The Sports Trader

Monday 16th April 2007

The Sports Trader has had very little trading due to my twins 4th Birthday Party. I only managed to trade in 3 horse races and 1 football match.

My first trade was in the 14:10 at Wolverhampton where I laid Haroldini for £10 @ 7.80, whist in the final furlong and not able to catch the leading two horses, to result in a profit of £10.

In the 14:20 at Wetherby I laid Frankie Figg for £20 @ 2.60 and backed Hilly Gale for £9 @1.07 to result in a profit of £21.

My final race trade was in the 19:50 at Tramore and resulted in a small profit. So my race trading had finished with a profit of £34.

In the Liverpool v Manchester United Youth football match I backed the under 2.5 goals for £56 @ 1.80 well after the first goal had been scored and had only laid off £2 @ 1.63 before the second goal went in. I then backed the unders for £40 @ 2.42 and had put up my lays @ 2.05 and 1.95, however a third goal was scored just as the traded price was getting to the level of my lays. I was therefore left with a loss of £95.

I then followed the match result market and backed Man Utd for £200 @ 1.39 and a further £112 @ 1.33 before laying off @ 1.20 for £12 and 1.15 for £100. I then backed Man Utd for another £370 @ 1.12 and laid £300 @ 1.10, £224 @ 1.03 and £100 @ 1.01 to result in a profit of £105.

At the end of my very short trading day I had managed to finish with a profit of £43.

Trust me to have a day off when a big story started to emerge on the forums regarding Matt Chapman. I have been catching up with the news tonight and would like to express my support for Matt. I know I had a little go at him over the ATRxtra affair but I have always appreciated that he has a difficult job to do as a presenter and link man for ATR.  It now appears that Joe Fanning and Dale McKeown have demanded the sacking of Matt from ATR for his remarks after the ride that Joe gave Zar Solitario, otherwise some jockey's are threatening to stop giving live interviews on ATR. My view is that jockeys are paid as professionals to ride all races to the best of their ability and to secure the best possible finishing position whilst  riding out to the finishing post. In this case the stewards took the view that Joe had not obtained the best possible finishing position. Matt, as a presenter called the finish of the race exactly the way he, most of his viewers, and importantly the stewards, had seen it, and gave his view immediately after the race. I think Matt was right to express his view in the way he did and should have the support of all of us traders, gamblers and punters.

Sunday 15th April 2007

The Sports Trader got back on track today and started to earn back some of the weeks losses. I traded very conservatively and ended up trading in 13 horse races, 1 cricket match and 1 football match with no losing trades.

All but one of my race trades were small winning ones. My only other race trade was in the 17:20 at Market Rasen where I laid Jumeirah Jane for £25 @ 1.65 to result in a profit of £25.

My race trading had finished with a profit of £68.

I watched a little of the cricket match between Bangladesh and Ireland. I started with a lay of Bangladesh for £121 @ 2.20 before backing back £79 @ 2.82. Later, with the wickets tumbling, I laid Bangladesh again for £7 @ 25 and backed back, to green up for £3 @ 80.00 to result in a profit of £46.

Whilst watching the cricket I kept an eye on the Valencia v Sevilla football match and got involved with 80 minutes on the clock by backing the under 2.5 goals market for £287 @ 1.63. I laid off for £187 @ 1.53 and £100 @ 1.44. Well into injury time I backed the unders again for £144 @ 1.14 and laid this off @ 1.11 for £89, £50 @ 1.10 and £5 @ 1.05 to result in a profit of £44.

My day had finished with a profit of £158.

It has been 15 weeks since I last reported a losing week but unfortunately that is what I have to do today where my total loss for the week has been £3330.

Saturday 14th April 2007

The Sports Trader has had a frustrating week as you know, mainly due to the lack of child care help, which has meant that I have had to spend a lot of time looking after my children and less time trading. Today was different, my kids were away for the day, so I had no distractions but I still managed to make a real mess of things. Writing up my blog on a day like this is very difficult, as it makes me go over all the days trades and put into words exactly what I have done. In fact I don't feel too bad as I traded the way I always do but I am going to look at introducing a limit of exposure in the future. I finished the day trading in 15 horse races and 1 football match but I did have 4 large losing trades.

My first trade was a small winning one. In the 13:55 at Chepstow I laid Sayago for £72 @ 17.00 and backed back £6 @ 50.00 to result in a profit of £66.

My first loss came in the 14:25 at Chepstow where I laid Miss Rideamight for £28 @ 6.40 and put up backs @ 7.60 but did not get matched so I suffered a loss of £151.

