The Sports Trader

Wednesday 13th June 2007

It has been a very mixed day for the Sports Trader today. My day started with my first ever Russian lesson. I have my reasons for trying to learn this language which will become apparent over the next few months. My teacher is a Russian girl, Liudmila, she is brilliant and I am sure we will get along well. My Au-pair could not make it to work this afternoon so my trading was some what curtailed. Along with this I had a visit from my mother-in-law and in the early evening I had to attend parents night for the twins. Due to all the above I only traded in 8 horse races but still came unstuck big time in the evening racing.

My day started with a small winning trade in the 14:10 @ Nottingham. In the 14:20 at Beverley I backed Artdeal for £50 @ 1.60 to result in a profit of £30.

Next I had 3 more trades that all resulted in small profits. Then came my first mistake in the 19:40 at Hamilton where I had laid Ballyhurry for £16 @ 8.00 to cost me £112.

Worse was to come in the 20:40, also at Hamilton, where I laid Stringsofmyheart for £114 @ 10.00. I wasn't alone in thinking this horse was not going to win as it was laid at up to 95/1 on the exchanges. She was leading and then after been ridden hard lost the lead and looked like stopping altogether, only to eventually pick up again and win by a short head, which cost me £1032. This is a trade that, given the same circumstances, I would do again. It is one of those strange things that happens in the sport of kings from time to time, so I will not be beating myself up about it. 

My day finished with the 21:10 at Hamilton where I laid Kenmore for £10 @ 21.00 to result in a profit of £10..

My day had finished with a loss of £1092.

Tuesday 12th June 2007

The Sports Trader has very little to report today as I finally got round to installing my new computer and internet connection. I will put up a separate post over the next few days detailing my new IT Set up. I have got quite a learning curve to get to grips with Windows Vista. Apart from being very much a novice with Vista everything else seems to be going well and I am pleased with my new set up.

I had a couple of trades late in the afternoon as testers for my system that both resulted in small profits. In the 18:30 at Worcester I laid Postage for £24 @ 40.00 when well out of contention to result in a profit of £24.

My only other trade of the day resulted in a loss of £10 after laying Nelson's Spice, in the 20:00 also at Worcester, for £20 @ 3.09 and backing back £10 @ 4.15.

So my day had finished with a profit of just £14.

Monday 11th June 2007

It was back to reality today for the Sports Trader with 10 horse races and 1 football match traded on.

I started my day with the 14:30 at Newton Abbot where I backed It's The Limit , when approaching the finishing line and well in front, for £1696 @ 1.01 to result in a profit of £17.

In the 15:45 at Wolverhampton I baked Mighty Kitchener for £80 @ 2.13, which was a mistake, I had tried to cancel my back but I had a problem with my computer and by the time my order had gone through all the back was taken. I ended the race with a loss of £80.

In my next race I had my second and final loss of the day, but at least this time it was only a small loss of £5.

In the 18:45 at Pontefract I laid Lake Sabina for £25 @ 7.00 to result in a profit of £25. My next trade was in the 19:55 at Roscommon where, unusually for me I traded before the off. There was a lot of liquidity in the few minutes before the off and I decided to try trading pre race with a back of the favourite, Sweet Wake, for £3592 @ 1.36 which I laid off within seconds @ 1.34. I then proceeded to green-up with a lay for £100 @ 1.34 and a back for £35 @ 1.39. In the final few yards of the race I also backed the favourite again for £41 @ 1.10 to leave me with a profit of £68.

My next trade was in the 20:15 at Pontefract where I backed Expensive for £222 @ 2.70 and laid off @ 2.50 to leave me with a profit of £45. I followed this up with my final 4 race trades all resulting in small profits.

My race trading had finished with a profit of £82.

After racing I decided to trade in the under 21 football match between Serbia and Italy. I only traded in the final 4 minutes of the match with a back on the correct score of 1 - 0 for 191 @ 1.18 and laid off with 1 minute to go at 1.12 to leave me with a profit of £12.

My day had finished with a profit of £94.

For those of you that have not seen today's edition of the Betdaq Exchange Views blog, Betdaq have joined forces with The Daily Star to offer you the chance to win up to £5000 in a tipping competition for The Royal Ascot meeting which starts next week. It's a great competition where you have to pick horses to lay to lose. For more information see the Betdaq Exchange Views blog or click here to go to the competition.

Sunday 10th June 2007

Well it has been a long time coming, but today the Sports Trader had a brilliant result and all down to some solid trading and then one well timed click of the mouse. I traded on 13 horse races and 1 football match with no losing trades.

