THE 30K CHALLENGE .............

THE 10K CHALLENGE ................

2008-12-05T13:29:00.000Z

http://digglers10kchallenge.blogspot.com/ is up n running starting from the 1st Jan , Happy Christmas all !!

RETURN OF THE DIGGLER ..................

2008-12-03T22:25:00.002Z

1st January 2009 will see my return to the world of blogging .................. im now in full time employment, and using my gambling to supplement my income. It needs to............. the credit crunch and redundancy to my better half has reached DIGGLER TOWERS !

I enjoyed my first stab at the 30K CHALLENGE and the blog that covered this, it gave me extra discipline in my gambling and i made a few friends with a interest in gambling who im still in contact with today.

Trying to make a living from gambling as your sole source of income is bloody difficult .......... no shit sherlock !!! i hear you say.............. I am talking about pure betting not I/R trading, my eyes aint great and im a rather clumsy chum always prone to the odd fat finger !!! so that avenue i have never explored. Gambling for a living and gambling in a effort to supplement your income are two entirely different beasts, the physcology and pressures involved cannot be underestimated. I have been down both routes and i know which path i prefer especially thesedays as i have a dayjob that encompasses and to a certain extent encourages my passion for gambling and getting a slice of the bookmakers FOBT pie !!!!

So the challenge in 2009 will be to supplement my income for the year to the tune of £800/month, i feel confident so lets raise the bar a tad and go for £10,000 during 2009.

THE 10K CHALLENGE ......................... Coming soon to a blog near you !!!!

THANKS ...................

2008-02-25T22:29:00.002Z

to all your kind words and support not only over the last few days but since the blogs inception , the blog has had an added bonus of bringing me into contact with many decent like minded people, who i aim to stay in touch with .

to you all , thanks happy punting & be lucky !!!!

a nice day to finish on ...............

2008-02-23T18:00:00.003Z

i think after pigeon islands success @ 7/1 , if only irish legend could have stayed on for 3rd it would have been a very nice day indeed !!! i start my new job on tuesday so i think today will be my final day of regular blogging , i have been asked to continue on a daily basis by a few readers of the30kchallenge but this blog has never intended to be a "proofing service" it was my journey throughout the year in trying to make a living in excess of £30k ............. i will now use the services in an attempt to supplement my income , i have set aside some funds that will be my gambling fund and hopefully it will pay for a nice holiday and a few treats later on this year.

saturday

MARK HOLDER

2.05 kemp PIGEON ISLAND £300 ew @ 7/1 WON +£2520
4.50 kemp IRISH LEGEND £70 ew @ 20/1 £50 ew @ 18/1 £30 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

4.55 chep HIGH JACK £150 ew @ 12/1 3rd +£300

daily p/l +£2520

i will post the weekly and year to date figs asap

sometimes when gambling as with life in general ..............

2008-02-22T18:05:00.002Z

you dont get the rub of the green , with gambling you can suss out a match or race and get it spot on but still end up with a loss ............... thats especially the case with jump racing , yes i know the fences/hurdles are there to be jumped but i had to feel for andrew @ optimum today , a nicer more genuine bloke you will never meet , and yes i realise thats no guarantee of success , he does know his stuff but he has been going through a lean period of late after a period of continued success late last year and today his analysis of the 4.40 sandown was near enough spot on , one to avoid in the race and oppose the king of angels ............ first one beat @ 4/1 and pulled up , the danger was mokum and selection oakfield legend , 12 lengths clear when tipping up 2 out leaving the door open for mokum ................. the period this blog has covered has not been one when the gambling gods have smiled kindly upon my services as a whole ........ hopefully with its demise imminent things will improve !!!

friday

MARK HOLDER

4.05 sandown ELLWAY PROSPECT £75 ew @ 33/1 unpld -£150
4.05 sandown CALL OSCAR £225 ew @ 11/2 unpld -£450

4.50 warwick RAWDON £150 ew @ 16/1 3rd +£450

OPTIMUM RACING

4.40 sandown OAKFIELD LEGEND £300 @ 11/4 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£450

weekending 16th feb ....................

2008-02-17T13:08:00.002Z

well a marvellous week from isiris kept my head above water , played in 3 races producing a 14/1 and 5/2 maximum account winner , i hope that i dont miss too many winners when i start my "proper" job !!!!!
the figures are as follows for the week just gone ................

ISIRIS main account +£1200 (24pts)
ISIRIS insiders +£1579.20 (31.58pts)

MARK HOLDER -£900(6pts)

OPTIMUM RACING -£900(6pts)

weekly p/l +£829.20

THE30KCHALLENGE.............................-£3007.37

no wedding this saturday ....................

2008-02-17T10:38:00.002Z

but sadly a similar saturday in respect of the p/l with a loss of £1200 ..............

i have been asked what will happen to these services when i start work , well i believe that mh & optimum will be able to supplement my income and i will still play to much smaller stakes say £25/£50 pt i wont be able to necessarily get the best terms or prices on a regular basis but with the offer of best odds guaranteed and a few other concessions around i feel i will be ok , yes i realise it has been a poor start to 2008 from these two but so it was in 2007 and they still both produced decent returns come year end.

its slightly different with isiris, the most exciting service around no longer open to new members , the timimg of messages will prove a difficulty in regularly getting on, but on days off and during lunch breaks i will try my best.
throughout 2007 i was moaning about the high number of bets , i even stopped backing the insiders as trying to get on in excess of 3 selections at one time was proving nigh impossible especially at the advertised prices, i had trumpeted the message of quality not quantity and at the latter end of 2007 we had the change in the service, with a more selective and customer friendly approach, an approach that i had been advocating for some time............. nice to know some people take notice !!!!
yes i will be backing these selections when possible as i dont think my boss or colleagues would accept me popping down the bookies during my working day 3 or so times a week but again it will be at reduced stakes tomy current staking.
on the subject of isiris a marvellous week for its members a 14/1 winner and a maximum main account winner , many congratulations to the isiris team , on a marvellous week.

saturday

MARK HOLDER

4.50 win MERRY MUSIC £300 ew @ 7/1 unpld -£600

OPTIMUM RACING

2.05 win KALDOUAS £300 @ 3/1 3rd -£300

2.45 hay GEEVEEM £150 ew @ 15/2 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£1200

not too much damage done ..........

2008-02-15T23:15:00.003Z

although prior to the 4.20 sandown today things were not looking too good , although the service that shall remain nameless has had a cracking week , as will be shown in tomorrows weekly figs. last day of the blog will be monday 25th feb ........................

thursday

OPTIMUM RACING

3.25 sandown kalca mome £150 ew @ 6/1 unpld -£300

friday

MARK HOLDER

2.05 sandown SONNING STAR £450 @ 11/4 unpld -£450

4.20 sandown GALANTOS £150 ew @ 20/1 4th +£600

p/l -£150

the end is nigh ..................

2008-02-12T15:16:00.001Z

only for the 30k challenge and the blog .................. as i have been offered employment with 2 other interviews lined up this week its a 1.01 shot that come chelters i will have a "proper" job , so will update further tomorrow as going to take advantage of the superb weather while i can and find a country pub and have a few jars .....................

update

firstly thanks for all the emails,texts,calls and comments i have been overwhelmed by the reaction, i will continue as usual until i start my full time employment which will either be the 25th feb or 3rd march.

tuesday

MARK HOLDER

1.30 folkes CAPTAIN TIDDS £150 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£300

february so far ................

2008-02-10T12:32:00.000Z

well started the month with a deficit of £1671 ............

upto and including saturday 9th february my p/l figs are as follows :

ISIRIS main account -£74.55 (1.491 pts)
ISIRIS insiders nil
MARK HOLDER -£1389 (9.26 pts)
OPTIMUM RACING -£345 (2.3 pts)
OPTIMUM SPORT -£537.50 (21.5pts)
PERSONAL TRADING +£180.48

overall p/l ...................... -£2165.57

THE30KCHALLENGE ............................. -£3836.57

Well im beating last year !!! was over £5000 in the red this time last year , but the difference in me personally is huge , last year i was enthusuastic and even through the trying time i was upbeat, positive and looking forward to the future months .............. thats not the case this year.

YES i still have confidence in MH and OPTIMUM to turn things around but my heart is not in it , i suppose the bookmakers have ground me down , take yesterdays bet from mh , mortimers cross , i went into one laddies and asked for £80 ew @ 20/1 , the battleaxe of a cashier rang up and notified that she had a non regular customer wishing to place £80ew @ 20/1 , but before that she rang up two laddies shops nearby to ask them if anyone has been in the shop to back mortimers cross @ 20/1 .............. well i was cut back to £40 ew , i had a wedding to go to and could not go around shops but thankfully i got some help and got the whole £150 ew on.
I heard from a mate in the industry yesterday that a betting shop that he manages in the east end of london took over £8.5 million on his FOBT machines last year , i think he has five of them in his shop , thats £5,000 a day per machine , yes i realise that takings NOT profit but it still gives you an insight into where the bookmakers priority lies thesedays.

what a wonderful day ..............

2008-02-10T11:33:00.000Z

for a wedding , had a brilliant day ..................... as for the "day job" it could not have been any worse and took the edge off what should have been a most enjoyable day , it wasnt my wedding by the way , no i would have had a day off for that !!! before the alcohol took effect had some decent and well considered discussions with friends and family who know me well and know the gambling industry inside out and the future for me is a lot clearer.

saturday

MARK HOLDER

1.15 ayr SOUBRIQUET £300 ew @ 11/2 unpld -£600

2.20 ayr MORTIMERS CROSS £150 ew @ 20/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

1.45 ayr SOMETHING SILVER £300 @ 11/4 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

SCOTLAND +11 to beat wales £137.50 @ 10/11 lost -£137.50

daily p/l -£1337.50

i just hate it when jockeys ...............

2008-02-08T17:21:00.000Z

get all cocky and start looking under their legs ............... is all i will say !!!!! members for a certain service will know what im talking about................
thought at one point we were going to take the crown jewels today with the optimum selection briery fox but the rag of the party came with a perfectly timed run to deny us and win going away.

friday.

OPTIMUM RACING

3.40 kemp BRIERY FOX £225 ew @ 9/1 2nd +£180

PERSONAL TRADING

well i made a extra quid on the briery fox race as there was an arb in the win market, i thought it would filter through to the place market but this never materialized and i decided to keep the place bet of £100 @ 9/5 as the selection was trading above the 2.80 level at the off , i layed £105 @ 8.60 in the win market . i collected £180 from the place bet and the win trading virtually levelled out for a profit of £180.48 on the race.

daily p/l +£360.48

a unsatisfactory day all round .....................

2008-02-08T08:45:00.000Z

really , another nail in the coffin for me. i think i now know that i wont be doing this in a few months time , the bottom line is that im not enjoying it anymore ................ just like a couple of my previous marraiges ............ ive fallen out of love with the old girl !!! even if we make 100 points in the next month or so i know i will feel the same , i have enjoyed my time punting but im a great believer in each job having a definite shelf life and this "career" has reached its shelf life. i felt exactly the same when i was a fx dealer in the city but i was lucky enough to be offered redundancy no chance of that this time around !!!
i say it was a unsatisfactory day all round , well thats not quite true as i went for a interview , first time in over 20 years went pretty well and fingers crossed on that front.
so why such a bad day , well members of the service not to be named will know what im talking about after listening to last nights message , mh gave a good word for songe in the 3.10 , i had a interview at 2.45, but at the time of the message the price was under pressure 9/1 with a few small shops but a general 8/1 shot , well at 2.30 7/1 was the general price , well the horse drifted and won @ 10/1 ..................... why dont these guys leave a price proviso ??? they do on some occasions but not on others , we are told to only have the bet if 8 run or 16 run so why not say songe is a bet if 10/1 is obtainable ??? yes i backed the horse and made money out of it but thats not the point , i just feel there is some inconsistency here , that need not exist.
my day was completed by the egyptians comfortably turning over the ivorians .

thursday

OPTIMUM SPORT

IVORY COAST £150 @ 7/2 african cup of nations lost -£150

PERSONAL TRADING

i made a few quid arbing songe in the 3.10 hunt , but if i had taken a small chance it would have been a nice tickle as i shall explain. songe was 8/1 with hills & lads but 15/2 with better odds guaranteed , the price on the exchange was 8.4/8.6 and 2.18/2.22 win & place i had £300 ew @ 8/1 and layed back £300 @ 8.4 and £300 @ 2.20 the horse won and i collected a nice profit of £300 BUT if i had the balls to have my bet with better i would have scooped a very tasty profit of £1020 !!! as the 15/2 would have become 10/1 ....................

daily p/l +£150

well guess what ..............

