The Sports Trader

Thursday 24th May 2007

The Sports Trader has made more progress on my new IT set up today as a very decent BT engineer came round today and installed my new line. As soon as he had finished I completed an on-line application for the  Be.com 24 Meg broadband service, which is the fastest in the UK, and within an hour they had emailed, and sent me a text message, saying that the new service would be installed in 7 days time. I thought that was brilliant service. I am looking forward to using my new system next week and it looks like there may well be a lot more liquidity on Betdaq by then as many Betfair customers are taking the new increased commission structure very badly and are plotting to boycott the Betfair site. I can not see their rationale for increasing commission rates as surely increased turnover at the same rate is the way to get better profits.

I traded in 11 horse races today with 2 losing trades and my first trade was in the 14:10 at Bangor where I laid Go Solo for £13 @ 6.00 and Barton Legend for £19 @ 9.00 before backing back £8 @ 15 on Barton Legend to result in a profit of £24. My next two trades where both small winning trades.

My first loss of the day came in the 15:20 at Bangor as I laid Ice Tea for £9 @ 6.00 when in sixth place and looking held but I had got this one wrong and could not trade out so I suffered a loss of £48. I followed this with two more small winning trades.

In the 16:30 at Bangor I backed Johnston's Swallow for £150 @ 2.60 before laying off @ 2.40. Next I backed him again for £100 @ 2.00 and laid this off @ 1.59 to result in a profit of £71.

The next at Bangor was the 17:05 and here I laid Beau Nash for £50 @ 25.00 and backed Eleazar for £24 @ 1.50 to give me a profit of £62. Next was a small winning trade.

My second and final loss on the day came in the 19:30 at Clonmel where I backed Warrior Drive for £7 @ 2.62 which I laid off @ 2.00. Later I backed him again whilst leading for £25 @ 1.75 only to see him fall at the 2nd last to cost me a £25 loss.

My final trade of the day was also my best and was in the 20:00 at Clonmel. I backed Prince Massini for £2034 @ 1.88 whilst in the lead and looking to be going very well. I also had in mind the way the price had shortened up just before the start of the race and the fact that my favourite jockey, Ruby Walsh, was on board. Soon after my back I started to lay off @ 1.75 for £70, £861 @ 1.66, a further £792 @ 1.66 and £7 @ 1.28 before I cancelled the rest of my lays to leave me with a profit of £638 on the race.

So I had finished a good day with a profit of £737.

Wednesday 23rd May 2007

It has been a quite day on the trading front for the Sports Trader. I only traded on 10 horse races all day. I spent time with my friend the computer expert and we have more or less settled on the final spec for my new computer. I had already bought an AMD 64 x2 6000+ Dual Core processor which will be the heart of my new machine. I will detail the final spec one day next week when I take delivery of it.

My first trade was in the 15:30 at Kelso where  I had laid Possextown for £17 @ 3.40 before backing back @ 3.50 and at the last hurdle I backed Megaton for £340 @ 1.20 to result in a profit of £69. My next 4 trades where all small winning ones.

In the 19:40 at Huntingdon I laid King's Head for £50 @ 2.70 and later backed back £14 @ 4.50 and £6 @ 7.00 to result in a profit of £31. My next trade was a small losing one.

My worst result of the day was next in the 20:10 at Huntingdon where I laid Cape Stormer for £33 @ 2.00 to leave me with a loss of £33.

In the 20:20 at Sedgefield I backed Programme Girl for £75 @ 1.66 for a £50 profit. My final race trade of the day was in the 20:30 at Sligo where I laid Definite for £13 @ 50.00 when well behind the leaders in the final furlong.

So my day had finished with a profit of £136.

I did watch the Champions League Final but didn't trade as I just wanted to enjoy the spectacle.

Important News Flash - Liverpools Secret Weapon

The Sports Trader can exclusively reveal that the entire Liverpool squad have been relaxing in the build up to tonight's Champions League final with one of our own - non other than The Smiling Assassin aka Philip Wilson.

 

I have copied an extract from today's Belfast Telegraph for you to read and enjoy. It is also good to hear that The Smiling Assassin blog will soon be up and running again after a break of a few months.

Our new pals ... the Reds squad

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

By Claire McNeilly

An Ulsterman will be cheering on his new pals in tonight's Champions League football final.

