Saturday 10th March 2007

The Sports Trader has had a good day but almost spoilt it with some poor trading on a football match. I ended up trading in 13 horses races, 3 football matches and 1 boxing match, and had just two losing events.

Before racing started I had a business colleague and friend come round to my office to see how I do this trading thing. I hadn't seen Keith for a couple of years but he tracked me down via a web site that we are both members of and noticed that I had changed my profession, so he did a search and found my blog. He was intrigued by what he saw and asked if I could show him at first hand how I trade with a view of doing it himself on as a hobby. I spent half an hour showing him my IT set up and talking about how we trade and then he sat in whilst I traded the first few races of the day. He went away with the intention of buying a new computer and starting to trade football to get used to using the site before having a go on the horses.

The first trade of my day was in the 14:05 at Sandown where I had a perfect start by backing Albertas Run for £815 @ 1.50 when coming away from the last hurdle in front and looking to go on and win under the famous A P McCoy drive to result in a profit of £408.

My next trade was in the 14:35 at Sandown where I laid Cousin Nicky for £47 @ 2.89 when making a mistake two fences out and coming under pressure to land me a profit of £47.

Next for me was the 15:00 at Chepstow, and here I laid Madison Avenue for £17 @ 6.20 at about 3 out when weakening and not looking happy with the conditions. I also backed Pop Gun for £2 @ 1.25 to end the race with a profit of £18. I followed this up with two small winning trades.

In the 15:55 at Ayr I laid Haut de Gamme for £15 @ 4.20 before backing back £15 @ 4.20 and then at the finish I backed Snowy for £1100 @ 1.01 to result in a profit of £14. Next I had two more small winning trades.

In the 16:45 at Chepstow I backed Nice Try for £5 @ 2.00 and then again for £150 @ 1.60 before laying all off @ 1.35 to result in a profit of £42. I followed this up with another three small, winning trades.

My last racing trade was in the 17:25 at Sandown where I backed the favourite, Hoo La Baloo for £250 @ 1.28 and laid off @ 1.06 to result in a profit of £55.

At the end of my race trading day I had a profit of £599.

As soon as the racing had finished I switched to the Middlesbrough v Manchester United FA Cup Quarter Final match. I had missed most of the first half and started trading the under 2.5 goal market when the score was 0 - 1. I had twelve very quick trades and ended up with no liability when the third goal was scored, so no damage done. I then traded on the under 3.5 goal market and when the fourth goal was scored I had a £1 profit on the overs. I also traded on the correct score line of 2 - 2 with 3 minutes left on the clock by backing for £65 @ 1.24 and laid off £8 @ 1.09 to result in a profit of £15. So I had done a lot of trading and ended up with a profit on the match of £16.

My next match was the Levante v Villarreal game I missed the start but then backed the under 2.5 goals for £196 @ 1.66. I started to lay off my liability @ 1.63 for £47 and had further lays @ 1.56 for £50, @ 1.54 for £50 and @ 1.22 for £70. After the first goal I backed the unders again for £50 @ 1.70 and laid off £9 @ 1.35 to result in a profit of £36.

My final football match of the day was the Grande Clasico in Spain between Barcelona and Real Madrid. I decided to trade this one quite heavily, big mistake. Pre kick off I backed the under 2.5 goals for £157 @ 1.96. I was just starting to put up my lays when the first goal was scored. I then backed the unders again for £55 @ 3.27 and the second goal was scored. Luckily the third goal came very quickly and I hadn't backed again so I was left facing a loss of £212 on the match.

I decided to wait until late on in the match when you can normally find a trade or two to salvage some of the damage. With 15 minutes left I started to trade the correct score line of 2 - 3 with a back for £200 @ 1.88. I laid off £46 @ 1.52, £54 @ 1.48 and £50 @ 1.33. Then the 6th goal was scored to cost me another £50.

I had just about resigned myself to taking a loss of £262 on the match when a brilliant opportunity presented itself on the match result market. I had a few small trades on the draw but with the game already in the first of 4 injury time minutes and the game drawing I backed the draw for £130 @ 1.20 and then with 40 seconds on the clock, up popped £1467 @ 1.15, so I hit the submit button. The referee blew his whistle a little early so I only had a 15 second wait to win back £247. I had therefore finished the match with a loss of £15. A real result.

Later I watched the boxing between Derry Mathews and John Simpson. I only had a few very small trades and ended up losing £3 after what I thought was a little strange result.

My day had therefore ended with a profit of £633.

Comments

[humble]

Once again Ray a great days profit,you seem to be getting better lol its great to see you doing the buisness it gives us newbies something to strive for.keep it up

[Mark Iverson]

Hi Ray,

I've noticed that you don't trade every horse race - do you select which races to trade pre-race or do you decide in-running?

Thanks!

Mark

[Ray]

Hi Humble,
Thanks again for your comments. I firmly believe that the longer you do this job the better you get. It's a case of develpoing the skills neede to make a profit. Good Luck.
Ray

[Ray]

Hi Mark,
I do try to trade in every race but sometimes there just isn't the right opportunity and others I can't get matched. You will noticed that most of my profits come from National Hunt races where there are more changes up front of the race. Good Luck.
Ray

[humble]

i am starting to see that ray,compared to 3 months ago i feel far more confident and it seems a lot easier to read a race.i have got my own little strategy and its working for me.i am tweaking it as i go along and working on different things each day. i think i can say from a lot of us "Thanks for all the encouregement and help you have given us.

[Ray]

Hi Humble,
Thank you very much, it is good to know that my efforts are appreciated by some.
Ray

[Brian]

Hi Ray

Hope you have had a good weekend. Have you spoken to Russ yet and if so what's the SP on ATR Extra?

Brian

[Ray]

Hi Brian,

Russ has been touring the Country doing his pre Cheltenham stint so I have not been able to speak with him. I have been followinh other forums on the subject and it seems nobody knows what is happening.
Ray

[Brian]

Hi Ray

Yes the internet is full of stories about all this. Russ has actually spoken to them face to face so any feedback is worth listening to. If Russ doesn't get back to you with anything it will look as bad as the Matt Williams cover-up at the RP. Anyway from what you say I reckon he will report back to you honestly. Thanks for keeping on his case.

PS. If you have survived the Chelski goal fest you are destined for greatness.

Best

Brian

[Ray]

Hi Brian,
Luckily the Chelsea match was on during horse racing and the racing always takes precedence for me.
I will try to get Russ during the week.
Ray