2008-02-06T19:21:00.000Z

another loss for me .............. feb not going too well at present but still remain positive and upbeat. i believe it was too early to say if the optimum selection would have been involved at the finish but the way they finished and the style of running of kirkside pleasure i think he would have had a say in the finish ,but thats all conjecture and the name of the game is jumping .
i used my discretion with the staking today on mark holders selection phardessa , he advised 2 pts win 1 pt place but i decided to have 1 1/2pts ew instead my thinking was that if phardessa won i would have been more than satisfied with 1 1/2pts (£225) on , on this occasion i was correct to stake in this manner but even if phardessa won i would have had no regrets ,a small winner on the selection especially when you take into account the rule4.

wednesday

MARK HOLDER

2.40 lud phardessa £150 ew @ 10/1 £75 ew @ 8/1 3rd +£111

OPTIMUM RACING

1.50 car kirkside pleasure £300 @ 7/2 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£189

paid for breaking one of my rules today ...........

2008-02-06T18:55:00.000Z

as i layed one , yes it won like a fours on shot , returned at 4/1 i layed it at 12/5 so i had the value but bugger all else !!!! it didnt cost me a kings ransom but it was a loss none the less and one i could do without ...............

tuesday

PERSONAL TRADING

it has been a very quiet few days and perhaps this led to my indiscretion of laying one , i could not have picked a poorer race today in the 2.00 market rasen and mh voiced stamina concerns over the venetia williams trained maraafeq ............... not gonna dwell too much on this as this one could be called the winner some way out travelling like a dream , i layed him to lose £150 @ 3.40 i could have had an all green book as he drifted severly but i decided to take him on ......... a loss on the day of £150 .

daily p/l -£150

still awaiting first profitable day in feb ..............

2008-02-04T09:54:00.000Z

no messages today from any of my racing services , and the golf/football advice from optimum sport failed to produce any profitable returns .

sunday

OPTIMUM SPORT

£100 aston villa to bt fulham @ 5/4 lost -£100
dubai desert classic l westwood £25 ew @ 14/1 unpld-£50
fbr open j leonard £25 ew @ 25/1 unpld -£50
fbr open s stricker £25 ew @ 16/1 unpd -£50

daily p/l -£250

a quiet day ....................

2008-02-03T19:11:00.000Z

with no account bets , but i was in the bookies to watch a couple of dogs at romford and had a couple of bets on mentions from mh & optimum , not much damage done but another losing day .

saturday

PERSONAL TRADING

mh was keen on kalahari king in the first at doncaster i had £100 @ 6/4 , it ran flat behind the impressive paul nicholls debutant rippling ring my other bet was on kalca mome in the 2m chase at sandown , unfortunately another disappointing display from kalca mome and the £25 ew @ 8/1 never looked like paying dividends .

daily p/l -£150

not a great start to the month ..............

2008-02-03T18:59:00.000Z

but it could have been a lot worse , the optimum selection pharleight dei finished 4th , as so often happens a rag was withdrawn a hour or so before the race reducing the ew terms to just the first 3 places ............... but an offer from my bookmaker pays out on the 4th if the field is reduced to 14 or 15 if you place the bet before the non runners are declared , yes i had a stewards in the betting shop its a rule that is not widely advertised and the cashier couldnt get it into his head that i should be paid out as his machine was telling him the bet a loser , a few calls to the trading office and eventually i got paid it , in all it took me about 30 mins but it was well worth me standing my ground ........... they wouldn,t pay me out at the 8/1 although they were offering best odds guaranteed but i was well chuffed to recoup £375 .

friday

MARK HOLDER

2.25 chep SHOUDSWOUDACOUDA £300 ew @ 15/2 unpld -£600

OPTIMUM RACING

4.05 chep PHARLEIGHT DEI £150 ew @ 6/1 4th +£75

daily p/l -£525

REVIEW FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY ..........

2008-02-01T08:58:00.000Z

At the end of my first month for 2008 my bottom line shows a deficit of £1671. The month tailed off badly in the last week , but at least im in a more favourable position p/l wise than last year whereby at the end of jan my defecit was £6890 and by the end of feb i was in profit to the tune of £1500 a turnaround of over £8000 ................. lets hope for a similar story in feb this year !!!

ISIRIS MAIN ACCOUNT +£285 (+5.7 pts)
£3600 invested
8 bets 2 winners 1 placed
profit on investment +7.92%

ISIRIS INSIDERS +£310 (+6.2pts)
£2000 invested
8 bets 2 winners
profit on investment +15.5%

MARK HOLDER +£375 (+2.5pts)
£2250 invested
8 bets 1 winner 1 placed
profit on investment +16.67%

OPTIMUM RACING -£2752.50 (-18.35pts)
£3900 invested
12 bets 1 winner 1 placed
loss on investment -70.50%

OPTIMUM SPORT +£599.02 (+23.96pts)
£2100 invested
24 bets 7 winners 1 placed
profit on investment +28.52%

SERVICES OVERALL -£1183.48
£13,850 invested
60 bets 13 winners 4 placed
loss on investment -8.54%

PERSONAL TRADING -£487.52

THE30KCHALLENGE ................................ -£1671

So they are the bare facts for the month of january 2008 , obviously the figures from optimum racing stand out , it was a poor month for them , no awards for spotting that but i have every confidence in the service. lets not forget that in the last 3 months of 2007 the service produced a profit well in excess of 45 points.
The reintroduction of the sport service from optimum has been a success and although not spectacular the solid returns from isiris and mark holder bode well for the rest of the year i feel .

the last few days .................

2008-01-31T22:29:00.000Z

have unfortunately brought back memories of the start to 2007 ........... it has been a shocking start to the week yesterdays £600 loss was followed today by a £575 loss , at no stage did any of my bets look like collecting ..................the only bright spot for me was a win in A2 company for my bitch gregorys girl but even that had a couple of downsides ...... the first is that she was unsupported by her owner and secondly i missed the race !!! but saying that she was sent off at 5/2 and considering i made her a 4/1 shot at the very least i would not have backed her , but missing the race did give me the hump to be honest , NOT A GOOD DAY , LETS MOVE SWIFTLY ON !!!

thursday

OPTIMUM RACING

2.10 winc ASHWELL £450 @ 5/2 unpd -£450

OPTIMUM SPORT

darts J PART to beat P MANLEY £125 @ 8/11 LOST -£125

daily p/l -£575

not the best of days ................

2008-01-31T09:00:00.000Z

for a few reasons , the obvious was a losing day but had a funeral to attend which overshadowed any p/l today .

wednesday

MARK HOLDER

4.30 leices SARAHS GIFT £75 ew @ 12/1 unpld -£150
4.30 leices ITS RUMOURED £75 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£150

OPTIMUM RACING

3.40 newc HOLD THE BID £300 @ 4.30 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£300

varying fortunes on the day ...............

2008-01-30T08:46:00.000Z

but the most important thing for me is the bottom line and that shows a profit. the day for me contained a sour note as in the shop i mainly use , a oldish lady had her bag stolen , a nice old girl regular in the shop placed her bet got back to her seat and as if by magic her bag had disappeared , she learnt the hard way today but in wood green you need anything valuable locked n chained ............... even then its still no guarantee it wont get pinched .
mh had no bets today but on the whole his message was worth listening to today especially with the cautionary word for haldibari the 2/5 fav in the first at taunton who finished out of the frame.

tuesday

OPTIMUM RACING

2.20 folk RUAIRI £300 @ 15/8 WON +£562.50
3.20 folk TIGER TIPS LAD £150 ew @ 8/1 unpld -£300

daily p/l +£262.50

not much to report..............

2008-01-28T18:00:00.000Z

as no account bets from mh or opt , strongest news of the day was from mh where he was negative on the chances of mamlook in the first at ludlow and perhaps my only play of the day should have been to lay this one @ 3.80 especially as he was unplaced but also drifted in the market to an sp of around 5.5 , but im not a fan of laying in the win mkt as i have mentioned before but with hindsight i should have broken my rule on this one !!! instead i played in the 18 runner hcap with no success .

monday

PERSONAL TRADING

mh briefly mentioned the 18 runner hcap hurdle at 2.30 and his preference at the prices were hot lips page and littlemissdynamite i had £25 ew @ 20/1 & 11/1 respectively but both ran poorly ande never looked like threatening the judge .

daily p/l -£100

a day dominated by sport ..............

2008-01-28T08:52:00.000Z

other than horse racing , with personally my attention on the fa cup tie at old trafford , at the end of the day united go into the hat for todays draw but i saw enough during the game to suggest that spurs continue to progress under ramos , a decent game in which spurs contributed much although the achilles heel of defending and goalkeeping still remain , if only ledley king could remain fit and pat jennings had been born 30 or so years later !!!!

sunday

OPTIMIM SPORT

qatar open LEE WESTWOOD £25 ew @ 11/1 5th +£43.75
buick invitational RORY SABBATINI to bt VJ SINGH 72 hole matchbet £125 @ evens WON +£125

daily p/l +£168.75

weekending 27th jan ......................

2008-01-26T23:14:00.000Z

the bottom line was a small loss of £497.78 , still in profit for the year but not by much i agree , the week started promisingly with three winning days but tailed off badly , but im reasonably pleased with the start to 2008 , the figs for the week are as follows ;

ISIRIS main account -£400 (8 pts)
ISIRIS insiders +£320 (6.4 pts)

MARK HOLDER +£825 (5.5 pts)

OPTIMUM RACING -£1050 (7 pts)
OPTIMUM SPORT +£11.52 (0.46 pts)

PERSONAL TRADING -£204.30
--------------------
weekly p/l -£497.78

THE30KCHALLENGE .............................+£522.75

not the best of weeks ............

2008-01-26T22:40:00.000Z

ending with a losing saturday , but during the week there have been definite signs of a return to form from mh , today no account bet , but all his mentions ran with credit ............... what a friend , serabad , inglis drever and theatre girl .
optimum has not had the best of starts to the year but take the p/l over the last three months and they are in healthy profit .

saturday

OPTIMUM

2.30 don ALL STAR £300 @ 3/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

derby to bt preston £137.50 @ 2.07 lost -£137.50

daily p/l -£437.50

a big thank you ................

2008-01-26T22:25:00.000Z

to all that have contacted me since i posted my thoughts on a possible change of career , vm appreciated . i would like to clarify or make clear just one point , the reason for the possible carrer change is due to me at present not enjoying my "job" as i once did , nothing more nothing less , i think its important to enjoy your job although a lot of people i know dont and only see it as a vehicle to pay the bills , well i dont !! i want to leave this career on my terms and when im ready , ive given it a fair crack and who knows come april i may feel differently .

i also want to discuss the bookies v exchanges debate , im not the font of all knowledge betting wise far from it but having been brought up as a kid in a bookmaking family i do know a bit , and i know to use the exchanges to the exclusion of the bookies is a mistake .

friday

MARK HOLDER

1.20 don FAVERSHAM £150 ew @ 10/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

3.50 newb KANDJAR DALLIER £225 ew @ 11/2 unpld -£450

daily p/l -£750

a costly own goal .................

2008-01-25T08:52:00.000Z

so to speak , i had an 11.30 appointment today that had to be honoured and this set me back somewhat , and my actions turned a profit of £106.25 on the day to a loss of £200 but it was my error and no one else to blame ................

thursday

PERSONAL TRADING

nothing from mh & optimum but mh was interested in katess & soixante in the 2.20 font if all 16 run and were around the 5/1 mark , while optimum mentioned good company in the 2.40 warwick , as stated i was running behind schedule and by the time i was working there had been some support for good company and only hills were offering the required 5/1 . if i had been in my usual location there would have been no problems as i would have gone to a better shop to have my bet on the 16 runner hcap as they would have still payed out 1/4 odds first 4 if the field was reduced to 15 or even 14 , but i wasnt and i wanted to make sure that all 16 ran . just as they were lining up i gave the bets to the cashier £50 ew katess £50 ew soixante & £100 ew good company ............... the cashier was on her mobile , and i asked for the price of 5/1 on good company , she didnt hear , i repeated , she phaffed around getting the price by which time the fontwell race was off ............... i said can you get the fontwell race bets on ................. well you all know the outcome and what im gonna say !!!! she told me the fontwell race is off ................ so they cant be accepted THEY CAME 1st & 2nd !!!! whilst the bet i got on good company trailed in a well beaten 4th ............... so a loss of £200 on the day .
my fault i should have got the fontwell bets on then the warwick ones ................ what was i saying about a career change !!!!!

daily p/l -£200

time for a career change ?????