In the 14:45 at Lingfield I laid Bicoastal for £17 @ 3.05 to give me a profit of £17. My next race trade was in the 14:50 at Aintree where I laid Detroit City for £29 @ 3.00 and backed back £16 @ 4.50 to result in a profit of £13.

My second loss of the day came in the 15:05 at Newcastle where I laid Le Solieil for £169 @ 3.00 when being held up and thinking that he had left himself too much to do but Barney Curley knew better than me on this one and I lost £338. I followed up with a small winning trade.

Next was the worst trade I have made since going full time, but it is a trade I would stand by and is one of those things that will get me from time to time. It was in the 15:25 at Aintree where I laid Albertas Run for £498 @ 6.53 just as he made a mistake at about two third distance and dropped back a couple of places. He had been held up in mid pack for much of the race and when I saw him make this mistake I submitted my lay. I put up backs at 10.00 and 12.00 to cover my liability but these were never matched. By the second last fence he had taken the lead and it was impossible to trade out so I just watched as  Lyes Green kept eating into the lead but to no avail as Albertas Run won by a half length and had cost me £2756, ouch.

In the 15:35 at Chepstow I laid Jahash for £18 @ 10.50 to give me a profit of £18. I then had 3 more small winning trades.

I watched the Grand National but didn't trade on it.

Silver Birch and Slim Pickings are battling for the lead over the last.

My final loss of the day came in the 16:50 at Chepstow where I backed Archway Copse for £100 @ 3.00 when taking disputing the lead around the third last fence. She soon pulled into a clear lead and I didn't try to lay off my liability as I thought she would go on to win, however in the last few strides of the race she was pipped to the post and this had cost me another £100.

My next trade was in the 17:25 at Chepstow where I backed Inherent for £118 @ 3.05 before laying off £75 @ 2.75 and £51 @ 2.68 to result in a profit of £24. My final race trade was another small winning one.

My race trading had resulted in a loss of £3175.

I took time out from trading to assemble two bikes that I have bought for my twins who have their 4th Birthday on Monday. So the only other trading I did was in the Real Betis v Real Sociedad football match. I backed the under 2.5 goals, after the goal had been scored, for £315 @ 1.86 and laid this all off @ 1.75, to leave me with a profit of £35.

My day had finished with an embarrassing loss of £3140. But tomorrow is another day and I will just have to work at it a bit harder to get my money back.

Friday 13th April 2007

It has been a slow an uninspiring day for the Sports Trader as I have been without my Au Pair again. I only managed to trade in 5 horse races and 1 football match but again with no losing trades.

My first 3 trades were all small wining trades. In the 16:40 at Southwell I laid Nou Camp for £10 @ 7.00 to result in a profit of £10.

My final race trade of the day was in the 165:55 at Aintree where I backed Reveillez for £451 @ 1.06 when just clearing the final fence and well in the lead to result in a profit of £27.

That was it for my race trading where I finished with a profit of £51.

In tonight's football match between West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday I backed the under 2.5 goals, some time after the goal had been scored, for £68 @ 1.40 and laid this all off @ 1.23 to result in a profit of £12.

My day had therefore finished with a profit of £63.

Thursday 12th April 2007

The Sports Trader has continued the recovery and has had a decent day of trading. I have been without my Au Pair again due to family problems that she is having which meant I still had a pretty interrupted day as I had to make sure the children were happy and being looked after. I ended up trading in just 5 horse races, 1 football match and 1 Premier League Darts match, with no losing trades.

My first trade was in the 14:35 at Aintree where I started with a lay of Exotic Dancer for £26 @ 3.20 and backed back £21 @ 3.60. I then laid him for £9 @ 3.20 before backing him for £8 @ 3.80 and when well clear of the field I backed him again for £96 @ 1.10 to result in a profit of £10.

  My next trade was in the 14:45 @ Leicester where I laid Slipasearcher for £114 @ 8.00 before backing back £5 @ 9.70 and a further £19 @ 4.60 to result in a profit of £91. I followed this with 2 small winning trades.

My final race trade of the day was in the 17: at Aintree where I laid Shatabdi for £18 @ 2.88 to give me another profit of £18.

My race trading day had finished with a profit of £128.

In the early evening we were again spoilt for choice with a World Cup cricket match, Premier League darts and a UEFA cup quarter final all on at the same time. I decided to watch the darts but also had the football match on my second screen.

Although I watched all 4 of the darts matches I only traded on the Scholten v Lloyd match. I started with a lay of the draw for £200 @ 4.00 with Lloyd in control of the match and backed back £28 @ 7.00. Later I laid Scholten for £8 @ 50.00 to result in a profit of £180.

