The Sports Trader

Thursday 22nd March 2007

The Sports Trader traded in 7 horse races and 2 Premier League darts matches with no losing trades.

My first trade was a small winning one in the 14:20 at Ayr. I followed this with a good result in the 14:50 at Ayr where I backed Amstecos for £2242 @ 1.05 in the final few yards of the race when just getting his head back in front to win by a neck and result in a profit of £112.

My next trade was the 15:50 at Ayr where I backed Barney's Dream for £50 @ 2.40 and a further £35 @ 1.10 to result in a profit of £74. This was followed by two more small but profitable trades.

My best result of the day was again at Ayr in the 16:50. I backed Shares for £390 @ 2.00 at the 4th last hurdle when contesting the lead. I laid off @ 1.15 and then greened up with a lay of £58 @ 1.05 to result in a profit of £328.

My final race trade was in the 17:55 at Clonmel where I laid Oronoco Flow for £11 @ 100.00 when well back in the field to give me a profit of £11.

My race trading had finished with a profit on the day of £532.

I did watch the darts tonight but only had two small trades, one in the Jenkins/Priestley match to end in a £14 profit and the other in the Lloyd/Manley match which resulted in a £2 profit.

My day had finished with a profit of £548.

You will probably have seen the news by now that the Jamaican Police are treating the death of Bob Woolmer as murder, and their investigations have revealed that Bob's death was due to asphyxia as a result of strangulation. There is speculation that these events are connected with corruption within the game of cricket. I only hope that the police can get to the bottom of this and that someone is convicted for this terrible crime.

Wednesday 21st March 2007

The Sports Trader has only managed to trade on 8 horse races today with 1 losing trade. It is a times like this when real discipline is needed, I know if I look back a year or so I would have been trying to make trades happen and then end up with some biggish losses. However, I am pleased to say that I am able to resist that temptation and can just watch for a good trading opportunity to turn up.

My first 3 trades of the day were all small profitable ones. In the 15:25 at Lingfield I backed Ballyaahbutt for £38 @ 2.65 and laid this off @ 2.10 and then in the closing moments of the race backed him again for £3 @ 1.05 to result in a profit of £21.

In the 15:35 at Kempton I backed King of Charm for £28 @ 5.50 with just over a furlong to go and when challenging for the lead to result in a profit of £126.

In the next race, the 15:45 at Chepstow I backed Mighty Moose for £300 @ 1.50 when just taking the lead to result in a profit of £150.

My only loss of the day came in the 16:30 at Lingfield where I started with a back of Aqua Pura for £49 @ 2.50 and then laid off £50 @ 2.04. A little later in the race I laid Georges Boy for £3 @ 4.90 and backed him back for £2 @ 1.10 to result in a loss of £10.

My final trade of the day resulted in a small profit. So my race trading had ended with a profit of £310.

I had a few other things to do in the early evening and so missed the start of the televised football match. I didn't see any decent trading opportunities and so did not have a trade in the match.

Tuesday 20th March 2007

Well The Sports Trader has had another very slow day, am I losing my knack, or is it due to the lack of good quality racing that also has an effect on liquidity? I traded just 6 horse races today, with no losers.

My first trade was a small winning one and I followed up with the 14:20 at Exeter, where I backed Share My Dream for £25 @ 2.75 before laying off @ 1.20 to result in a profit of £38. Next was another small winning trade.

In the 16:20 at Exeter laid Back Nine for £50 @ 3.20 before backing back £40 @ 3.50 and £6 @ 2.88. Later in the race I backed Whitenzo for £50 @ 2.60 before laying off @ 2.07 to result in a profit of £31.

My next race was the 16:40 at Warwick and here I laid Casalani for £31 @ 10.00 and backed back £6 @ 3.20 to result in a profit of £15. My final race trade of the day was in the 17:10 at Warwick and resulted in a small profit.

I had finished my race trading with a profit of £94.

I missed all the evenings action as I had a tour of Ibrox with my son Oliver. It was Mark Hateley that took us round the Stadium , home dressing room and Trophy room before leading us out onto the Ibrox pitch. Mark has always been one of my favourite footballers and he is one of a very few England footballers to have scored against Brazil, in Brazil and then score twice against Mexico. We were also introduced to Jeff Stelling of Sky Sports who hosted the evening and was very entertaining. He told us how he used to co-host his Saturday show with George Best and that on one occasion George had been robbed of two grand the night before and didn't turn up for his stint in the studio. Jeff explained George's absence live on air by saying that 'George wasn't feel Too Grand' - I thought it was funny.

Monday 19th March 2007

The Sports Trader has just had the quietest day of the year. My Au pair had the day off which didn't help as I had to take on more domestic duties than normal. I ended up trading in only 4 horse races and 2 football matches.