2008-01-23T19:05:00.000Z

has been a line of thought from me over the last couple of months , and i wanted to post this thought after a successful day , i didnt want to leave myself open to the cynics who might suggest that im a poor/bad loser !!! but the bottom line is that im feel that im falling out of love with my line of work , to gamble for a living was an ambition when i was employed in the city , i was gambling in effect then but with the banks money and unless i did a nick leeson i could take home a healthy income every month , but after nearly twenty years of fx dealing i just wasnt enjoying it , so when redundancy was offered i took it with open arms , that was in june 2002 , and in some ways im now in the same boat but without the redundancy package on offer !!!!

i will be totally open and honest with regards my situation , i have been a lad in my time , married three times and live life to the full , treating every day as your last , this dates back to my later teenage years when i lost my mum in a car crash , here one sec gone the next , and that had a huge bearing on the way i am and live my life . i am now truly happy in my personal life and hope to get married for the fourth time later this year or early 2009 , i have met my soul mate the one meant for me i suppose , well early december she was made redundant so since that time i have been the only bread winner with her two kids at uni and one at school , it has not been easy especially with no guaranteed income , my fiancee has been offered a new job and starts on the 4th feb but this situation opened eyes to my responsibilities and the need to provide a regular income .
now lets touch on what i do and my daily routine , as i can no longer "get on" via the net due to joke restrictions i now trawl the betting shops of wood green , why wood green its only a few tube stops from home and has a high road of numerous internet cafes and 7 betting shops ........... 3 lads , 2 wh , 1 pp & 1 better the latter is worth its weight in gold . i have to carry large sums of money as a "bank" and if i collect i can carry nearly £4,000 as was the case last week .................... last week not when i had this sum on me i hasten to add a group of hoddies tried to jump on me and push me into an ally to im sure rob/mug me , thankfully i was alert to the situation and can handle myself but it was a warning , its not a nice area , edmonton with the sad case of recent stabbings is just a mile or so away , either someone had spotted me collecting the day before or this gang had been tipped off by some betting shop staff .
this daily routine can sometimes be a huge inconvenience for my social life as i need to be in close proximity to betting shops , ok i am prepared to make allowances and sacrifices but i have a life outside of betting and at times it gets me and im sure my fiancee down , although she tells me she accepts it as part of my job .
i miss playing my cricket during the summer and im just beginning to think it would be nice to do a job get paid for it and have no worries over the outcome of a race or sporting event .

so i have decided for the time being to carry on , scurry around wood green , southgate & enfield but i will be taking a rain check after the grand national weekend , and if i feel the same then in all probability i will walk away from the world of betfair , isiris , mark holder , optimum etc etc

wednesday

MARK HOLDER

1.40 hunt ISLAND FLYER £75 ew @ 33/1 unpld -£150
4.10 hunt MARSHALLS RUN £300 ew @ 13/2 unpld -£600
4.10 hunt JAUNTY FLIGHT £150 ew @ 10/1 WON +£1875

OPTIMUM RACING

3.30 muss JOHNNY ROCHE £300 @ 7/2 2nd -£300

PERSONAL TRADING

a small loss of £100 on the day , it could have been more as i wa prepared to have £150 ew on ogee in the 1.10 hunt but after i had £50 ew @ 11/2 the price disappeared , ending up @ 3/1 and sadly for the bet finishing 4th !

daily p/l .....................+£725
p

what a night !!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-23T08:51:00.000Z

for a long suffering spurs fan , it was indeed a night to savour , roll on wembley !!!
on the betting front a quiet day but a small profit from optimum sport , profiting from an advised 2pts on the draw in the bristol rovers/fulham match . i remember when my dad had a betting shop and he said that the draw was his biggest winner over the course of a year , his punters always wanted to be on the winner very rarely the draw , but over the last couple of nights the draw has proved most profitable for followers of the optimum sport service .

tuesday

OPTIMUM SPORT

bristol rovers to beat fulham £75 @ 5/2 lost -£75
bristol rovers/fulham draw £50 @ 3.45 WON +£118.82

daily p/l +£43.82 but today was not about profit !!!! :-)

i really was good for nothing ................

2008-01-22T17:07:00.000Z

on monday after partying into the early hours of sunday , but i got myself together to make a few quid so it was well worth the effort , the evening was successful with optimum advising the draw in the evening premiership match .

monday

OPTIMUM SPORT

abu dhabi open m a jiminez £25 ew @ 22/1 unpld -£50
liverpool/aston villa draw £50 @ 4.2 WON +£155.20

PERSONAL TRADING

just played in the one race ......... then it was back to bed nursing the mother of all hangovers !! optimum were keen to oppose killard point in the folkestone 3.10 on stamina grounds , at the time of the message he was trading around the 5/1 mark on the exchanges , this did not interest me as in effect you are backing him to lose at 1/5 not a ploy im happy with , instead i prefer to lay him in the place market and layed £100 @ 2.68 , although prominent for much of the race optimum were spot on with their reasoning as he ran out of petrol once the race was on in ernest .

daily p/l +£200.90

weekending 19th jan ...................

2008-01-22T16:05:00.000Z

produced a most welcome profit of £1274.05 with decent contributions from isiris and optimum sport , the full breakdown is as follows ;

OPTIMUM RACING -£600 (4 pts)

MARK HOLDER -£150 (1 pt)

PERSONAL TRADING -£467.20

OPTIMUM SPORT +£831.25 (33.25 pts)

ISIRIS main account +£1860 (37.2 pts)

ISIRIS insiders -£200 (4 pts)

this equates to a profit of £1274.05 .

THE30KCHALLENGE ....................... +£1020.53

nice to be in profit for the year , it was late february last year before i was in credit so hopefully no looking back p/l wise ............... onwards n upwards !!!!

one of these days it will all click ................

2008-01-22T15:13:00.000Z

im sure !!! today was a carbon copy of many of the days experienced in the last year or so , frustration reigning , ok recently we were fortunate with an isiris bet whereby we benefitted from a faller but generally the gambling gods have not smiled on us since i started this blog , but moaning from me wont help !!! so lets kick on and get on with the job in hand ................ but to lose £150 on the day from the two account bets from mh & optimum is still a bitter pill to take !!

saturday

MARK HOLDER

4.05 ascot OVERCLEAR £150 ew @ 10/1 2nd +£150

OPTIMUM RACING

3.30 ascot DARK CORNER £150 ew @ 7/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

newcastle £125 @ 4/5 to beat bolton lost -£125

daily p/l -£275

updating on tuesday 22nd jan ...............

2008-01-22T14:58:00.000Z

still feeling the effects from a most social and enjoyable weekend , the highlight was undoubtedly the bgrb awards on sunday evening a fabulous bash and one in which i got a little tipsy ..... even at a £5 for a bottle of bud although i was impressed by the £94 for a bottle of jack daniels !!! yesterday i was fit for nothing but today im back and raring to go although not much action with the two jumps cards off , but at least it gives me the opportunity to catch up on here .

friday

optimum sport

peter ebdon £75 @ 13/2 masters snooker lost -£75

apoligies .............

2008-01-20T14:24:00.000Z

for the lack of updates , just has been a hectic last few days , just popped home but off again to the greyhound awards bash tonight in london , really looking fwd to the night but wish i felt better , two nights on the trot socialising has worn me out why do all these things come together , i havnt been out for about a month then bang three functions on consecutive nights and as i get older it takes it toll !!!

a frustrating saturday but all will be revealed tomorrow ................... be lucky !!

a loss of £200 ..........

2008-01-17T20:37:00.000Z

on the day , nothing from my services , so the loss is down to me .............

thursday

PERSONAL TRADING

over the course of a year i supplement the profits from the subscription services via my own interpretation of their messages and my own personal thoughts , this week though has been hard going and today i got close to wiping out the losses , but close isnt good enough and i dug the hole a little further !
i noticed a dog running at walthamstow recently its a litter sister to a pup i have running at romford ,its running in a lowly grade at the stow and ran down the field but with promise on its latest outing , my only concern was the trip 475m at the stow may test its stamina .............. it did ! led all the way til near the line at 4/1 .................... i lost £200 , the race i nearly forgot was the 8.23 the bitch pinewood gypsy , roll on catterick tomorrow

daily p/l -£200

apoligies in advance for my language ...........

2008-01-16T18:27:00.000Z

but im pissed off with myself tonight , myself no one else , it didnt cost me much just £150 but thats not the point ....... i will explain all under the personal trading section .
my mood was not improved by graham dott squandering a 5-2 against stephen lee in the snooker , but thankfully the service that shant be named hit the jackpot to bring a smile to my face ...................

wednesday

OPTIMUM RACING

3.10 newc justwhateverulike £150 ew @ 9/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

SAGA MASTERS graham dott to beat stephen lee £125 @ 4/5 lost -£125

PERSONAL TRADING

over the last few years i have become aware of a dozen or so smaller but very astute trainers who need to be noted in the betting markets , when the money is down you can do be worse than follow the flow and when they drift lay or stay away , one such trainer that has come to my attention is john wade , i,ll be honest i know very little of john wade apart from his colours , that he predominately trains chasers and i also believes that he has a haulage company , thats about it , but what i have noticed is that his runners that perform well are often supported while the reverse is true when they drift ............. mh liked lucius rufo in the opening 18 runner handicap hurdle , with only the available price 11/2 putting him off a possible account bet , well he opened up at 11/2 and drifted out to 8/1 , i was in two minds whether to support the horse , my head telling me to stay away but the lure of an 18 runner handicap paying ew 1/4 odds first four took over , but i paid the full price of my weakness as he was soon under pressure and trailed in last of those that finished , i was furious with myself the money lost was negligble but i know the betting signs well with this yard well but even so i ignored them and paid the price .

daily p/l -£575

im not gonna waffle on ..............

2008-01-15T18:33:00.000Z

but very little to report , just a 6 pt loss on the snooker this after , it was advised as a double with the other leg tomorrow , although thats now immaterial , but for the best possible return it was advantageous to split the bet up into 2 singles .

tuesday

OPTIMUM SPORT

SAGA MASTER mark williams to beat ken doherty £150 @ 5/6 lost -£150

daily p/l -£150

for a split second .............

2008-01-15T08:55:00.000Z

it was looking quite promising for harry collins , with him travelling well and the fav not , but that feeling didnt last long it was literally a split second , at least mh was correct in taking on the fav pitful tercah .

monday

MARK HOLDER

2.50 fak HARRY COLLINS £150 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

leeds to beat crewe £137.50 @ 10/11 WON +£125

PERSONAL TRADING

i had a little arb on the mh selection harry collins , 16/1 (1/4 odds a place) was freely available so in addition to the £150 ew , i had £200 ew @ 16/1 myself . i layed him back @ 15.08/4.06 win/place i did not cover my commission so i had a possible win of £572 if successful , if placed £191.40 but if he was unplaced as he was i had a loss of £17.20 .............. on this occasion it didnt pay off but id take those positions any day of the year !!!

daily p/l -£192.20

a nice day for optimum sport ..............

2008-01-14T08:50:00.000Z

with a 25/1 winner of the sony open in hawaii , courtesy of kj choi being the highlight . a nice springboard for the week hopefully .................

sunday

OPTIMUM SPORT

BDO WINNER mark webster £25 ew @ 8/1 £50 @ 11/2 WON +£575

SAGA MASTERS barry hawkins £25 ew @ 50/1 lost -£50

SAGA MASTERS barry hawkins £75 @ 7/1 to win 3rd 1/4 lost -£75

SONY OPEN c howell £25 ew @ 25/1 lost -£50

SONY OPEN kj choi £25 ew @ 25/1 WON +£781.25

PERSONAL TRADING

well i decided to cover some of the kj choi bet , it will go under my personal trading p/l as the optimum sports team left the bet alone and did not advise a trade , but i layed £200 @ 1.50 , so a loss of £100 for me .

daily p/l +£1081.25

weekending 12th jan .....................

2008-01-13T12:33:00.000Z

from my blog records show a profit of a whopping £28.99 ........... that might be my share of the curry bill from last night but not much else , thankfully a quiet but profitable week from isiris .

overall a quiet week with mh away on vacation , just one bet from optimum , i have been pretty profitable but hopefully the next week shall start with a decent profit from optimum sport as subscribers have decent positions in the darts and golf , hope im not putting the kibosh on those two !!!!! i have guaranteed myself a profit on both events by using the exchanges , sorry but if you have backed someone at 25/1 and its trading at evens , then 1/3 i have to take some of that ..................

weekly figs

MARK HOLDER NIL
OPTIMUM RACING -£300
OPTIMUM SPORT -£100
PERSONAL TRADING +£428.99
ISIRIS main account -£500
ISIRIS insiders +£990
----------------------
P/L +£518.99

THE30KCHALLENGE ............................................... -£253.52

a subdued saturday .................

