Monday 8th January 2007

I’m not well, I’m tired, I‘ve got an ill daughter, my blog host is offline at the moment and I have lost money after being up on the day until the last few minutes of tonight’s football match.

My youngest daughter fell ill on Sunday afternoon. Nothing too serious but she was running a high temperature and was losing her balance. So I picked her up, along with my other two youngest kids from their mother’s and gave her Calpol and Nurofen and put her to bed. She woke at 11.00pm screaming and delirious and very hot again. She sat cuddled up on my lap as I wrote last night’s blog, then we went to bed. All was fine until 2.00am this morning and she woke up again and needed more cuddles. She fell asleep in my arms and in my bed. At 5.00 am she woke again and that was that, no more sleep, hence the reason I am knackered. She is a little better tonight and I will take her to the doctors in the morning if she hasn’t improved. I think it is a viral infection and could be the start of chicken pox like her twin had last week. Now I can’t stop shivering and just feel terrible.

My trading has been much interrupted today and in hindsight I should have taken the day off, but I hate days off. My first trade was in the 13:00 at Ludlow where I baked Remember Ramon for £104 @ 2.60 whilst he was vying for the lead at about two thirds distance and I might add whilst I was on the telephone –this should not be done. Soon after I had placed the back I knew I had blown my stake and because I was still on the phone didn’t even attempt to trade out in case I made the situation worse. I then had two small, but profitable trades, before the 13:50 at Taunton and here I backed Marcel for £1067 @ 1.02 whilst about a yard from the line and a good neck in front to salvage £21.

My next race was the 14:30 at Ludlow where I backed Wiscalitus for £20 @ 1.98 and laid back @ 1.50 all within a few yards at the 3 from home. This resulted in a profit of £10. Again at Ludlow and in the 15:30 I backed Gunship for £11 @ 2.4 and laid back @ 1.60. Then I laid Peveril Pride for £20 @ 8.20 to net me a further £18 profit. My last race of the day was the 16:40 at Wolverhampton where I backed the brilliant Kilimandcharo for £134 @ 1.15 and again for £17 @ 1.02 to give me a £20 profit. So my total result for the UK horse race trading today was a loss of £32.

Tonight’s football match had all the hallmarks of a high scoring match according to SoccerSTATS.com. Milton Keynes are the top scoring club in the English second division and Lincoln City are the second top goal scorers in the league. I looked at the state of the pitch and thought to myself that it would be a scrappy game which often results in not too many goals so I ploughed into the under 2.5 goals with £200 @ 1.97 and before I had even thought about laying off MK Dons scored.

I was a little hesitant to get too heavily involved so I didn’t go in with another £200 instead I backed the unders for £18 @ 3.27. As the game progressed I saw an opportunity to back again for £370 @ 2.61 and immediately put up lays from 2.51 down to 2.22. By the 42 minute I had got rid of my liability and was holding a potential profit on the unders of £116. Then I started baking the unders and laying off in quick succession to try and build my profit. By now I had £50 on both sides and again in hindsight I should have called it a night but I didn’t. I had one more back on the unders and within 20 seconds the third goal went in and left me with a loss of £26. I did look at backing the correct score and under 3.5 goals but just did not see tempting enough prices an d bearing in mind the day I was having called it quits. So I ended a miserable day all round with a total loss of £58. Who would care to join in a hot toddy? I think that will cure everything for me tonight.

Comments

[les]

hi ray
sorry to hear about your little girl hope she feels better today.just keep your pecker up matey.i also lost money on the mk dons game,missed pen in injury time then pop one in 20 secs later madness.
les

[Ray]

Hi Les,
Thanks for your comment. Amie is a little better this morning, I'm a bit worse. You couldn't of second guessed what was to happen in that game last night, I am just pleased I didn't go in heavier. Good Luck
Ray

[The Gambler]

Good to hear your daughter is on the mend. Maybe take a day off. Another 51 weeks in 2007. :-).

[JamesA]

Ray,

NSAID's such as ibuprofen (which is in Neurophen) and aspirin aren't much good for fevers. Paracetamol and LOTS of water is what you and the little one need.

JamesA

[Ray]

Hi John,
Thanks, I might take a few hours off today. Good Luck with your trading.
Ray

[Ray]

JamesA,
Thanks for the advice, Amie is well on the mend now.
Ray

[Wizardgold]

Yep good to hear your little un' is getting better.

I was working the IRIS system at Wolverhampton yesterday and the races were all so close I didn't have a good day of it either. One of the races ended as a dead heat with one of my layed horses involved. I even managed to mess another race that would have made me money if I had left it alone.

With the football I did good with Bayern vs Benfica and also the dons game. I was greened up before the goal went in fortunately. And I didn't do any more as my wife was in need of a cuddle after a hard day working. Back to school is tough for the teachers too LOL.

Hoping to have better fortunes today with IRIS at Southwell today

[Ray]

Hi Wizard,
Yes I was reading your posts on the STW forum. In theory IRIS should be brilliant but it takes some getting used to. Having said that if you were trading on those races without IRIS it would also have been very dificult. Teachers, all those holidays!Good luck with your trading today.
Ray

[Rob]

Hi Ray
Sorry to hear about your little girl, as you know my son is just recovering from chicken pox, although luckily it was light.

I had one of those nights last night, used up a certain amount of luck, was on the draw when Lincoln scored, -450 on lincoln at that point, managed to trade my tatters off to get it back to -200, finally laying off seconds before the pen.....thought here we go +420 if they score....NO :-(.....then YES:-)
GL Rob

[Ray]

Hi Rob,
A vey difficult game to call last night, but you do get one like that every now and then. Well done with your profit and good luck today.
Ray

[humble]

Hope your daughter gets better ray,not a great idea to trade when on the phone eh.sure you will have a good week this week

[Ray]

Hi Humble,
Thanks and good luck.
Ray

[greg]

hi ray , read mondays comments and messages , pleased to see your daughter is ok , made a costly mistake myself today 9/10 they end up costing dont they ! not a great start to my challenge but had a slow start to the year in 2006 and managed to turn it around by feb hopefully this year will be the same , all the best greg.

[Ray]

Hi Greg,
Thanks for your comments.Good Luck with the rest of the year, there's a long way to go.
Ray