I started the day with two small winning trades. My only trade of any significance was in the 16:10 at Market Rasen where I backed Kercabellec for £20 @ 1.50 to result in a profit of £10. My last race of the day was another small winning trade. I had therefore finish an exceptionally quite day with a profit of £20.

I decided to watch the Manchester United v Middlesbrough match. I had missed the start but in the first 5 minutes I backed the under 2.5 goals market for £50 @ 2.07. I laid off £25 @ 1.90 and £25 @ 1.78. Later in the match I greened up to leave a profit of £11 whatever the score.

Once the Man U match had finished I switched to the Spurs v Chelsea match and well into injury time I backed Chelsea to win for £50 @ 1.04 to result in a £2 profit.

I had therefore finished my day with a profit of £33.

The ATRxtra Racing Post Article

Following up my recent blog entries on the ATRxtra fiasco I thought that readers would like to read the Paul Haigh article from the Racing Post. I would like to thank the Racing Post for agreeing to allow me to put this on my blog.Download RacingPost.bmp It does take a while to load and if the image is too small you can enlarge by using the picture editor tool that will appear if you click on the image. I would also like to thank John The Gambler for scanning the article for me.

Sunday 18th March 2007

We have all enjoyed some of the very best sporting events during the course of this week but the week has ended on a very sad note with the announcement of the death of the gentleman,  Bob Woolmer.  My Dad always had the test match cricket on at home and I remember well the Ian Botham era that got me hooked on the sport. I can also remember Bob playing for the England test team in the mid seventies. He was better known by most as a brilliant cricket coach and of course the fact that it was he that brought Brian Lara to the UK to play for Warwickshire. My final memory of this great cricketing man will be the way he looked whilst packing his laptop away and leaving the ground after Pakistan's defeat to Ireland. R.I.P.

I have had a very slow day again with only 6 races traded and 1 football match but I had no losing trades so my week has ended well.

My first trade was in the 14:20 at Fontwell where I laid Schemer Fagan for £20 @ 36.00 when tailing off to result in a profit of £20. My next race trade, the 15:05 at Carlisle, ended with a zero return as I had backed Numero Un de Solzen for £149 @ 1.75 and laid all off @ 1.62 expecting him to win and by the time I realised that he wouldn't it was too late to lay further.

In the 16:00 at Fontwell I started with a lay of £100 @ 2.20 on Lady Racquet and then backed back for £100 @ 2.45. Later I laid her for £15 @ 2.20 to result in a profit of £15.

My next trade was in the 16:10 at Carlisle and here I backed Posh Stick for £50 @ 1.35 in the latter stages of the race when leading to result in a profit of £17. I had 2 more small winning trades to end my race trading with a profit of £60.

I only traded in one football match and it was the Real Madrid v Gimnastic game. I had missed the start of the game as I had to go and pick up my children and get them all ready for bed etc. So when I settled down to watch the match it was into the second half with the score at 1 - 0 and the odds on the under 2.5 goals market where already down to around 1.28 so I decided to wait for a better opportunity to trade on. With the score now sitting at 2 - 0 and 83 minutes showing on the clock I backed the under 2.5 goals for £199 @ 1.62. I laid this all off at once @ 1.56. Then in the 1st of three injury minutes I backed the unders for £461 @ 1.30 and again with  1 minute to go I backed the unders for £416 @ 1.26 to result in a profit of £256.

My day had therefore finished with a profit of £316, which left me with a profit of £2179 for the week.

Saturday 17th March 2007

The Sports Trader has continued in a good vein of form. I traded in just 12 horse races and 3 football matches. I also watched the end of both of today's cricket World Cup matches but without trading. Well done to Ireland in beating Pakistan, that was a tremendous result.

I started the trading day off very slowly with 4 small winning trades. My best trade of the day came in the 15:15 at Uttoxeter where I laid Newbay Pop for £345 @ 6.63. I had been watching this horse throughout the race as there was an unusually large amount of money on offer and yet he was being held up at the back of the field. He made a mistake at the 14th fence and it was soon after that I placed my lay. He did start to make good headway and was chasing the leader but with around 3 furlongs to go he started to fall back to result in a profit on the race of £345. (Download 15-15-Uttoxeter.png ).

I followed up with a small winning trade and then in the 15:35 at Wetherby I started with a lay of £20 @ 6.00 on Loulou Nivernais, just before he made a mistake at the 11th fence. Later in the race I backed Undeniable for £1000 @ 1.21 and laid off @ 1.10 to result in a profit of £130.(Download 15-35-wetherby.png ).