2008-01-12T18:25:00.000Z

no complaints from me , as it turned out it was a quiet day with the one possible account bet not reaching the required price on the sis show . it has been a slow start to the year but as long as i can steer clear of the disaster start from 2007 i,ll be well chuffed !

a most enjoyable afternoon watching a marvellous semi final between webster & adams , i love my darts although if im playing be careful if you are chalking a you are in DANGER of being spiked !!! i was brought up with the sunday afternoon ritual of going to my grandads working mans club and often chalking up in matches involving my dad or grandad , it was a race to see who could add up the quickest , i loved it , as i did the visit to the shellfish man on our way back home ................. what happy memories !!!!

saturday

OPTIMUM SPORT

BDO outright winner MARTIN ADAMS £100 @ 4.2 lost -£100

there is a bigger picture here as on webster @ 8/1 ew & 11/2

PERSONAL TRADING

well as mentioned above there was a potential bet in mister quasimodo if a price of 6/4 was attainable on the sis shows .............. thankfully for optimum members 11/8 was the biggest show , i had a profit of £95.70 from the cricket after laying the draw for £100 @ 4.30 in the test between south africa and the west indies , so i decided to place a order to back mister quasimodo £ 145.70 @ 2.62 this equates to 6/4 after comm , if im matched and he loses i lose a bullseye (lets continue with the darts theme!!!) was my thinking ................ thats what happened , but i think that it teaches us a lesson on discipline and betting in general , yes pre race he was the most likeliest winner but in this game you need an edge in the price , i agree its a fine line , but if you were to back every horse you thought would win ................ i bet 1.01 over the long term you will lose , what you need to do is to back the horses that represent value , backing a horse that you make a odds on chance at 6/4 .............. i agree today we got lucky or is it ? we had the parameters set so i feel its the disciplined way of betting that has saved us today .

daily p/l -£150

personally as i type this i feel..............

2008-01-11T14:12:00.000Z

that i got off lightly today with a £300 loss , it was only the fact that i was otherwise engaged with my better half that saved me , as i would have layed three in the place market for the huntingdon 1.20 , they occupied the first three places so that saved me in excess of £300 , only action was from optimum in the race mentioned , i had a blank day personally after my lucky escape .
looking fwd to tomorrow and the return of mh , hopefully he can return refreshed and bang in form ...................

friday

OPTIMUM RACING

1.20 hunt northern quest £150 ew @ 4/1 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£300

another quiet day .....................

2008-01-11T08:22:00.000Z

with on one nh meeting on coupled with mh on vacation until saturday , so i had a study up myself with a successful conclusion ...............

thursday

PERSONAL TRADING

the deciding test started in durban today between south africa and a injury hit west indies side , i really wanted to side with the home side at 1.45/1.48 but after reports of a under prepared pitch after some poor recent weather i was concerned that the windies would win the toss , bowl and many early inroads into the south african batting , the reverse happened in fact with the windies skittled out cheaply , i had layed the draw for £100 @ 4.3 and by mid morning the draw was trading around 30 .
perhaps its my upbringing in the bookmaking world but i love taking on a short fav on heavy/soft ground and especially after the horse has had a long lay off , celestial gold is the horse in question , surely he wont be knocked about on his comeback race , march is his target not a novice hurdle at hereford in january . so i left a few orders to lay this one , and as the tapes went up i had the position of laying celestial gold for £170 @ 1.76 , for 2/3 of the race he travelled well enough but as they came off the top bend he was knowhere to be seen , hopefully it was just a lack of fitness , but my day ended on that note .

daily p/l +£162.69

more of the same ............

2008-01-09T16:14:00.000Z

although a smaller profit than yesterday , but £100 less comm is ok by me , if i could make that personally everyday id be well over the £30k mark on my own !!!! again ntg to report from optimum , mh is away until saturday .

wednesday

PERSONAL TRADING

i had a good look at the musselburgh 2.10 a novice hurdle over 2m , fushe jo had already been beaten twice at odds on and although the highest rated of these on the flat there were 3 others rated in the 70,s , i realise its a dangerous ploy to rely on flat ratings over hurdles but my point is that there were others in the race of similar quality , anyway for a downside of £69 i layed for £100 , again fushe jo finished close up and in the frame but the supported stablemate won , and so did i £95.70 to be precise .

a quiet but profitable day ...............

2008-01-09T08:48:00.000Z

tuesday

PERSONAL TRADING

i played just in one race the first at leicester and made a tidy profit of £248.82 , so it was stumps for the day and thank you very much , as i had no other concrete views of the rest of the days racing . i have mentioned previously that i was involved with the john best trained charlies double and this horse needs to be opposed whenever there is any mention of soft on the going report , he is and will be a different proposition once the ground firms up hopefully the winter campaign will result in him coming down the handicapby a few pounds ,my only concern is that he has suffered a few problems in the past and i hope he retains the ability that charlie once had shown over hurdles but this wont truly be known until he races under firmer conditions , i also opposed narval davelot on the back of optimum racing , i layed them both in the place market charlies £120 @ 3.25 and narval £140 @ 2.90 both were unplaced so it was a nice profit of £248.82 on the day .

daily p/l +£248.82

a slow start to the week .......................

2008-01-07T18:40:00.000Z

with nothing from my services ,mh is away till saturday , i played in one race had the value pre race but thats about as good as it got ...................

monday

PERSONAL TRADING

optimum were keen on mr ironman in the 3.30 ludlow i invested £50 ew @ 5/1 (gtd) and support arrived as he was sent off a 7/2 2nd fav , but after clouting the first his confidence seem to go and he was never really travelling , the danger and fav ashwell won easily .

daily p/l -£100

a mixed day for my sports betting ..........

2008-01-07T09:04:00.000Z

but ended the day with a small profit . woke up to hear of an amazing australian victory against india which suited me , but sadly this test will not just be remembered for the cricket as the umpiring at times was village standard and the intense heated atmosphere on the pitch overboiled and crossed the line in terms of sledging and sportsmanship .
optimum sport put up a successful bet in the fa cup , the downside was the loss of the fav gary anderson in the first round of the bdo darts championship but this meant the other selection hardened in the betting and is now a 4/1 shot after being advised at 8/1 .

sunday

OPTIMUM SPORT

gary anderson £150 @ 2/1 bdo darts champ lost -£150
stoke city v newcastle £62.50 @ 12/5 draw WON +£150

PERSONAL TRADING

a small profit of £75 less comm on the cricket as i profited from a post match lay of the draw @ 3.45 .................. i can imagine a few fingers were burnt this morning when the indians collapsed .

daily p/l +£71.78

weekending 5th jan ....................

2008-01-06T11:32:00.000Z

not a great start to the year , lets hope the early months of 2008 do not mirror those of 2007 which were horrendous but here are the weekly figs ............

OPTIMUM RACING -£315
OPTIMUM SPORT -£187.50
PERSONAL TRADING -£145.01
MARK HOLDER NIL
ISIRIS main acc +£125
ISIRIS insiders -£250

weekly p/l ......................-£772.51

THE30KCHALLENGE ........................ -£772.51

not a scintillating start to the year ..............

2008-01-06T11:16:00.000Z

and today was a case of a few small loses , adding up to just under £300 . i have used the optimum sport service in the past but it didnt fit in with my day as the message went on @ 10am and i was usually in the gym and had difficulty getting the prices , but now the message is relayed around noon which suits , so i shall be using this service for the next 4 months to get a taster .

saturday

OPTIMUM RACING

3.45 sandown principe azzuro £150 ew @ 5/1 r4 3rd -£15

OPTIMUM SPORT

walsall to beat millwall £137.50 @ 2.14 lost -£137.50
hereford to beat tranmere £50 @ 4.80 lost -£50

PERSONAL TRADING

in the chepstow 1.55 i layed three in the place market charango star , miss shakira and victory gunner ............ with the first and last named finishing in the first three i did my dough , £129.34 to be precise , all three were layed to lose £100 . i recouped a little via the 2nd test between south africa and west indies where i had the draw as a loser and the other two outcomes green , south africa won so a small profit of £63.93 .

daily p/l -£267.91

off the mark for the year .............

2008-01-03T18:04:00.000Z

nothing from optimum or mh , the latter is off on a little break , back saturday week . i realise his results have not been up to scratch recently but believe me no one works harder at the game than mark this of course does not guarantee anything but hopefully he will return fully recharged and raring to go .

thursday

PERSONAL TRADING

i just played in the one race , where i was keen on the pipe favourite in the 3.25 font pitful tercah , but i was looking for better than the 6/5 on offer . i decided to try and trade into a better price , 6/5 was available so that was hopefully going to be my s/l if need be , i layed £250 @ 2.22 and ideally i was going to try and turn this into a bet @ 2/1 . well i failed on the price only achieving 2.96 but i was a little too quick as this one was uneasy in the market and it drifted to nearly 2/1 anyway !! but i backed him for £380 @ 2.47 leaving me £130 @ 2.96 always travelling within himself he cantered to an easy victory leaving me with a profit of £243.84 .

daily p/l +£243.84

trying to be too clever ?????

2008-01-02T18:03:00.000Z

as a rule when all my services steer clear of the racing its a good time to do anything but have a bet , i found out the hard way today that i should have switched the laptop off and watched some mothers do av em , the royle family or even the sound of bloody music !!!!!

wednesday

PERSONAL TRADING

well mh indicated that if we had the dead eight in the 12.40 ayr he would have been interested in pertemps networks as an ew bet around the 4/1 - 9/2 level but a withdrawal of a rag reduced the field to seven and ruined the ew terms , betfair were still paying out on the 3rd place though and i put up an order to have £150 @ 1.80 in the place market , if this were to be matched id have £150 on in the win market . well the £150 was matched in the place market and i had £150 @ 5.85 in the win market , for a second at 2 out i felt that i would recoup most of the bet but he only stayed on one pace to finish 4th and ouch a £300 loss . in the last at folkestone mh was not sure the fav would get home under the testing conditions , he made avant gardiste a tentative preference , so as long as 16 ran i would have £50 ew on the pipe runner , 16 ran three ships seemed to empty out quite tamely but sadly for me avant gardiste raced mid division throughout the whole race . so a £400 loss on the day , yes im gutted as i type this , but i feel the judgement was sound , it was just one of those days , lets hope tomorrow is the first winning day of the new year !
i have opposed the draws in the two inplay tests , this is a favoured trade for me , and both positions look good , although showers are forecast around sydney over the next few days .

daily p/l -£400

DAY 1 / YEAR 2 .....................

2008-01-01T15:53:00.000Z

firstly all the best for 2008 , lets hope a few of us including myself can make it pay in the new year .
i kicked off with a small loss , nothing serious with the optimum selection charlies future beaten just over 10l into 5th and i managed to claw a little back personally .

tuesday

OPTIMUM RACING

2.25 exeter CHARLIES FUTURE £150 ew @ 14/1 unpld -£300

PERSONAL TRADING

personally i think we have already seen the best of black jack ketchum and i feel he is regressing , i wanted to oppose him at cheltenham today , not a layer in the win market so i layed £80 @ 2.88 in the place market . mh was none too keen on his chances so i was pleased with my position , this was vindicated with another poor display so a small profit of £76.56 on the day personally .

daily p/l -£223.44

£19,764.44 .................

2007-12-31T16:52:00.000Z

net profit in 2007 , well short of my £30,000 target , the first time i have missed my £30k target since i left the city rat race in june 2002 . This has been the first year of my blog but i feel the blog itself has been a help rather than a hinderance and that there is no connection between the poor year and the blog as i feel my discipline has improved somewhat and thats down to the online diary .

My gross profit is £23,759.44 take away my subscription fees of £3995 leaves £19,764.44 .

A brief analysis of the services i used in 2007 :

ISIRIS

The highlight of the year for me happened in november with the introduction of the more user friendly and selective service , no more days with 5 insiders , i had ceased backing the insiders as i struggled to get on and i have been brought up with being selective with my betting and having 5 bets in a day from one service was of no interest to me . I was and still am a great supporter of the new system and i look forward to a successful 2008 with isiris , having just 4/5 bets a week at most .
The introduction of the new system was soon followed by membership to isiris closing and no more advesrtising in the racing post , in effect a private members advisory service has been introduced .
I contacted kevin early in december and told him that i was intending to continue my blog in 2008 , i was aware of the closure of membership and ceasing the adverts and had an idea of what he was trying to create with the revamped isiris , i asked whether he had any objections to me mentioning isiris and the bets on a daily basis , he responded that he would prefer if i dropped the daily bets and p/l , i have no problem with this and instead in 2008 all i will mention is a weekly p/l from isiris .

MARK HOLDER

2007 not a vintage year for mh followers , frustration followed frustration , the year was brought to an apt close by cemgraft today finishing 4th but with a 33/1 shot bolting and being withdrawn the ew terms were reduced to the first three . i experienced my longest ever losing run with mark since i joined in 1998 BUT for all this we still ended comfortably in profit for the year so i still remain positive and have every confidence in mark going forward especially with no flat bets in 2008 .

OPTIMUM RACING

A definite positive in 2007 was optimum racing , i admit i was not saying this earlier on in the year as the service struggled , and yes i did cut my stakes but i just felt i had to do some firefighting so to speak , part of the early struggle i feel was andrew starting up his own service as previously he was with mark holder , and he had to combine the pressure of advising and running a business . But wow did he turn around the p/l in the second half of the year , andrew concentrates on chases and also runs syndicates under the optimum banner with city affair being the flagbearer so far improving and wining 3 races on the trot in august and has been raised 25lb since coming under the care of tim vaughan , a trainer to note in 2008 .
I am looking forward to the future with optimum in 2008 .