My day started in the 14:30 at Stratford where I managed a small winning trade. In the 14:50 at Perth I backed Yankee Holiday for £30 @ 3.50 and laid all off at £3.00 to result in a profit of £15. My next 3 trades were all small winning ones.

In the 15:50 at Perth I laid Trading Trouble for £21 @ 50.00 when well out of contention to give me a profit of £21. Next was another small winning trade.

In the 16:00 at Stratford I backed Silver Hay, when clear of the field and over the final hurdle, for £168 @ 1.15 and £250 @ 1.01.

My next trade was in the 16:30 at Stratford where I laid Armariver for £55 @ 2.90 and backed back £25 @ 5.20. I then laid for £13 @ 4.00 and back back £3 @ 5.00 to result in a profit of £40.

In the 16:40 at Bath I laid Top Trees for £52 @ 6.00 for another decent £52 profit. Next was a small winning trade.

My best trade of the day came next in the 17:25 at Roscommon where liquidity was very good on the favourite Taipan's Way. As is normal for me in this situation I was watching the favourite very closely and had a lay already keyed in so I only had to hit the submit button if the right opportunity came along. This was a flat NH race but Taipan's Way was well back in the field  with the horses all well packed up in front when suddenly you could see that the he had clipped heels with another horse and it took the commentator quite some time to realise which horse had unseated it's rider. Long before the commentator had reported I had hit my submit button and got matched for £2484 of the £4000 I had laid @ 2.50. So I had landed my best result in a while, which was needed as my results have not been good for a few weeks.

My next trade was my last race trade and it was in the 17:45 at Cork where I laid Deal Or No Deal for £10 @ 6.20 for a £10 profit.

My race trading had finished with a profit of £2681.

After racing I watched the second half of the U21 football match between Portugal and Belgium. I backed the draw in the 86th minute, with the score at 0 - 0, for £20 @ 1.27 and then two minutes later another £50 @ 1.19 to result in a profit of £15.

My day had finished with a profit of £2696.

That was the end of another week and one where I have made a profit of £3604.

Saturday 9th June 2007

The Sports Trader had a good day and traded in 16 horse races and 1 football match.

My day started with the 14:15 at Musselburgh where I backed Victorian Beauty for £54 @ 1.30 for a profit of £16. In the 14:30 at Windsor I laid Determined Stand for £11 @ 6.20 to result in a profit of £11.

My next trade was in the 14:35 at Haydock where I laid Mr Ed for 321 @ 15.00 to give me another £21 profit. Next was the 14:50 at Goodwood where I backed Munsef for £100 @ 1.85 before laying off @ 1.65 and then, with the race in the bag, I backed him again for £852 @ 1.10 to result in a profit of £105. I followed this with a small winning trade and then a small losing trade.

In the 16:05 at Windsor I laid Gulf Express for £38 @ 3.00 for a profit of £38. Next was the 16;20 at Musselburgh where I laid Stark Contrast for £11 @ 3.95 before backing back £8 @ 5.00 and then I backed the eventual winner for £500 @ 1.02 to result in a profit of £13. Next came another small winning trade.

The best result of my day came next in the 16:40 at Windsor where I didn't have a trade in the actual race but managed to back the winner, Gongidas for £431 @ 1.50 in the photo finish market to give me a profit of £216. It always helps if the commentators pick the wrong winner in a photo finish.

My next 4 trades where all small winning trades. The worst race trade of my day came in the 19:50 at Lingfield where I backed Fiefdom for £26 @ 2.00 to leave me with a loss of £26. My final race trade of the day came next and it resulted in a small profit.

My race trading had finished with a decent profit of £395.

After racing I traded on the Real Zaragoza v Real Madrid football match. I started off backing the under 2.5 goals market for £255 @ 2.16, with the score at 1 -1, and had laid off £223 @ 2.05 when the third goal came to cost me £32.

I then backed the under 3.5 goals for £150 @ 1.82 and had laid off £53 @ 1.63 and £39 @ 1.50 when the 4th goal was scored which cost me another £61.

In the final few minutes of the match I backed the draw for £122 @ 1.35 and had laid off just 313 @ 1.16 when I cancelled the rest of my lays and finished the match with a profit of £41 on the correct result.

So my day had finished with a profit of £343.

Friday 8th June 2007

The Sports Trader had a quiet and unprofitable day after trading in just 10 horse races. I had a busy day outside of trading and therefore missed quite a lot of the day's racing.

During the afternoon session I only traded on 7 races and they all finished with small profits. Then in the evening I had my first loss of the day in the 19:00 at Wexford where I had laid Dreamy Gent for £31 @ 3.95 thinking that Ruby would work his magic on the short priced favourite Irish Invader, but for once Ruby let me down. I did back Dreamy Gent in the later stages of the race for £20 @ 1.50 to limit my loss on the race to £81.