That's because Philip Wilson has just spent five days in the sun with the Liverpool squad who take on AC Milan in the showdown in Athens.

Belfast man Philip (35), his wife Gillian (34) and their six- month-old daughter Eva went to the exclusive Spanish resort La Manga for a break as Gillian's maternity leave drew to a close.

Instead, they found themselves sharing a hotel with Rafael Benitez and his men who were acclimatising for the big game.

Philip, a computer trader, has always been a Reds' fan, but he says his wife - who has never watched his team play - will also be glued to the screen tonight, now that she knows the players.

"I met all of the players," he said. "It was brilliant. I have been an absolutely diehard fan since I was seven and I literally got to spend five days with the team.

"I thought I would have been starstruck, but I just found that I had a thousand questions to ask (them) about football tactics."

Peter Crouch, Jamie Carragher, Robbie Fowler and Xabi Alonso were among the big guns hanging with the Wilsons - as well as Philip's hero, Reds' captain, Steven Gerrard.

"There only seemed to be two or three other couples apart from us and we were allowed to sit and chat to the players," said Philip.

"When I met Gerrard, he seemed to have a lot on his mind. Crouch, Carragher and Fowler were great craic though. They went out of their way to sign autographs for people."

The Liverpool lads also charmed primary school teacher Gillian.

"My wife thought some of them were very attractive," Philip admitted. "She doesn't like football at all, but she was very impressed at just how nice some of the players were.

"A lot of the guys have children of their own and Daniel Agger and Mark Gonzalez even spent time teaching Eva how to swim."

"I will never forget that holiday the rest of my life."

With his feet now back in Ulster, Philip, who plays rugby for Belfast Harlequins, will support his side from the sofa tonight.

"I would absolutely love to have gone to the Olympic Stadium, but the prices are exorbitant," he said.

"But we'll be watching the match - and I think they're going to win."

Tuesday 22nd May 2007

The Sports Trader had a much better day today. I took things very carefully after yesterday's losses and traded in just 7 horse races but had no losses.

My first trade was in the 14:10 at Lingfield where I backed Gaelic Roulette for £120 @ 1.25 to start the day with a profit of £30.

My next trade was in the 16:30 at Southwell where I backed Tilapia for £482 @ 1.04 just approaching the line to result in a profit of £19.

My best result of the day came in the 16:50 at Beverley where I laid Bolin Felix for £229 @ 1.93 and a further £32 @ 30.00 to result in a profit of £261.

I had 3 more trades which where all small winning ones to end the day with a profit of £324.

Monday 21st May 2007

The Sports Trader started the week off in the worst possible way where everything went wrong. I only traded in 8 horse races and 1 football match but had 4 losing trades. It was a day when I should really not have been trading as I had a lot of other things on. My sister-in-law was coming for her dinner and later my best friend Graeme was visiting and staying the night with us.

I started in the 14:00 at Bath where I laid Foxy's Den for £17 @ 4.00 which resulted in a profit of £17. I followed this with a small winning trade.

In the 14:40 at Musselburgh I laid Collete's Choice for £29 @ 3.71 to give me another £29 profit. Again I followed this with a small winning trade.

Now the day started to go from bad to worse with my first losing trade in the 16:20 at Newton Abbot where I backed Be Positive for £52 @ 2.00. He was in the lead at the time and going well but was headed after a mistake at the second last fence and I did try to lay him but only got matched for £1 so I ended up with a loss of £51.

In the next at Newton Abbot, the 16:50, I backed Papa's Boy for £156 @ 1.96, again whilst leading the race, and this time he was well beaten but by the time I had put lays up the price had gone and I was unable to lay off any of my liability so I lost £156. I followed this with a small winning trade.

In the evening and whilst waiting for Graeme to arrive I made the biggest mistake, in the 19:40 at Windsor, by laying Makabul for £244 @ 4.00 when in the rear of the field with about 4 furlongs to go. I had put up this lay quite early on as he was very slow coming out of the stalls. By the time he started to reel in the leaders I tried to cancel my lays but unfortunately for me some had been taken and this cost me £632.

To round off a really bad day I traded in the St.Patrick's v Drogheda football match when the score was 0 - 0 and with only the last ten minutes left to play. I backed the draw for £86 @ 1.54 and had intended laying off around the 1.3 mark but just before this was available St.Patrick's scored. I did back St.Patrick's for £36 @ 1.22 but this still left me with a loss of £78.