CONCLUSION

This time last year if i was told that my profit would be a little more than £19,000 in 2007 i would have been most disappointed but after finding myself over £7500 in deficit during february im not too downhearted .
I have not enjoyed the last year as much as previous years , with the bottom line not progressing to levels i had previously experienced this is not surprising but the main reason has been the difficulty in getting on , no longer can i place the bets via the internet from home i now trawl the shops in london , overall i have not experienced too many problems but i now work in some pretty shappy parts of north london and my line of work means i have to carry some lumpy sums of cash on me and i have had a few scary moments and i have to remain vigilent at all times .
I will be continuing with all 3 services in 2008 and all that is left is to wish all a most happy and prosperous new year .

DIRK DIGGLER .

that just about sums up 2007 with mark holder ...........

2007-12-31T16:37:00.000Z

advises a 16/1 shot ew in a 16 runner hcap , finishes 4th ............. happy days you would have thought ................. only problem was that a 33/1 shot bolted at the start unshipping the jockey was withdrawn quite correctly but we lose the 4th place payout !!!! im sure mark and his followers will be pleased to see the back of 2007 from a gambling perspective , as it has been an uphill struggle all the way and we have just not had the rub of the green , im not looking for sympathy and im not moaning , in this game you have to take these reverses in your stride , if you get wound up and go over these things in your head , it will do you in !!! get over it and march on there is no point churning it over , is my philosophy .
i am not someone who harps on about the past or has regrets , i prefer to have a positive attitude and look forward to the future and thats what im doing ................. roll on 2008 !!!!

monday

MARK HOLDER

1.10 war CEMGRAFT £150 ew @ 16/1 unpld 4th -£300
1.10 war LES BAUX BELLE £75 ew @ 12/1 £75 ew @ 10/1 unpld -£300

what a marvellous day ................

2007-12-29T20:17:00.000Z

spurs win a 6-4 thriller and isiris advise a 10/1 main account winner , to get me out of jail on the week , happy days !!

saturday
ISIRIS
MAIN ACCOUNT
HORSE A £350 ew @ 3/1 2nd -£140
HORSE B £100 ew @ 10/1 £100 ew @ 8/1 £50 ew @ 7/1 WON +£2580

MARK HOLDER

3.15 bang MY MATILDA £150 ew @ 14/1 -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

3.10 newb ITS CRUCIAL £300 @ 5/1 unpld -£300

PERSONAL TRADING

i played in one race , place laying two in the 3.10 newbury , they finished 1st & 3rd so i sadly could not build on the isiris profits losing £288.97 in the process , this was a little more than i wanted to risk but i was at spurs and using the betfair mobile and by the time i had tried to cancel an old order it had been filled !!!

6th consecutive losing day ................

2007-12-27T15:32:00.001Z

talk about a strong finish to the year ................... NOT !!! optimum gave out a selection in the coral welsh grand national runs well to finish 5th just about sums up my gambling at the moment and for the year , when i took the isiris message i was in a ladbrokes shop who were quoting the selection @ 5/2 against a top price 7/2 and general 3/1 so i decided looking at the make up of the race and strength of the fav to back it @ s/p , my thinking was vindicated as he was returned @ 4/1 .

thursday
ISIRIS
super insider
HORSE A £150 ew @ 4/1 2nd level

OPTIMUM RACING

2.05 chep GEEVEEM £150 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£300

no late christmas present for me ..................

2007-12-27T15:24:00.000Z

only a £588 loss , thankfully it was not a really busy day as i was travelling to relatives , i even had to give my spurs season ticket away .................. they go and win 5-1 to record their biggest win of the season and im not watching , sods law !!!
i was at a hills shop when i took the isiris message so i was a little limited in prices i could take .

boxing day

ISIRIS
MAIN ACCOUNT
HORSE A £300 ew @ 10/1 unpld -£600
SUPER INSIDER
HORSE A sp @ 2/1 3RD HORSE B 3/1 WON +£312
£100 ew both £50 ew double

OPTIMUM RACING

2.35 weth VICTOR DALY £150 @ 11/4 £150 @ s/p unpld -£300

weekending 22nd dec ....................

2007-12-24T09:10:00.000Z

no denying this week was a poor one and last weeks profits were erased with interest , a loss of just short of £2000 on the week ................... just what you want before christmas !!! a tiny profit from isiris thanks to the super insider on thursday which was paid at the sp of 15/8 rather than the advised price of 13/8 , losses on the week from optimum 6 points and mark holder 5 points and myself £350 all added up to a deficit of £1934.33 .

so with 6 days racing left in 2008 my total stands at £23,696.41 and im must be trading at 1000 to reach the £30k ...............

the end of an awful week .................

2007-12-24T08:38:00.000Z

so looking forward to three blank days if honest , the only bright spot today was england and the weather saving the 3rd test thereby producing my only profit on the day .

saturday

ISIRIS
super insider
HORSE A £100 ew @ 4/1 unpld -£200

MARK HOLDER

1.20 ascot LYES GREEN £75 ew @ 48/7.4 unpld -£150

OPTIMUM RACING

3.05 hay NIKOLA £450 @ 2.92 2nd -£450

PERSONAL TRADING

nothing on the horses but i had a winning test match , trading the match i had an all green book with the draw my biggest winner of £175 the other two results both producing a £25 profit , so a profit of £167.47

not much to report ..............

2007-12-22T14:32:00.000Z

a loss of £130 from myself , nothing from the services i subscribe to .

friday

PERSONAL TRADING

i opposed two in the 1.05 ascot to small amounts on the place market , they finished 1st & 3rd ! my only saving grace was that i didnt get too heavily involved and i lost only £130 on the race .

overall another disappointing and losing day ..............

2007-12-21T14:47:00.000Z

as i ended up with a deficit of £487.50 but i felt relieved to be honest to keep the loss under a monkey , i had a bonus as well , as i will expain .
mh played in the 1.20 exeter 2pts ew , i managed to get on @ 13/2 so i was well chuffed as the selection opened @ 5/1 i was even more happy as the race progressed as he was travelling well enough and looked to my eyes to be assured of finishing in the first four as they raced into the mist ................ coming out of the gloom though he was knowhere to be seen , on the missing list so to speak finishing 15th out of 16 .
my little bonus came in the isiris race , i had £300 @ 6/4 on the selection , but he drifted like the contiki ,on the shows he touched 2/1 before returning the 15/8 second fav , with the fav capsizing someway out it was an easy bloodless victory , but my win was tempered by taking 6/4 for a horse that returned 15/8 a difference of £112.50 ........... so i was well pleased to be paid out @ 15/8 as the bookie was best odds guaranteed on exeter races !!

thursday

ISIRIS
super insider
HORSE A £300 @ 15/8 WON +£562.50

MARK HOLDER

1.20 exeter MANHATTAN BOY £300 ew @ 13/2 unpld -£600

OPTIMUM RACING

1.40 lud WALSINGHAM £300 @ 4/1 3rd -£300
2.40 lud PRESENT ORIENTATED £75 ew @ 20/1 unpld -£150

a uninspiring couple of days at diggler towers ..........

2007-12-19T17:29:00.000Z

a small profit on tuesday followed by a larger loss today , all of my own making so to speak with nothing from my services , although i did today call the isiris bet correctly , not the horse but the race ! i was not taken in by the time of the call , i positioned myself in the shop where i felt i could get on rather than a tote shop that had the best terms (1/4 odds) and as it happens best price , but i was accomodated to the full sum requested no questions asked so happy enough .

tuesday & wednesday

PERSONAL TRADING

i ended the day with a profit of £141.40 , mh gave a good word for watch my back at catterick and optimum gave a good word for polar gale at the same venue , i had a £50 double @ 7/4 & 6/4 with sid james , bingo on the first leg and drifting to a sp of 5/2 so happy days as they pay out guaranteed odds , unfortunately some sloppy jumping cost me on the second leg as came a close 2nd , but i layed polar gale i/r £200 @ 2.02 , hence my profit of £141.40 .
today was a case of me going for a small touch , i had the value but at the end of the day a £400 loss , i dont get much information and to be honest most of it in 2007 has been disappointing , today turned out to be no change on that front ............. but i got a strong message from a usually reliable source , only get messages from this chap 3-4 times a year but we talk on a regular basis , the horse was jardin de vienne in the newbury 12.30 i was told to take an early price as there would be money for this one , i invested £200 ew @ 5/1 , then mh gave a favourable mention to the horse so i was happy , money duly arrived i did think of laying half the bet off but resisted . the horse travelled ok but found very little when asked and could only stay on at the one rather slow pace to finish a well beaten 5th , a loss of £400 today , so over the 2 days a negative balance of £258.60 .

ive had better start to weeks ..................

2007-12-17T16:22:00.000Z

personally and work wise , after a blank sunday , today i finished the day with a deficit of £425.70 , with the days ticking the £30k is looking a longshot especially with 3 days off before christmas but being honest my head wasnt right today as i had to cope with some personal difficulties , i do usually find that on days like today its best to clear your head and take some time out but i decided to kick on , the losing day though had nothing to do with the problems that surfaced today and i would have lost today regardless of my personal troubles .

monday
ISIRIS
insider
HORSE A £150 ew @ 3/1 r4 15p unpld -£300

summed up my day beaten a shd for 3rd ............

PERSONAL TRADING

mh had a few ideas he was negative at the prices on daltaban in the plumpton opener , i was considering going against my laying philosophy and lay this one in the win market but i resisted , with harry hindsight i should have considered a place lay .............. he was also keen on pocket aces in the 1.20 i had £75 ew @ 8/1 , and i left an order to lay my win bet back @ 3.00 i/r this was matched as he came from off the pace looking for all the world the winnner , trading long odds on but he just did not quicken but i still collected £191.77 on the race , the remainder of the day went rapidly downhill although i was pleased with my position when the tapes went up for the 2.25 as i had layed both ironside and kiltimoney for £140 each @ 2.12 & 2.14 respectively in the place market , although ironside was always front rank kiltimoney was being rousted along early doors , to the horse and jockeys credit they kept on well , so that cost me £317.47 giving me a loss of £125.70 on the day .
have been trading the 3rd test between sri lanka & england and at present i have £50 @ 2.74 on the draw which is currently priced @ 1.51/1.52 .

weekending sat 15th dec ..................

2007-12-16T19:50:00.000Z

a profit of £1351.90 on the week , p/l level from mh , i lost £200 from my own acount , optimum erased the previous weeks loss with interest with a profit of £990 and a decent week from isiris , although a loss of £200 on the insiders i made just over £750 on the main account , last sunday i couldn,t get my bet on to full stakes this was a faller and worked in my favour but then on thursday with me travelling to cheltenham i was unable to take full advantage of the advice given as i restricted to minimal amounts .

THE30KCHALLENGE ........................... +£25,630.74

thats why i use these advisory services ............

2007-12-16T19:32:00.000Z

after my selection today afsoun finished out of the money , before i left for cheltenham i invested £100 ew @ 9/2 , 6/1 was freely available on track although he was supported into a final sp of 9/2 losing his position 3 out he stayed on well but 2m these days are on the short side for him , paddy brennan rode a superb tacttical front running performance on osana reminiscent of the early martin pipe years but sadly the race was marred by the loss of macs joy .
another superb days racing at the home of the winter sport , again mrs d ended the day in front with 3 placed efforts and a win in the opening via harper valley .......... yes perhaps im paying the wrong people , roll on mrs digglers advisory line !!!

saturday

ISIRIS
insider

HORSE A £100 ew @ 11/1 unpld -£200

OPTIMUM RACING

1.20 ling MAGOT DE GRUCY £150 ew @ 5/1 WON +£900
2.40 chelt IL DUCE £150 ew @ 15/2 unpld -£300

PERSONAL TRADING

just the one bet for me £100 ew @ 9/2 on afsoun , a loss on my personal account of £200 .

close but no real cigar ...................

2007-12-16T19:03:00.000Z

felt more like 10 damp bensons !!! another crossbar hit today by mh in the form of roman villa as the well handicapped jack the giant stayed on much the better to deny us , should not have expected anything else , i dont want want to become dirk the parrot but this really has been a year of near misses from mh im still well in front on the year but it has been a frustrating year .
had a lovely day at cheltenham although i do wish id packed my thermal socks ! mrs d was a star picking out joe lively and calgary bay, so finishing the day with a healthy profit and insisting on picking up the tab for dinner at a very nice thai restaurant , happy days !

noticed that you had to study the boards to check out the place terms , no longer are the terms uniform with quite a few quoting 1/5 odds first 4 and even 1/6 odds first 3 , a situation that does not show the bookmaking fraternity in a good light .

i do not wish to go into too much detail on yesterdays isiris account bet , kevin spoke a lot of sense on todays message although i would say that from all bar one of the isiris clients that contacted me had there bets referred with one lucky guy getting £100 ew , one £37.50 ew and the rest a pony ew , thesedays most bets to take out £500 are ptl (referred-permission to lay) by the high street bookmakers .

friday

MARK HOLDER

2.30 chelt ROMAN VILLA £300 ew @ 7/1 2nd +£120

mixed emotions again ............