With one eye on my second screen I noticed an early goal had been scored in the football match and I then backed the under 2.5 goals for £41 @ 3.50. Within a few minutes a second goal had been scored and I put up some backs of the unders @ 10.00 and 11.00. I was matched for £40 @ 10.00 and £18 @ 11.00. The price was all over the place with wild swings that were very unusual. I then laid off £100 @ 7.70 before backing back another £40 @ 10.00. This was a traders dream as within seconds I had laid off £40 @ 8.10. Next I backed the unders for £100 @ 8.60 and £130 @ 9.30. The price now stabilised a little and I gradually laid off at 8.14 for £105, 7.40 for £124, 7.30 for £10 and then started to green up with lays @ 7.00, 6.60, 6.2, and 4.20 to leave me with a profit of £50 on the overs and £80 on the unders. I then turned my attention back to the darts and ended up with a £50 profit on the football.

My day had finished with a profit of £358.

Wednesday 11th April 2007

The Sports Trader is back to winning ways, all be it on a much smaller scale than usual. I had very little time to trade in the afternoon as my Au Pair let me down for the day which meant I had to spend a lot more time looking after the children. I only traded in 3 horse races and 1 football match.

All my race trades were small winning trades and I only managed to make a profit in total of, don't laugh,  £7.

I said yesterday that my confidence is a little low after yesterday's disaster and I traded a lot more conservatively than normal. I am aware that I missed several decent opportunities to make profit but that will be the way for a while as I am not prepared to jeopardise my profits.

I did trade in the under 2.5 goals market on tonight's Liverpool v PSV match. I started with a back of the unders for £379 @ 1.41 well into the first half. I traded out for £79 @ 1.35, £200 @ 1.30, and £100 @ 1.25. After the goal had been scored I backed the unders for £534 @ 1.16 and traded out for £82 @ 1.14, £200 @ 1.12 and £252 @ 1.09. I then greened up with a further lay @ 1.09 to leave me with a profit of £69.

So my day had finished with a profit of £76.

Tuesday 10th April 2007

Well The Sports Trader has had better days. After a remarkable 28 days of continuous profits I have suffered my worst loss for 4 months. I only traded in 8 horse races and 1 football match but had 3 hefty losses.

My day started with a small winning trade. Then in the 14:15 at Fairyhouse my problems started. I had been doing as normal watching the race and putting up various trades and then cancelling them, when I put up a back for £500 @ 1.02 on Financial Reward. He was well in the lead and with Ruby on board it looked like he would win. However I realised that I might have got this wrong. Nothing had been matched and I went to cancel the bet when I clicked just a couple of millimetres above the cancel button. I normally have two browsers open on each screen so they are sitting side by side and with the left navigation area minimised. When you do this the cancel button is shrunk in size, which is not a big problem, the problem is that with this configuration of browsers the Betdaq logo is directly above the cancel button and if you do as I did and click just above the cancel button, the logo click takes you to the front page of Betdaq. You can just imagine what this does as there is no cancel button on the front page so you have to navigate back to the event card that you are trading before you can cancel, this all takes time and by the time I was back my bet had been matched to cost me £500.

My next 3 trades were all small winning trades. Then came my biggest mistake for a long time. It was in the 15:35 at Chepstow where I backed Lawyer Des Ormeaux for £875 @ 1.46 when regaining the lead with a brilliant jump at the 5th fence to take him well clear of the field and with one of his main rivals out of the race .I had intended to trade out of this position as I do with most of my bigger trades. I put up lays @ 1.30 and then moved them up to 1.40 but had no takers and soon the price had drifted way out as he hit several fences and had Blue Teen following but looking good. So I was stuck with no chance of trading out and this cost me a loss of £859. I had managed to back Blue Teen for £11 @ 2.50 which did limit my loss slightly.

I finished my race trading day off with 2 more small winning trades but had finished with a loss of £1339.

Talk about kick a man when he is down, I choose to trade on the Man Utd v Roma football match. I backed the unders for £223 @ 1.83 soon after the start and had in mind to start trading out around 1.70, but along came the first of many goals. I didn't trade any more on the match, I just sat back and appreciated seeing one of the best Champions League matches there has ever been. That was one of those matches that we will never forget and I am quite envious of anybody that was in the stadium watching, you lucky things.

My result for the day is a whacking loss of £1562.

Well, contrary to what you may be thinking, I have taken today's losses very well. When you put them into context I have only lost my last three days work and I will make it back again over the next few days. As I said earlier I have had a brilliant month and I have been expecting a loss for a while. It is a part of trading, no one can keep making profits every day as every single trade has a degree of risk, I just wish the losses would spread themselves out a bit instead of coming all at once. I will probably trade a little more conservatively over the next few days as my confidence has taken a bit of a hit. Already today I missed a couple of trades that, had I not had these losses, I would have taken and would have won back more than I had lost on the day.