Next I had another small winning trade and then in my final trade of the day in the 19:40 at Towcester I managed to get this one wrong as well. I backed Johnston's Swallow for 24 @ 21.30 and laid off £25 @ 2.10. Later in the race I laid him for a further £100 @ 2.40 and backed back £50 @ 2.80 to leave me with a loss of £46.

I missed the rest of the evening racing as I had to go to the airport and pick up mu daughter Jenny, so my day had finished with a disappointing loss of £106.

Thursday 7th June 2007

Well it has been yet another very quiet day for the Sports Trader with just 8 horse races traded but I only had 1 loss so I ended up with a reasonable result.

My first trade was the best of my day and it came in the 14:00 at Hamilton. I backed Lady Benjamin for £68 @ 2.93 as she approached the finishing line with her nose in front to result in a profit of £131.

My next 2 race trades were both small winning ones. In the 18:00 at Uttoxeter I backed Danehill Willy for £44 @ 2.61 and laid this off @ 2.00 to leave me with a profit of £26.

Next I had another 2 small winning trades, and then came my only loss of the day in the 20:30 at Sandown where I had backed Purple Emperor for £30 @ 1.70, for a loss of £30. I only had one more trade and that resulted in a small profit.

My day had finished with a profit of £142.

Wednesday 6th June 2007

The Sports trader had a reasonable day with 11 horse races traded and no losing trades. Regular readers will know that I am trading a lot less races at the moment. I have done this as I know I am not able to compete with other traders due to the reasons given a few weeks ago on this blog. I suppose I am trying to just cherry pick my trades to lessen the risk and still make a reasonable profit each week. Trading in this way is exceptionally boring, as you will see I can go a couple of hours without a trade. I can still take positives from my trading and the main one is that I have been very disciplined, and, I have still made a comfortable living. I hope to get back to normal over the next few days once I have set up my new computer system and broadband.

Today's trading got underway with a small profit in the 14:20 at Lingfield. In the 14:30 at Sedgefield I laid Wally Wonder for £31 @ 4.20 and backed back £25 @ 6.00. Later I laid him again for £17 @ 6.00 to result in a profit of £23.

My next 3 trades were all small winning trades. In the 16:30 at Sedgefield I laid Barney for £120 @ 4.50 before backing him for £13 @ 4.65, £24 @ 7.10, £40 @ 8.00 and £12 @ 17.40 to leave me with a profit of £31. I followed this trade with another 3 small winning trades.

In the 21:10 at Kempton I backed Stolen Hours for £51 @ 2.74 before laying off @ 2.34 to result in a profit of £20.

My final trade of the day came in the 21:20 at Ripon where I backed one of the most expensive horses ever bought, Jalil, for £177 @ 1.10 to result in a profit of £18.

My day had finished with a total profit of £117.

Tuesday 5th June 2007

The Sports Trader had a very quite but successful day with only 7 races being traded. I was out for much of the day as I had my new computer to pick up and several other jobs to do. I will install my new computer over the next few days.

The first trade of the day was in the 14:30 at Ripon and this resulted in a small profit.

My next trade was my only losing trade of the day and it was in the 16:45 at Lingfield where I backed Beneking for £50 @ 1.01 and cursed myself for hitting the submit button just too early so I lost £50.

My best result of the day came in the 18:25 at Fontwell where I laid Cave of The Giant for £4 @ 25.00 and then at the last hurdle I backed Enthusius for £1000 @ 1.21 to finish the race with a profit of £214.

In the 18:55 also at Fontwell I laid Moonfleet for £5 @ 25.00 and then backed Bollitree Bob for £50 @ 2.00 before laying off @ 1.20 to secure a profit of £45.

It was at Fontwell again that, in the 20:25, I backed Willandrich for £40 @ 2.42 before laying off @ 2.40 and then with the race more or less won I backed him again for £700 @ 1.20 to result in a profit of £141. I finished my day's trading with 2 more small winning trades.

My day had finished with a profit of £352.

Monday 4th June 2007

It has been a slow day for the Sports Trader with only 9 horse races traded and just 1 losing trade.

My day started with the 14:30 at Leicester where I laid Silly Gilly for £14 @ 8.40 to result in a profit of £14. My next 6 trades were all small winning ones and the next trade resulted in a small loss.

The last trade of my day was in the 16:55 at Listowel where I backed Ballycullen Boy for £55 @ 2.50 which I laid off @ 2.20. Next I backed him again for £15 @ 2.70 and laid this off @ 1.80 and finally I backed him for £25 @ 2.00 and laid this off @ 1.80 to result in a profit of £35.

My day had finished with a profit of £62.