2007-12-13T13:55:00.000Z

frustration mainly , stayed with friends overnight enroute to cheltenham so i had to rely on the internet accounts for "getting on" ............. or not as was the case !!! im too old in the tooth to get too wound up by todays events , yes its frustrating but not much you can do . i received a few emails from folk who experienced similar problems and were less than pleased that the bookies would not allow them £200 ew @ 40/1 & 25/1 .................. get real folk !!!!

anyway lets move on , have a good few days , updating next on monday as will be without lap top till then .

thursday

main account bet

HORSE A £11.70 ew @ 40/1 £22.50 ew @ 25/1 3rd +£171.90

after the 25/1 next show was 16/1 after being advised @ 40/1 i wasnt gonna take 16/1 , betfair were trading around 16 on the win market and 3 in the place so that avenue didnt offer any value .

a day of mixed emotions .............

2007-12-12T17:55:00.000Z

yes p/l wise a decent one but most of my day was spent on the phone to various call centres as i had my wallet nicked this afternoon on the way home from wood green , no money just cards and various forms of id , so im well up for a bit of identity fraud over the coming months ........... deep joy ......... NOT !!!!
at least a decent winner from optimum cheered me up , off to cheltenham with the mrs tomorrow afternoon for a few days racing staying up at cleeve hill , a lovely part of the world and really looking fwd to it especially after todays episode .

wednesday

MARK HOLDER

1.10 leices arthurs dream £150 ew @ 11/1 3rd +£180

OPTIMUM RACING

2.40 leices mibleu £150 ew @ 11/2 WON +£990

PERSONAL TRADING

nothing today basically due to the situation outlined earlier but i did have a bet on saturdays international hurdle at cheltenham , im really sweet on the chances of afsoun , the way i see it my selection is fit and well , sublimity if the trainer is to be believed wont be 100% and will need the race , katchit needs to prove he has trained on this year ,to my eyes he lacks scope and i have a feeling we may have seen the best of him , straw bear bled last time out in the champion , jazz messenger would be a worry but looks like navan is his destination ........ that in my book leaves macs joy who i believe is a danger , not sure if he is the same horse from 2 seasons ago but even still a decent seasonal reappearance on ground that would not have suited , and he must be expected to come on from that run , macs joy is respected but i have invested £100 ew @ 9/2 on afsoun .

3/1 isiris main account winner ................

2007-12-11T18:02:00.000Z

gets me out of jail , overall a small loss on the day . i had to choose my shop correctly today as i knew the race would be flagged up as a ptl bonanza by the high street bookies with anything over £99 ew being referred . i managed to get most of my bet on @ the 3/1 but i may struggle next time as i heard dissenting murmurs from the cashiers after the win .............. fickle lot these bookies !!!
mh continues to be out of form BUT he was correct in alot of his analysis of the fancied runners in the 12.40 fontwell but as has been the case recently the analysis has not reaped the dividends , quite the reverse in fact but as i know from personal experience these losses can quickly be erased as was the case earlier this year .
optimum were unfortunate in that present m'lord may a horlicks of a fence early on and thereafter was always fighting a valiant but losing battle , all credit to dayrl jacob for his ride though , then the optimum owned president park was pulled up which must be a huge worry to the owners but hopefully he will return at some stage but the bet did come with a warning and sadly this was the case .

tuesday

ISIRIS
main account

HORSE A £150 ew @ 3/1 £100 ew @ 5/2 WON +£840

MARK HOLDER

12.40 font madam vouvray £150 ew @ 14/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

2.10 font present m'lord £300 @ 11/4 3rd -£300
3.10 font president park £150 ew @ 14/1 unpld -£300

a brucey bonus !!!!

2007-12-10T18:48:00.000Z

so to speak , as i went into my vcbet account this morning and noticed a promo cash balance of £80 after yesterdays bet £40 ew on the faller advised by isiris , well a quiet day all round with ntg from any of my services but i have had a small word for room at the top in the bumper north of the border , i utilise half my promo cash with a score ew @ 6/1 , a decent run for my money eventually finishing 3rd , and im the recipient of £4 into my vcbet account !!! unfortuntely the stake is lost but a nice concession and makes up for the unfair manner in which the bets with them are accepted as was my experience yesterday .

escaped relatively lightly today .................

2007-12-10T14:26:00.000Z

in respect of the isiris main account bet faller , i was at home at and required by the missus to run a few errands nothing exciting a couple of loads taken to the local tip , get a christmas tree , decorate the bloody thing etc etc all this before i leave for spurs , so i decided to rely on my non too accomodating internet accounts , i had them all lined up ............... £90 ew @ 11/1 got £48 ew , £80 ew @ 11/1 got £37 ew and then the fun n games with vcbet asked for £80 ew @ 8/1 this was referred as per usual , came back price changed now 10/1 ! happy days take the price , bet referred again .................. came back price changed now 8/1 !!!! you couldn,t make it up i accepted the bet once again and it came back £40 ew allowed ............. thats why i prefer the shops !!! so i had half my stakes on , the price was now 7/1 , and i decided to draw stumps on this one , as 8/1 was the floor price i was prepared to accept . in the race we were travelling well enough no question really asked and we came a cropper , this was my only action on the day .

sunday
ISIRIS
main account bet
HORSE A £75 ew @ 11/1 £40 ew @ 8/1 fell -£250

weekending 8th december ..............

2007-12-10T08:18:00.000Z

after my last weekly round up i got a few emails commenting that they thought i would make the £30k , to be honest i didnt share the optimism , yes i have been chugging along nicely recently but this game p/l wise is never a straight line !!! choppy waters are expected and often delivered , this week has been one of those dips .
a loss of over £1700 on the week , the deficit arising from a poor week with mh by his own admission he is struggling at present but i have every confidence that he will turn this ship around and you can rest assured he will be burning the midnight oil to erase the recent losses , a loss of 4 points on the week from optimum which is nothing bearing in mind a profit in excess of 40 points over the last 4/5 weeks , a negligble loss from isiris and a small profit from my own trading , the precise loss on the week was £1700.25 .

THE30KCHALLENGE ................... +£24,278.84

a blank day on friday .............

2007-12-10T07:50:00.000Z

but saturday was fairly busy from a mh perspective with 3 account bets , i was travelling across london on the underground , waiting 20 mins for the first tube , understandably when it arrived it was the stuffed in like sardines scenario , not pleasant but no alternative as was late , mid journey i had to break up my travelling to take the mh & optimum messages .
i had a touch as i was at kings cross and there is a better shop in the area and they were best odds guaranteed on all sandown races , and although they ptl all my bets , they are yet to refuse or cut me down ............. always a first time though !!!

saturday

ISIRIS
insider
HORSE A £200 @ 7/2 unpld -£200

MARK HOLDER

12.55 san edgeover £150 ew @ 10/1 unpld -£300
1.30 san arafan £150 ew @ 16/1 2nd +£450
3.10 san wingspan £300 ew @ 13/2 dh 3rd -£206.26

PERSONAL TRADING

i was away from home so ntg from me for today , overall a small loss on the day , but felt we played with the odds in our favour and just one of the those days when it didnt count , but in the long run as i have experienced it will .

pulled one back so to speak ..............

2007-12-06T17:27:00.000Z

after 4 consecutive losing days this week thanks to the most impressive isiris insider winner , hope no subscribers missed the bet as i for one on other days may of cut short the message if i was snowed under , thankfully i wasn,t . the day didnt start too well, but on the back of a few comments from the mh line i was going into the last nearly a fiver up !!! thankfully i emerged after the race , well over a monkey up .

ISIRIS

HORSE A £250 @ 3.40 WON +£574.80

OPTIMUM RACING

2.00 leices l'oiseau £300 @ 3/1 unpld -£300

PERSONAL TRADING

made a profit of £304.84 on the day on the back of comments from mh , no account bet but still worth a listen , in the 1.30 leices he gave a negative to high seasons due to stamina doubts , i dont lay in the win market especially 7/1 shots but i layed £120 @ 2.74 in the place market after pulling early on he never looked like troubling the leaders . in the 2.40 winc mh at the prices he was keen to oppose the then (message @ noon) short priced fav prime contender , giving preferences to the ron hodges trained pair , master mahogany set the pace with compton star always travelling well i had £25 ew @ 12/1 & 7/1 respectively , this produced a profit of £190 on the race .
i dont get too involved in the betfair forums thesedays but the merits of mh have been discussed recently so i have offered my opinion , i admit as i have done many times during 2007 that it hasnt been a vintage year with him but we are in profit for the year . i do feel at times subscribers to these services has unrealistic ambitions with regard to the p/l from them , they dont have a magic wand it wont be winner after winner , there will be losing weeks , losing months . its a long term game , always remember that , dont try to run before you can walk , start off low on the stakes and build up gradually , set yourself targets once they are met move up a level viz a viz staking levels .

need to stop the rot ...........

2007-12-05T17:06:00.000Z

this week , 4 - 0 im losing , this equates to a deficit of just over £2k . i never like losing but the timing couldnt be worse with the days running out as i come up to year end it looks like i will be short of the £30k , i need to be in profit by over £34k anyway as the £30k is net of my fees to the services i use .
had a couple of account bets from the services i use today , both had to be referred or ptl , i get the feeling that im a criminal when i ask for a bet , by the attitude of the cashiers !!!!

wednesday

ISIRIS
HORSE A £250 ew @ 7/2 2nd -£31.25

MARK HOLDER

12.50 catt goodnight dick £150 ew @ 20/1 unpld -£300

what a poxy day .............

2007-12-04T16:56:00.000Z

sorry but it was , for me anyway . before racing started i had bad vibes on two fronts , firstly it was the current flavour of the month to afflict mh bets ..................... place your bet on a 8 runner or 16 runner hcap then within a short space of time a n/r appears to scupper any value you may of had , ok i admit today and last week our selections ran poorly and it wouldn,t have mattered if we were offered ew terms on the first six but if these non runners were announced 10/15 mins earlier then we wouldn,t have had the bets and saved ourselves a few quid , so none too pleased then at 12.30 my laptop asked me if i wanted to restart as there had been some security updates installed i replied no remind me later and the laptop acted like the mrs by totalling ignoring my command and shutting down .................. the day got worse !
my only saving grace is that my discipline held out , i was itching to lay never so blue and over the creek at hereford but i decided a few months ago that my laying days were over , my resolve was tested today but thankfully held out , good job as well as both could be called the winner some way from home and recorded bloodless victories .

tuesday
ISIRIS
HORSE A £250 @ 13/8 unpld -£250
HORSE B £50 @ 5/1 2nd -£50

MARK HOLDER

12.40 here the grey shark £225 ew @ 8/1 unpld -£450
12.40 here rhetoric £75 ew @ 28/1 unpld -£150

OPTIMUM

1.10 here tosula £150 ew @ 8/1 unpld -£300

nearly a huge slice of luck ................

2007-12-03T19:11:00.000Z

for isiris followers today , with our selection second but the clear cut winner blundering at the last and for a split second the possibility of unseating the jockey that would have been a huge slice of fortune , what a poor race not a pretty sight , but the original and morning fav was well beaten and out of the frame so certainly vindicated in playing .

monday

ISIRIS
HORSE A £350 ew @ 9/4 2nd -£192.50

weekending sat 1st dec ..................

2007-12-03T18:02:00.000Z

so i enter the last month of my year/challenge ......... i have been emailed recently asking whether this blog will continue in 2008 , well as ive intimated over the year i have found the blog both enjoyable and a help with my gambling especially the subject of disciplined gambling also from a personal level i have come into contact with many knowledgeable and friendly people that otherwise i would not have so i will start with a clean start on jan 1st .

leaving my p/l to one side for a sec the week will be remembered by many as the week when isiris closed their doors to new members , no more adverts , i really enjoy the new isiris format and am looking fwd to 2008 with them , although the last week has been unsuccessful with them the trading opportunities have been amazing and i hope to avail myself of these in months to come , alot of the times i have been in the wrong shop but this wont always be the case . im moving areas next week trying to stay away from wood green , the area is not the most desirable and sadly this is reflected by some of the occupants and staff in the shops , this game is hard enough and i dont need regular rows with rude punters or staff , i refuse to be intimidated or pushed around by either and some of the attitudes encountered this week are not something i want to be around , i try to treat people in a amicable manner this has not been recipricated this week so im moving areas !

so the week produced a small profit of £456.89 , decent profits from optimum and myself , a tiny loss from mh and isiris having a poor week that moves me a few quid shy of £26k .

THE30KCHALLENGE .......................... +£25,979.09

if you feel this game is frustrating .........

2007-12-03T17:57:00.000Z

then start supporting spurs as well .............not going to say anymore BUT there cannot be a more frustrating side in the land , the transfer window cant come soon enough bring back dave mackay , mike england , graham roberts , richard gough even paul miller would be an improvement to the current shambles of a defense !!

sunday

MARK HOLDER

1.20 don andorran £150 ew @ 7/1 unpld -£300

wow that was breathtaking ...............

