paul Berg with 13-2 winner and Roger 'purple patch' Dore who is now 5 from 6 and today brought up a 4 timer to go positive and 13th.  Amusingly relegating Vince Paige to 14th - well and truly lost his bragging rights now!

Martin Long picked up a 5 point 2nd in the plate to swap plates with Alan Mabb and move into 4th, the last cash spot.

01nov11 birthday boy

Hi - blog delayed my birthday yesterday and not delaying it just because Gary Dighton pick a runner in the last!!

Anyway 5 winners from 41 bets but some of significance.  Ben Callaghan 14-1 to go 3rd on +£21.50 and Mark Quinn with a 20-1 winner to go 2nd on +£30.00 and only £11.11 behind the leader, Kevin Dighton - i can imagine the worry as he sees the pack catching up!

Other winners were Stuart Bentham, Kevin Hall and Roger Dore who brought up a treble with a 7-2 winner and is now getting closer to even and into the fray.

Plate leaders Justin Sercombe 35 bets with 143 points and Stuart Bentham 136 points from 36 bets.

SLIDESHOW PICTURES

Hi finally got the Photobucket slideshow gadget working  - so all images for the slideshow gratefully received.

Do remember that these images are saved in public directories but they are securely saved in my Photobucket account so cannot be amended just viewed.

Where are all the old presentation photos lets get them uploaded

31oct11 spooky

8 winners from 46 bets highlights among those were 4th winner from 6 bets for Steve Walton to storm up into 9th place the last cash paying position on +£3.58.  Best price was Tom Feeney with a 9-2 winner but he is well off the pace down near me!

Stuart Bentham picked up a small winner to level the number bets up at the top of the plate but he still sits on only 115 points 28 points behind Justin Sercombe the leader.