I only had another 5 small trades and all but one resulted in a profit. At the end of today's racing I had managed to make a profit of £502.

After racing I switched to watching the Blackburn v West Ham football match. I backed the under 2.5 goals market for £100 @ 1.96 soon after the 2nd goal had been scored and put up a lay @  1.80. Within a few minutes a third goal had been scored and I had lost my £100. I did look to recover some or all of this on other markets in this match but just could not see anything worth taking so I took my loss.

Next I watched the Recreativo Huelva v Barcelona match and again traded on the under 2.5 goals market. I had missed the start of the game so my first trade came after the first goal had been scored when I backed the unders for £169  @ 3.26. I laid off at 3.05 for £69, 2.92 for £18 and 2.86 for £82. This left me with no liability if 3 or more goals were scored and a profit of £52 if less than 3 goal had been scored. When the 2nd goal was scored I decided to wait for a while before taking another position which was just as well as a third goal came very quickly. I therefore ended the game with neither a profit or a loss.

The last event I traded today was the Athletic Bilbao v Osasuna match. I traded in a different way on this match as I had an idea that Osasuna would go on and win the match. I decided not to trade in the first half of the match and then during the half time interval I put up a back for £145 @ 1.69. This was matched just as the second half kicked off and within a couple of minutes Osasuna had scored again. I then laid off @ 1.14 which left me with a profit on the match of £80.

My day had finished with a profit of £482.

Friday 16th March 2007

It was a day of First Class racing today to finish off a great week at Cheltenham and a Star was finally recognised for what he really is, Kauto Star that is. The highlight of my week was to see Ruby Walsh partner Kauto Star to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. I have always admired Ruby's riding skills and it was great to see him win this big event in front of his father and many of the rest of his family.

The Sports Trader followed a similar path as in the rest of this week with not too many trades but a decent result. I ended up trading in just 10 horse races and 1 football match and had just one losing trade.

My day started slowly with 4 small winning trades followed by my only loss of the day in the 15:40 at Lingfield where I laid Lorikeet for £20 @ 3.00 to lose me £40 in a very close short head finish.

My next race, the 16:00 at Cheltenham, was my best result of the day and here I started with a lay of Whyso Mayo for £100 @ 4.00 before backing back £39 @ 5.00. I then laid him again for £64 @ 4.20 and in the final furlong backed him for £6 @ 1.50 to result in a profit of £119. I followed up with another small winning trade.

In the 16:25 at Lingfield I backed Lucayos for £15 @ 2.50 to result in a profit of £23. My next race was the 16:40 at Cheltenham where I laid Saintsaire for £40 @ 21.00 and laid Demi Beau for £39 @ 21.00. I did back back £4 @ 32.00 and £15 @ 5.00 on Demi Beau to leave me with a profit on the race of £60.

My last race trade of the day was in the 17:30 at Fakenham where I laid Ski Jump for £14 @ 3.50 and backed back £12 @ 4.00 to leave me with a small profit of £2.

At the end of my race trading for the day I had managed to make a profit of £177.

In the televised football match between Southampton and Colchester I waited until after the third goal had been scored before having a trade. I then put up a back of the under 3.5 goals for £50 @ 10.00 and was surprised to get matched for just over £40 @ 10.00. I started to lay off almost immediately with lays @ 9.00 for £5, 7.50 for £5, 7.00 for £5 and further lays to cover my liability down to 4.50. I then waited until the price had dropped to 2.70 before starting to green up my position. I ended the match with a profit of £94 and would have had £60 if another goal had been scored. This was a particularly good result as my maximum liability throughout the match was just £40 and yet I managed to make more than twice that in profit.

With 8 minutes left on the clock I saw what I thought were very good odds on offer to lay the correct score line of 2 - 2 @ 7.20 so I laid the score for £30. I backed back £8 @ 13.00 and then with less than 1 minute of injury time left to play I laid the same score line for £12 @ 17.80 to result in a profit of £34.

I had therefore finished my day with a total profit of £305.

It was good to see David at Horsegraphs.com come up with another day of excellent gains today by selecting Pedrobob in the final race of the Cheltenham card with an SP of 12/1. This brilliant system has produced a gain of 25 points over the 4 day Cheltenham Festival. David is introducing a new service to run alongside his original free service. This new Premium service will be by a daily, weekly or monthly subscription and if his results keep coming in the way they have over this last few weeks it should prove to be one of the most cost effective services available. Best of Luck David.

Thursday 15th March 2007

Well the Sports Trader has had another slow but solid day. I traded just 8 horse races, 1 football match and 2 Premier League darts matches and ended the day with just 1 losing trade.