2007-12-03T17:28:00.000Z

i think it was the challow hurdle on new years day at cheltenham last year when the mighty denman beat thecoolguy by 21lengths that had mh eulogising over him , the sectionals were apparently remarkable and this was a horse to follow since that challow victory he has only been beaten once in a further 8 outings by nicanor a couple of months later at the festival in the rsa nov hurdle , i remember that defeat well as i was in egypt of all places yes for the festival its a long story .......... and secondly due to the fact i had for my standards a lumpy ante post bet on him , thankfully it was ew as was a £100 double on voy por ustedes successful in the previous days arkle @ 8/1 (put up by andrew who was working with mh) with denman , the one that got away !!!
today it was denmans day again , and what a joy to watch how easily did he travel , i will be praying for a wet early march as optimum advised denman for the gold cup @ 5/1 a month or so ago and i think on softish going he will have the beating of kauto star over a truly run gold cup trip .

saturday

ISIRIS
main account
HORSE A £250 ew @ 3/1 2nd -£100
insider
HORSE B £150 ew @ 15/2 unpld @ 7/2 -£300

MARK HOLDER

2.05 newb special envoy £300 ew @ 5/1 r4 2nd level
3.30 newc blythe knight £150 ew @ 5/1 unpld -£300
3.45 newb european dream £300 ew @ 9/1 3rd +£375

obvious i know but the hurdles as connections of special envoy know to their cost have to be jumped , today again the last hurdle nearly cost the ew backers of special envoy and from where i was watching the mistake by european dream 2 out cost his backers dearly , a clean jump and he would have won i feel , this game can be frustrating !!

top dressing another winner ................

2007-12-03T16:48:00.000Z

for the bang in form service of optimum racing , flying at present i realise it cant continue forever in this vein but lets ride the wave !!! apoligies for not updating over the last couple of days , i do try to keep up to date and on a day to day basis but i have been all over the place last few days and its nice to be finally home .

friday

ISIRIS
insider

HORSE A £100 ew @ 5/1 unpld-£200

OPTIMUM RACING

2.55 muss top dressing £200 @ 5/2 £100 @ 4.10 WON +£796.67

PERSONAL TRADING

i was half expecting the race i played in today to be an "isiris" race , it was a 9 runner maiden hurdle but to my eyes there were only 4 at most who had a squeak the betting went 4/6 7/2 11/2 16/1 bar , the horse i was interested in was the david pipe trained the package , a stoutly bred son of kayf tara but he had enough speed to win a 2m bumper although it was at towcester, from the genius bloodstock agent that is tom costello in ireland he came with a pretty tall reputation, apparently on the gallops the trainer has been most impressed and is showing all the right credentials and is a horse to follow . my only reservation today was the trip as i felt 2m may be on the sharp side but brennan made plenty of use of him , riding him agressively from the start and from a long way out he could be called the winner , although a couple of mistakes when looking tired at the last 2 flights gave backers a slight scare , £75 ew @ 11/2 made a nice profit of £495

although a profitable year so far ....................

2007-11-29T16:19:00.000Z

it has been my most frustrating and least productive since i left the city 5 years ago to make a living from gambling on the advice of the services i use , but saying that after the slow start this year im happy with where i am p/l wise but still im looking forward to starting with a fresh diary and p/l ledger come january 1st , there has been little continuity in my p/l in comparision with previous years , today was one of those frustrating days that seem to typify 2007 from a gambling perspective .

mh put a bet up in the 1.10 taunton the 8 runner seller , got my bet on then strolled along to a internet cafe that i use , by this time the fied had been reduced by 2 to a 6 runner affair , nullyfying any value in the raceand leaving me with a bet i didnt want !! yes i could have layed the win part on betfair but i was stuffed on the place side as i was on 1-2 and betfair pay out on 1-2-3 , well in the end the selection ran creditably enough beaten a shd & 1 1/2 l into of course third place !!!

we also had a isiris main account bet , andrew @ optimum covered our runner on his line and he was concerned over the soft going , feeling that he was a better horse on good ground , our bet travelled well in the race but weakened on the run in and i feel andrew was correct in his opinion with regard the ground as we finished 4th ............................ bring on tomorrow !

thursday

ISIRIS

HORSE A £250 ew @ 9/2 unpld -£500

MARK HOLDER

1.10 taun mujamead £150 ew @ 11/2 r4 unpld -£300

totally amazed but what i witnessed today .............

2007-11-28T18:04:00.000Z

in a hills shop , wood green to be precise not the the most inviting of areas but one with a plentiful supply of betting shops , some better than others (a hint there !) and with the staff in some if there were olympic games for attitude and agression would be 1.01 shoo ins for gold medals . went in this morning and was having a chat with one of the managers and spotted a couple of blokes getting a laptop out , i didnt say anything and was waiting for the manager to go over but ntg happened , it was close to the first at wetherby and i watched from behind them , they had betfair up n running with what looked like a bot interface plus oddschecker and a selection of bookies sites , i was in there for half an hour it was obvious they were arbing and playing the i/r off the sis feed , i left as the manager who i know was leaving to take a fag break so i had a chat and mentioned the lap top , he has no problems at all with laptops in shops ................ i was amazed , gobsmacked and to be honest i thought he must be taking a bung from the lads ! i returned home to log on , posted a thread on the betfair forum and aparrently this is not a uncommon sight ................. any internet bods please get in touch as im the mr bean of the it world , i have a lap top but how do i get a broadband connection in a betting shop ? any ideas on what i need ?
i really cant believe that this is in the shops interest i realise they will get the arbing money but it will be on horses shortening and they are providing a free sis link to play betfair i/r without the £34 daily charge .

wednesday

PERSONAL TRADING

a quiet day with nothing from my three services but mh was keen on the short fav lady pilot in the lingfield 1.00 , given a supremely confident and perfectly timed ride by robert lucey-butler to continue the superb current form of the jim best yard , i invested £80 @ 2.30 to produce a small profit of £99.52 on the day .

a small reversal ...................

2007-11-27T16:07:00.000Z

in terms of p/l and lady luck , with the isiris selection being brought down before any real questions had been asked , these things happen as supporters and connections of special envoy know all too well !!! the optimum selection drifted like the kon-tiki but ran respectfully enough but although the sp was still somewhat short of what was available on the exhanges at the off it did emphasise the important bonus currently on offer by bet3.65 and sid james of best odds guaranteed , also obviously no comm involved either , in the end it didnt matter whether i received 5/2 or 4/1 but in the long run it will count .

tuesday

ISIRIS

HORSE A £100 ew @ 14/1 unpld -£200

OPTIMUM RACING

2.10 sedge malt de vergy £450 @ 4/1 3rd -£450

consolidation on a quiet day .............

2007-11-26T15:12:00.000Z

after yesterdays decent profit i was happy to have a quiet day with a tiny profit courtesy of a isiris placed ew selection , 7/1 was available but not for me as i was on the pc , best i could avail myself of was 13/2 plus 6/1 guaranteed , but even those prices were better than the sp of 11/2 .

monday

ISIRIS

HORSE A £50 ew @ 13/2 & 6/1 3RD +£25

PERSONAL TRADING

optimum had some views on the 1.20 ludlow , a few plays were considered laying commander vic in the place market , the same trade on ferimon and ew bets on theocritus and boardroom dancer .............. only the first of these would have been profitable but at odds on , with the other three losers in the end i decided against getting involved as i was happy to have a minimal interest on the day .

that was worth missing the football for .................

2007-11-26T08:44:00.000Z

missed one of my favourite games of the season today west ham v spurs , always a lively encounter with a brilliant atmosphere but a 1.30 kickoff time made my attendance difficult , so i gave my ticket away , and with defoe missing a last minute penalty and optimum coming up trumps again i was more than happy with my decision .

sunday

OPTIMUM RACING

2.40 plum fine by me £300 @ 11/4 WON +£825

the fine run continues well over 35 pts profit in the last month , even better if you nabbed the 10/1 l,antartique !

PERSONAL TRADING

a couple of bets providing a profit of £190.70 on the day , a couple of horses mh mentioned bremen in the first at aintree and teamgeist who may drift in the wake of strong support for the fav gansey , i had a £50 ew double 8/1 & 5/2 , bremen was second , beaten by a 66/1 shot and for a time it looked like the second leg was going to let me down but teamgeist stayed on to nab third place , a profit of £95 on the bet . optimum were negative over najca de thaix in the 3.00 tow on stamina concerns , well these were untested as he unseated barry fenton at the first to give me a profit of £95.70 , to round off a most profitable day ................. if only robbie keane was on the pitch at the time of the penalty !!!!

weekending sat 24th nov .................

2007-11-24T16:04:00.000Z

shows a profit of £158.67 , a pretty quiet week overall ,with the loss of mh basically wiped out by the 10/1 isiris insider winner tiny profits by myself and optimum . all my services are well in profit for the year , so i was surprised by a forum thread this week criticising one of the services i use stating that they have lost a considerable sum from their selections , i dont normally get involved in these threads but i popped my head above the parapet to give a counter view only to have my honesty and integrity questioned ................ all the services i use will have unprofitable spells but over the long run they will prove profitable , yes it will be hard work and sometimes inconvenient as the bookmakers dont like losing and will try to restrict you , i notice a small upcoming internet bookie has started to quote 1/5 odds on 16 runner hcaps . the guys i use will bet in uncompetitive races and each way when the fav is odds on , it is always a sign that you are on the right lines if the bookies dont like taking your bets or say to you "sorry , win only " , there are so many outlets out there , so you should be able to get on , although i admit for people in full time work it can prove to be a pain .

THE30KCHALLENGE ................................... +£25,522.20

its been a funny old week ..............

2007-11-24T15:35:00.000Z

p/l wise and saturdays bets eventually maintained a profitable week , the p/l figs this week have been +£75 -£600 +£650 +£88.62 -£54.95 and today nil !!! making a profit of £158.67 .
today isiris came up trumps in the 1.50 ascot , last night the split bet was given and from some way out the two advised had it between them , the bigger of the two won so that was pleasing , what wasnt was the sad demise of detroit city for the second week running a nice win was marred by a fatality , detroit city will be fondly remembered especially for his festival win in the 2006 triumph hurdle .

saturday

ISIRIS
main account
HORSE A £250 @ 9/4 2nd -£250
HORSE B £250 @ 3/1 WON +£750
insider
HORSE C £100 ew @ 25/1 unpld -£200

MARK HOLDER

12.45 ascot isle de maurice £150 ew @ 33/1 -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

1.20 ascot fier normand £150 ew @ 5/1 2nd p/l nil

a small profit yesterday followed by ..........

2007-11-24T15:15:00.000Z

a tiny loss today , not much to get overly excited on to be honest . i like everyone else wanted to oppose berings express in the first at ascot but i was not prepared to pay the price quoted when i called betfair , it was drifting on course but the exchange drift was magnified somewhat . i considered laying in the place market but decided to sit the heat out .

friday

MARK HOLDER

3.55 exeter thenameescapesme £150 ew @ 12/1 unpld -£300
3.55 exeter equilibria £100 ew @ 15/2 £50 ew @ 8/1 3rd +£137.50

PERSONAL TRADING

played in just one race the 3.45 ascot , close with a second and a small profit of £107.55 courtesy of amour multiple , i had £50 ew @ 5/1 and pre race he initially was drifting on the exchanges so i had £75 @ 2.50 in the place market , travelling well in the race i was at one stage expecting a nice win , but the winner missis potts stayed on well so i collected just on the place bet .

a blank day ...................

2007-11-22T17:45:00.000Z

from my three services , and on days like these i prefer to tread carefully , if they cant find anything then i happy enough to pull stumps on the day and wait , but i played in a couple of races making a small profit .

thursday

PERSONAL TRADING

in the first at market rasen i had £50 ew @ 7/2 on desert inferno sent off the well supported 9/4 second fav , never travelling with conviction the selection was a well beaten 4th , so a loss of £100 . the other race i played in was the 16 runner handicap hurdle at hereford (2.50) i had a small interest on craft lady £25 ew @ 12/1 who stayed on without eve looking like to win for third and i layed a couple of well supported runners rudinero £50 @ 2.00 and lorikeet £95 @ 3.00 both were out of the frame so a decent race for me yielding £188.62 making a small profit of £88.62 on the day .

well done isiris & kevin ..............

