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.

Comments

[Sand Racer]

Being a QPR fan, I guess you may be aware Mark Hateley is not one of my favourites.

When we sold Ferdinand, we were struggling big-time with the lack of presence up front.

So Ray Wilkins brought his pal Hateley down from Ibrox to make the difference.

I was there on his debut. Not long into the match, QPR were awarded a penalty for the first time in 2 seasons. I instantly expected Hateley to step up and take the bull by the horns.

Well he hung back, Simon Barker took the penalty and proceded to blaze the ball straight over the bar and it ricocheted off of the electric scoreboard.

We lost the match, Hateley was injured for however long after and QPR went down with a thud. Hateley endded up being a complete waste of space i'm sad to say.

QPR are still snookered to this day, in bits, in debt and in real danger of relegation to the third division, or the first division, as it is now known.

[mick wrende]

Hi Ray
Good story that about George Best. I am a Macclesfield Town fan and I remember organising a sportsmens dinner there with Best as the guest speaker. He charged a grand with half up front. During the meal he got quite drunk and just before coming on to speak he went to the loo. Needless to say he legged it back to his hotel so two of us chased after him. We found him flat out in his room so found the £500 and left him there. We never heard another word and a local Cheshire FA guy got up and told a few jokes so the dinner was ok.
Good luck
Mick

[Ray]

Hi Sand Racer,

Mark was well past his best when he came to you. We had already had him at Rangers for two stints and he was no where near as good the second time round.
He is a really decent person and was a brilliant footballer in his twenty's and early thirties.

Ray

[Ray]

Hi mick,

There are so many stories about George. He was one of my sporting heros when I was a kid. I loved one of the cards at Georges funeral that read - Maradona Brilliant, Pele better, George Best. It somes him up perfectly.

Ray

[Gary]

Great Blog ST, Good to see someone doing so well.

Most of your trading is centered around 'in-play' horse racing, dont you find it more difficult in the summer months when the flat season rules supreme?
Do you supplement your trading at that time with any other sports or take a hard earned rest?

All the best
Gary

[Ray]

Hi Gary,

No I don't take a rest I like the flat racing on turf and can normally make it pay quite well. There are plenty of other sporting events that I will get invloved with as well. Good Luck.

Ray

[Brian]

Ray

Hately was OK but not in the same class as Derek Johnstone.

That aside it surely must be time for Russ to say something about his meetings with ATR. Did Mathew Imi say why he won't speak with Matt Williams. Squeeze something out of Mr Wiseman Ray. You look like you could sprinkle him on your cornflakes so make him talk!!!

All the best

Brian

[Ray]

Hi Brian,

I didn't see Derek play much and by the time I had moved to Glasgow he had retired. He does have a great record, second only to Ally McCoist.

I will try to get to speak with Russ today.

Ray