Monday 9th April 2007

It's been another day full of good sport for The Sports Trader to get stuck into. I managed to trade in 22 horse races and 1 football match. I ended up with just 2 losing trades but one was a very big loss.

I started the day off with 3 small winning trades. My next trade was in the 14:35 at Fakenham and was my best trade of the day. I  had laid Plutocrat for £2 @ 8.50 when struggling to keep with the field and then, between the last two fences and whilst trying to fend off the eventual winner, Garnett,  I laid Crystal Dance for £885 @ 3.75, to result in a profit of £887 in the race. I followed this up with another small winning trade.

My next trade was in the 15;10 at Fakenham where I laid Major Faux Pas for £50 @ 50.00 when struggling in the rear and just before he was pulled up to result in a profit of £50. Next was another small winning trade.

In the 15:20 at Fairyhouse I laid Powerstation for £62 @ 3.50 before backing back £49 @ 4.22 to leave me with a profit of £13.

Next was my biggest loss for quite a while. It was in the 15:30 at Mussleburgh where I had laid Court Of Appeal for £63 @ 4.60. I was pretty much convinced that he was not travelling well and then laid him again for £117 @ 5.10 but obviously got it well wrong to cost me a loss of £705.

My next race trade was in the 15:40 at Plumpton where I laid Ballyhoo for £45 @ 50.00 when not travelling well and in the closing stages I put up a lay of £100 @ 1.33 and was surprised to get £79 matched which resulted in a profit of £124. Next I had 2 small winning trades.

In the 16:20 at Fakenham I backed Day Du Roy for £100 @ 2.50 before laying all off @ 2.15 and then I backed Dalriath for £10 @ 1.84 to result in a profit of £25.

My next trade was in the 16:25 at Warwick where I backed Northern Desert for £23 @ 2.83 close to the finishing line to give me a profit of £42. My next 2 trades were both small, one resulting in a profit and the other a loss.

My next trade was in the photo finish trading for the 16:45 at Cork where I backed Aleagueoftheirown for £1000 @ 1.04 to result in a profit of £40. Next I had 2 more small winning trades.

In the 17:20 at Yarmouth I laid Tip Toes for £16 @ 5.00 and then I laid Missie Baileys for £3 @ 1.86 before backing back £2 @ 2.67 to result in a profit of £17.

My next trade was in the 17:30 at Fakenham where I laid Marsh Court for £81 @ 2.21 when losing the battle to lead about 2 furlongs from the finish, to result in a profit of £81.

My last race trade of the day was in the 17:55 at Cork where I laid Sutherland Belle for £13 @ 7.80 and then laid Zamona for £9 @ 7.00 before backing back £5 @ 12.00 to result in a profit of £17.

My race trading finished with a profit of £643.

I missed the start of the evening football match and watched a little of the cricket but didn't get involved. I then remembered that STV were showing Diamond Geezer, starring two of my favourite TV actors, Davis Jason and George Cole, so I decided to watch this. I did flick over to the football in the ad breaks and with the match between Charlton and Reading just into three minutes of injury time I backed the draw for £456 @ 1.21. I laid off £352 @ 1.06 within a minute and sat on the rest of the liability to the end of the match which resulted in a profit of £73. I then watched the rest of the film.

My day had finished with a total profit of £716.

Sunday 8th April 2007

Happy Easter to you all, I hope you have all had a good day and managed to watch plenty of sport. I spent all morning with my three youngest children and helping them to find then eat their eggs. I ended up trading in 13 horse races and The US Masters golf tournament and had no losing trades.

My first 3 trades where all small winning ones. So my first significant result was in the 14:40 at Towcester where I laid Aston for £61 @ 7.00 before backing back £5 @ 8.00, £10 @ 10.00 and £17 @ 15.00 to leave me with a profit of £28.

In the 14:45 at Fairyhouse I laid Lounaos for £182 @ 4.70 and then backed back £69 @ 5.00 and £5 @ 7.20 to result in a profit of £109. I followed this with another small winning trade.

My next trade was in the 15:15 at Fairyhouse where I laid Montana Bay for £55 @ 5.00 and backed the winner, Aitmatov for £61 @ 1.30 to result in a profit of £73.