2007-11-21T17:50:00.000Z

i was going to comment on the isiris message from last night but i think todays action says all that needs to be said with a 10/1 winner , but i would like to add that the new isiris more selective approach in this day and age with the ever expanding fixture list is the way forward , without doubt and i was pleased by kevins response last night to a client questioning the "new" isiris . in the old days perhaps we would have had 3 insiders with todays winner being the last mentioned and by the time you have backed the first couple only 7/1 or 8/1 would be available , but only one bet and i obtained the 10/1 no problem , under the old system i would not have backed the horse as i was a non insider backer , so at least these days i can join in celebrating these new super insider winners .
carry on kevin is the call from me !!!
the winner was most welcome as i had a loss yesterday and mh advised 2pts ew on aston lad in the 2.40 hexham today that was unplaced so the 10/1 winner takes me to £50 up on the week .

wednesday

ISIRIS

HORSE A £100 ew @ 10/1 WON +£1250

MARK HOLDER

2.40 hex aston lad £300 ew @ 7/1 unpld -£600

the other side of the coin today ..........

2007-11-20T16:54:00.000Z

just to show this game is not as easy as shelling peas as a loss of £600 was todays bottom line , off to walthamstow tonight for the greyhound festival night , no punting just gonna watch some marvellous racing . i have been asked to appear on wbut radio , always game for most things , had a look at the site and listened to one of the interviews so lets see if it comes off , but i like the site and seems like a decent bloke , he lives in malta , so i might delay it till the summer and he can put me up in a nice hotel somewhere nice .............. ive never been to malta !!!! lol only kidding john , have a look at the blog and tune into the radio show http://manofmystery.lastminuteliving.com

tuesday

ISIRIS

MAIN ACCOUNT HORSE A £500 @ 6/4 2nd -£500

PERSONAL TRADING

just the one bet , £50 ew on the emma lavelle trained regal quote in the folkes 1.10 , but this failed to build on the promise of its debut run , perhaps the ground was to blame , will be interested to see its next run on better ground .

that was the worst weather ...........

2007-11-19T18:42:00.000Z

i have ever experienced on a racecourse , at least i could find some shelter i did pity the tatts bookies at least these days the clerks dont have to write the bets in the ledger books , yesterday reminded me of my on course working days , i was my dads clerk or floorman , one day at the open wet n windy newmarket rowley course i was clerking, by the third race due to the biting cold wind i had lost all feeling in my red raw hands and then due to the rain the clerking book became wet and the pencil or pen would just tear the paper , i was only a kid and close to tears i dont mind admitting , getting into the car that day was heaven !
after the successes and celebrations of saturday , today was understandably taking into account the weather a quiet day , i spent most of it in the shopping tented village getting the mrs a little pressie to keep her sweet and the centaur as my my left foot was wet n cold as i soon found out my shoe had a leak .............

sunday

spirit calling £150 ew @ 6/1 3rd +£75

THANK YOU OPTIMUM RACING !!!!!

2007-11-18T20:38:00.000Z

what a week , capped off in fine style by l'antartique in the paddy power on saturday , yes i admit the gloss was taken off the win by the sad demise of granit jack but it has been a superb week with decent winners on monday and thursday bringing the overall profit from the service to £4200 on the week .
i now realise my party days are long gone and the three days at cheltenham no longer involve clubbing the night away but a most enjoyable trip with the lads from my local cricket club athough i must admit sunday with the weather not the most enjoyable , especially when i stepped out this morning only to discover a hole in the sole of my shoes !!! i can at least afford a new pair after the latest week .

friday

ISIRIS insider
HORSE A £150 ew @ 5/2 unpld -£300

MARK HOLDER

moon melody £150 ew @ 9/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

big al £300 @ 2/1 unpld -£300

=====================================

saturday

ISIRIS insider
HORSE A £100 ew @ 10/1 unpld -£200

MARK HOLDER

lemon silk £150 ew @ 16/1 3rd +£330

OPTIMUM RACING

l'antartique £300 @ 8/1 WON +£2400
bob hall £150 @ 10/1 unpld -£150

so ends a most profitable week the bottom line is £3998.65 , optimum weighed in with £4200 small profits from myself & mh and a rare losing week from isiris thats only lent though !

THE30KCHALLENGE ........................... £25,363.53

got the cheltenham expenses .............

2007-11-15T16:24:00.000Z

and more courtesy of the optimum advised the easy 18l winner of the taunton 3.40 and what a bonus the price was , i had an appointment at the dr's for 3.30 so i backed the horse @ 11/4 guaranteed with sid james well chuffed with the 7/2 , also had a bit of fortune with the mh account bet with cresswell willow all over the winner crashing out at the last , taking a nasty fall hopefully no injury was sustained , this left our bet lyster to plug on for 3rd . i had the choice of three shops to visit this morning lads/hills & betfred the first 2 are virtually nextdoor neighbours so i was frustrated when mh said the best price 9/1 was with betfred !!! again my sprinting was called into action , i am certainly no linford christie in the sprinting department , i got to betfred the price was 8/1 , i wrote the slip out asked for the price and was informed that it was now 7/1 ............. balls or words to that effect was uttered under my breath !!! the only consolation and it was minor , was that the cashier stated it was 7/1 guaranteed but mh's selections very rarely drift , in the end the 1pt difference made little effect to a decent days p/l but i admit i do get frustrated by not getting a decent price , lets face it the 7/1 i acquired was the worst on offer at noon .
nothing from isiris but im frustrated by there being no change in the 1pm message from the night before and i dont like it , i realise kb has stated that he has only been late with the message twice since stegosauras and tyrannosaurus roamed the earth but there have been faults with the line due to the telecoms provider in the past , and a little no bet today i do not feel would go amiss .

roll on cheltenham , i love the next three days , spent with good company on my favourite course , good luck all .

thursday

MARK HOLDER

2.30 lud lyster £300 ew @ 7/1 3rd +£225

OPTIMUM RACING

3.40 taun dun drinan £300 @ 7/2 WON +£1050

PERSONAL TRADING

this centred on the optimum race @ taunton the 3.40 , i layed a couple in the place market , one on the thoughts of andrew @ optimum and one on my say so , andrew was keen to oppose coolers quest i layed £200 @ 1.80 and i wanted to take £200 out of couer d'alene this was done @ 2.22 i remembered this ones last run @ wincanton when an optimum selection , a complete rogue it looked to me with its own ideas on the game and one not to be trusted but opposed till showing a change in attitude .
so a pleasant surprise on leaving the docs , dun drinan won @ 7/2 and the two bismarks out of the frame ............. happy days , all i have to do now is lose some weight and get my blood pressure down eh doc !!!

i will be totally honest ..............

2007-11-14T16:04:00.000Z

that when i opened the post and noticed the race that isiris were planning to have a main account bet in , i was not looking fwd to getting on and i said as much to a few other members that i keep in contact with ........... 4/5 -4/1-4/1-20/1 bar the three , im a shop player thesedays and i realised id have to tread carefully . i was in a hills shop 7/2 was the "show" i had £100 ew @ 7/2 , the other bet was 40/1 i had £50 ew @ 4/1 no questions asked got on happy days !!! , i chanced my arm and wrote out 2 identical slips but the cashier refered them to the manager who took my first bet and i was told i could have full win/half place , i declined and ran 4 doors along to laddies . i asked for £100 ew @ 7/2 , the £100 ew was refered to liabilities , i noticed on the screen warning cashiers to watch out for bets in the 12.45 and to refer all bets over £100 ew .............. liabilities said i could have £100 win £50 place i declined , i ran back to the hills shop , i heard there had been a false start in the race so i wrote out £75 ew @ sp the horse was now showing @ 10/3 this was accepted .
neither of these were showing the race so i ran to a pp shop and they were showing a race from downpatrick , the cashier was most unhelpful and would not change the screen set up until the irish race had finished although they have the option of showing both sis & racing uk .
in the end the 40/1 shot was unplaced but the other just lasted out for 3rd , then i had a little bonus , the horse was returned @ 4/1 from 10/3 on the screens as the last show and the hills shop as its in a high street location in competition with lads n powers they are offering enhanced place terms of 1/4 odds !!
no wonder im losing weight thesedays running from shop to shop ..........

wednesday

ISIRIS

HORSE A £50 ew @ 40/1 unpld -£100
HORSE B £100 ew @ 7/2 £75 ew @ 4/1 3rd -£12.50 due to enhanced place terms .

PERSONAL TRADING

up until this time last year i was involved with charlies double trained by john best , this had been the 5th horse i had been involved with syndicate wise at the yard, we all worked up in the city , we were spoilt with our first horse i mentioned him earlier this week second helping who was well placed and won numerous times , charlie won 4 races in 2005 but by this time only 2 other original syndicate members remained and for me the fun had gone so i sold up , since then his racecourse appearances have been rare but after a long lay off he reappeared today , the ground was spot on as was the distance and any strength in the market would be a good sign , he was well supported this morning , so i had £100 ew @ 9/2 . to my eyes he was never travelling with fluency and was pulled up someway from home so a loss of £200 on the day .

the p/l ledger will show a £30 loss ..............

2007-11-13T19:29:00.000Z

on the 2.20 kempton from the mh advice , but with turtle soup advised ew @ 40/1 trading i/r @ the basement price of 1.01 in the place market it goes to show how thin the line is between success and failure , mh followers this year have not been blessed with the best of fortune , mark takes it in his stride stating over the long run the ups n downs level out but we are surely due a bit of fortune our way .............. so far in 2007 the gambling gods have certainly not favoured us !!! ..........would have been nice if micky fitz eased up a bit earlier ..........

tuesday

ISIRIS

insider £150 ew @ 11/2 2nd +£56.25

MARK HOLDER

2.20 kemp cool roxy £150 ew @ 14/1 2nd +£270
2.20 kemp turtle soup £150 ew @ 40/1 unpld -£300

PERSONAL TRADING

a quiet day , just a paltry £25 ew on kerry blade @ 10/1 , needs 2 1/2 m i feel but hoping the front runners cut there own throats (horrible saying , but you know what i mean !) and kerry comes from the clouds to take the money , well kerry stayed on but never looked like troubling the front pair .

super monday ..........super road train !!!

2007-11-12T17:52:00.000Z

following on from the £7.50 profit yesterday , it was the turn of optimum again on a monday to provide a decent winner after lake imperials success seven days ago , isiris were placed with a main account bet @ 5/1 .
i realise im out of line with my staking on the new isiris system , i playing to £25/pt stake on the new super insiders and £250 ew on normal account bets this equates to £62.50/pt . i have decided to up my stakes on the new insiders to £50/pt from tomorrow .

monday

ISIRIS

HORSE A £150 ew @ 5/1 £100 ew @ 9/2 2nd -£10

OPTIMUM RACING

3.00 car super road train £30 @ 4/1 WON +£1200

JUST A THOUGHT ................. i,ll be at cheltenham for the 3 days of the pp meeting with a few mates from my local cricket club on our annual pilgrimage to the great place , if anyone wants to meet up for a beer or 3 please feel free to email me .

relieved and chuffed with my profit today ..............

2007-11-12T08:37:00.000Z

the princely sum of £7.50p !!! just about able to buy myself a couple of pints and a packet of crisps with that . i was keen to get involved today as time is ticking by and im a fair sum adrift of my £30k target so although not a fan of sundays betting wise i thought as i free up until 2pm ish i would get stuck into a couple of betting opportunities .
unfortunately there was nothing from my 3 betting services , but mh had fairly strong opinions on a couple of races from hereford and the opener from market rasen .

sunday

PERSONAL TRADING .

a lucky escape today and if i was a layer i could have come a serious cropper , market rasen a course i have visited a few times but holds sad memories for me as i had a decent little horse a few years back called second helping owned in a syndicate with a few mates trained by john best , went on a winning spree over hurdles in the summer well placed by the trainer , then got handicapped to the hilt ,as he wasnt the biggest horse around carrying weight would prove a disadvantage but i thought his size would prove a hinderance to jumping a fence and i wanted to stay over hurdles carrying less weight in better class races , well we had a vote and my opinion was out voted , sadly my view was to prove sadly correct with dire consequences as he fell at market rasen breaking his neck in the process , i have never been back and that will forever remain the case . well mh was keen to oppose osaka d'airy in the first citing that the horse may have a physical problem but he was struggling to oppose him with anything solid , in days gone by i would have taken a few quid out of osaka d'airy but not these days and a let off for me , what i did notice though was that in my humble opinion the runner up did not get much assistance from the jockey the presentation at the hurdles was poor and if this was improved i feel the runner up would have obliged as there was no momentum from leaving the hurdle especially at the final couple of obstacles .
onto a couple of races at hereford , mh said the fav had a stone in hand on his rivals usually such comments hypnotise me into a bet but he put up a few reservations and im not a great fan of betting in sellers especially 13/8 shots and as he had failed to complete the course on his last two runs i held back , make that the last three runs now as he fell .
the 2.10 could have been a main account race , mh was negative on melvino again in days gone by this would have been a lay , the horse mh was interested in was the cayterers i had £75 ew @ 11/2 and £50 ew @ 5/1 an eventful race with the fav leaving the contest after being hampered at the first and unseating the jockey , melvino was a handful for his jockey but came home a 7l winner with the cayterers second , so i was relieved that my days of laying were behind me and off i went was to the spurs with a handy £7.50 in my pocket !!!!!