My day had several interruptions which accounted for the lack of trading today. I started with 3 small winning trades on horse races. My first trade of any significance was the 16:00 at Cheltenham where I laid Moncadou for £11 @ 7.00 to result in a profit of £11.

My only losing trade of the day was in the 16:15 at Hexham where I had backed Innisfree for £27 @ 1.25 when leading only to see him start to fade and then make a mistake at the final fence to cost me a loss of £27.

My best result of the day came next in the 16:40 at Cheltenham. I just watched the race and looked for horses that appeared to be travelling badly and with lays available. I decided to keep watching Garde Champetre as he was being held up towards the back of the field and had already been hampered. He started coming under pressure just before coming into the home straight. At this point I laid him for £432 @ 17.00. I immediately put up a back @ 25.00 and was matched for £75. I then put up other backs and got matched for another £23 at varying prices. With 3 furlongs to go my liability was safe and I stopped my covering backs to result in a profit on the race of £333.

I followed up with a small winning trade and then my final race trade of the day was in the 17:30 at Hexham where I laid Uneven Line for £60 @ 7.60 and then baked back £31 at an average price of 8.50 to leave me with a profit of £29.

My race trading had finished with a profit of £352.

I watched some of the AZ Alkmaar v Newcastle match and got involved well after both goals had already been scored. I started with a back of the under 2.5 goals for £5 @ 3.78 and £5 @ 3.00 and laid this off @ 3.05. With 6 minutes left on the clock I backed the unders again for £200 @ 1.60. I laid off £3 @ 1.52 and then £197 @ 1.42. I then partially greened up with lays of £20 @ 1.30. this secured me a profit on the unders for £31.

With less than two minutes plus injury time remaining I switched my attention to the No third goal market and backed this for £166 @ 1.35. I laid off £130 @ 1.20 and £10 @ 1.35 to result in a profit of £29.

I had to go out a couple of times in the evening to take, and bring back,my daughter to her Rainbow club so I missed the first Premier League darts match of the evening. Because of my football trading I also missed the second darts match of the night so I started trading in the Barneveld v Priestley match by laying Barney for £5 @ 10.00 and £32 @ 40.00 to result in a profit of £37.

The last darts match of the night was the Taylor v Lloyd match. I only had one trade and that was to back Taylor in the -3.5 leg handicap market for £50 @ 1.70 and lay off @ 1.20 to result in a profit of £25.

My day had finished with a total profit of £473.

For all the followers of Dave Stewart's Horsegraphs.com it was good to see him get another big win by backing Oscar Park in the last race on the Cheltenham card. At his advised price which was easily obtainable on the Daq his win would have been 42 points but even at SP the return was 22 points.

Wednesday 14th March 2007

The Sports Trader has had a better second day of the Cheltenham Festival but still had few trades. In fact I only traded 7 horse races and 1 football match but had no losing trades.

My first trade was in the 13:40 at Wolverhampton where I backed Kabis Amigos for £36 @ 2.54 in the final furlong to result in a profit of £55. I followed this up with a small winning trade.

In the 14:00 @ Cheltenham I laid Aran Concerto for £3 @ 4.00 and backed Massini's Maguire for £20 @ 1.80 whilst just in the lead and well inside the final furlong, to result in a profit of £19.

My next trade was in the 14:35 at Cheltenham where I laid Aces Four, when making a mistake at the 3rd last fence, for £14 @ 23.00 and then a further £20 @ 40.00 to land another £34 profit.

In the 16:00, also at Cheltenham, I backed Burntoakboy for £150 @ 2.12 when contesting the lead at 3 hurdles out and laid off @ 1.50 to net me a profit of £93.

My best result was in the 17:20 at Cheltenham and I had been keeping a keen eye on Jamie Spencer's mount Enquiring Mind. He hadn't been travelling well throughout the race but with Jamie on board you never know just what will happen in the latter stages of a race. As it happened when Jamie did ask for an effort the horse just did not respond and I hit the lay button and got matched for £458 @ 10.00. I did lay off my liability very soon after with backs for £7 @ 25.00 and £5 @ 850 to result in a profit of £445. (Download screenshot1.ngp).

My last racing trade of the day was next and it was a small winning trade. I had therefore finished my race trading with a profit of £652 and still with no commission to pay thanks to one of Betdaq's outstanding commission offers.

I decided to watch the Manchester City v Chelsea match tonight. I did not take a position until after the first goal had been scored when I backed the under 2.5 goals for £193 @ 2.09. I laid off in stages with the following lays: £23 @ 1.98, £120 @ 1.92, £25 @ 1.82 and £28 @ 1.75. After half time I backed the unders again for £100 @ 1.67 and laid off £98 @ 1.61. This resulted in a profit on the match of £45.

I had finished my day with a profit of £697.