The best result of the day for me was in the 16:30 at Plumpton where I started with a lay of Back In Business for £98 @ 2.00 before backing back £80 @ 2.50. I then laid him again for £413 @ 2.42 and proceeded to back back at 3.00 for £84 and £4 @ 2.31 before he was hampered,  and it became apparent he could not win, to result in a profit of £343.

My next 4 trades where all small winning ones. My last racing trade of the day was in the 17:30 at Plumpton where I laid Just Supposin for £7 @ 13.50 before backing back £1 @ 76.00. I also laid Just Touch Wood for £2 @ 250.00 when well beaten and on the run in I backed Liakoura for ££300 @ 1.02 to result in a profit of £14.

My race trading had finished with a profit of £590.

I wanted to watch both the England v Australia World Cup match and The US Masters at Augusta. I decided to watch the golf as with a fairly tight leader board I thought I would have more chance of some decent trading opportunities.

I had a total of 30 trades with a maximum exposure of £100 whilst the final 8 holes where being played. I always find the golf a very good trading event as the liquidity is good and there is plenty of movement in the odds. I ended up with an all green position with a profit of £73 whoever won.

My day had finished with a profit of £663.

It has been a fairly slow week but I have resisted the temptation to force trades and my patience was rewarded with today's result which helped me to a final profit on the week of £1951.

Saturday 7th April 2007

It has been a bit of a grind for the Sports Trader today with a lot of small trades but a reasonable result. I traded in 19 horse races 1 cricket match and 2 football matches and finished with 3 losing trades.

I started my horse racing trades with a small winning trade. My next trade was in the 14:25 at Carlisle and it turned out to be my first losing trade on the day. I had backed Shannon's Pride for £31 @ 4.00 and laid Alfy Rich for £3 @ 20.00 to result in a loss of £28.

My next trade was in the 14:30 at Haydock where I backed From Dawn To Dusk for £60 @ 2.02 before laying off @ 1.73 to result in a profit of £17. Next I had three small winning trades.

In the 15:00 at Haydock I laid Nikola for £17 @ 40.00 to result in a profit of £17. Then in the 15:25 at Newton Abbot I laid Herecomestanley for £27 @ 11.00 to give me another profit of £27. This was followed by another 2 small winning trades.

My second loss of the day came next, in the 15:55 at Newton Abbot, where I laid Warpath for £2 @ 6.80 to result in a loss of £12.

In the 16:05 at Carlisle I backed Noir Et Vert for £149 @ 1.15 for a profit of £22. Next was a small winning trade.

My next trade was in the 16:15 at Cork where I started by backing Our Ben for £72 @ 1.30 before laying off £70 @ 1.10. I then Backed Romek for £22 @ 6.90 before backing back £19 @ 8.11 to result in a profit of £18. Next was another small winning trade.

My best result of the day came in the 17:05 at Leopardstown where I laid Mahler for £24 @ 3.60 and a further £86 @ 4.00 before backing back £18 @ 6.20, £20 @ 5.90 and £10 @ 10.00 to result in a profit of £62.

My third and final loss of the day came next in the 17:35 at Leopardstown where I laid Seasoned for £5 @ 4.00 for a loss of £16.

In the 17:40 at Carlisle I laid Forever Eyesofblue for £85 @ 2.80 before backing back £70 @ 3.00. Next I laid him for £22 @ 2.80 and then backed back for £12 @ 5.00, £2 @ 6.00 and £5 @ 4.00 to result in a profit of £17.

My final race trade of the day was in the 17:45 at Cork where I laid It's A Ladys Deal for £15 @ 26.00 to result in a profit of £15.

My race trading had finished with a profit of £168.

In the evening I managed to catch the end of the Real Zaragoza v Barcelona football match. I traded on the match result market and backed Zaragoza for £183 @ 1.68 before laying off @ 1.66. Next I backed again for £143 @ 1.57 before laying off £143 @ 1.52. Then I backed Zaragoza again for £142 @ 1.44 and laid this off @ 1.43 to result in a profit of £11.

I also backed the under 2.5 goals market in the same match for £137 @ 1.10 before laying off @ 1.05 to give me a profit of £7.

I had a very small trade on the result of the Bangladesh v South Africa cricket match to result in a £1 profit.

My final event for the day was the Athletic Bilbao v Valencia football match. I didn't have a trade until after the goal was scored when I backed the under 2.5 goals market for £212 @ 1.99 and £89 @ 1.87 before laying off @ 1.76. Next I backed again for £25 @ 1.58 which I laid off @ 1.54 to result in a profit of £61.

I had one more trade when I backed the correct score, of 1 - 0, in the same match for £88 @ 1.07 with about 90 seconds of injury time left to play, to result in a profit of £6.

My day had finished with a profit of £254.