So my day had finished with a loss of £870. By now Graeme had arrived and we had a few drinks hence the late update, but I do feel better for it.

Sunday 20th May 2007

The Sports Trader has had a busy day with 16 horse races, 2 football matches and 1 golf tournament traded.

I started with a small winning trade in the 13:50 at Navan. Next was my best trade of the day where, in the 14:15 at Gowran Park, I backed Artic Cry for £458 @ 1.50 in the final few yards of the race to result in a profit of £229. I then had 11 small winning trades.

My next trade was in the 16:25 at Navan where I laid Monas Run for £12 @ 50.00 when well out of contention to net me a £12 profit.

In the 16:30 at Market Rasen I laid Kjetil for £15 @ 14.00 to result in a profit of £15. I then followed this up with my last trade of the day which resulted in a small profit.

My race trading had finished with a profit of £292.

In the evening I had a few trades on the Recreativo v Real Madrid football match. I had started trading the under 2.5 goals, with the score sitting at  0 - 2, with a back for £185 @ 2.39 and laid off @ 2.22. The third goal came and I had a small trade on the under 3.5 goals market with a back of the unders for £54 @ 1.98 before laying off £56 @ 1.72 which left me with a £2 profit. With the score at 2 -2 and in the last minute of the 90 I decided to back the draw for £106 @ 1.17 and got caught with a goal to cost me £106.

Later I backed the under 2.5 goals in the Atletico Madrid v Barcelona match for £50 @ 1.71 which I laid off @ 1.60. A while later with the game quite dull I backed the unders for £615 @ 1.51 which I then laid off  @ 1.45. The first goal came and I backed the unders for £143 @ 1.84. I had put up a lay @ 1.72, but just as this lay was next in line to be taken a second goal came and closely followed by a third so I was another £143 down which was starting to spoil an otherwise good day.

By now I was feeling a little mad with myself so I decided to watch the Stephen Fry drama on BBC1 called Kingdom. After this I turned my attention to the AT & T Classic Golf Tournament and decided to start with a back on Zach Johnson for £200 @ 2.10. I had a total of 40 trades on this tournament and I only started watching when the leader were on their last 3 holes. I had a big red figure on Ryuji Imada going into the play off hole so had to work at it trying to reduce this potential disaster and finally I managed to get an all green position which resulted in a profit of £187.

So my day had finished quite well after looking not too good for a while and I eventually ended with a profit of £232.

This has been another good week with a profit of £1291.

Saturday 19th May 2007

The Sports Trader has had a full day of trading horse races and managed to trade in 25 races with 4 losses.

My day started with a small winning trade in the 13:20 at Newmarket. Next was my first losing trade of the day in the 13:35 at Newbury where I laid Coasting for £50 @ 2.00 with two furlongs to go and could not trade out of the situation when it became apparent that he would win, I therefore lost £50. Next was a small winning trade.

In the 14:15 at Bangor I laid Stoway for £20 @ 6.40 when blundering at around half distance. I did back back £1 @ 8.00 but could not get matched for any more and went on to lose £101 on the race.

Next was the 15:05 at Thirsk where I laid Chip N Pin for £60 @ 7.00 to claw back some of my losses with a £60 profit. In the 15:25 at Bangor I backed Presentandcorrect for £78 @ 1.70 and laid off £79 @ 1.40 to result in a profit of £23.

My next trade came in the 15:35 at Newmarket where I backed Sentry Duty, close to the finish, for £528 @ 1.05 to give me a profit of £26. I followed up with another small winning trade.

My worst result of the day came next in the 16:15 at Thirsk where i had laid My Gacho for £36 @ 8.80 before backing back £10 @ 9.00 which resulted in a loss of £198.

I now had a pretty serious loss to claw back and I started on this recovery mission in the 16:30 at Bangor where I laid Hegrid for £15 @ 2.10 to result in a profit of £15. I had the same profit margin in my next race, the 16:40 at Newmarket, where I laid Silver Guest for £100 @ 2.48 before backing back £95 @ 2.59 and then went on to lay again for £80 @ 2.00 and back back £70 @ 2.50.

In the 17:05 at Bangor I backed Border Fusion for £250 @ 1.05 when close to the finish to result in a profit of £13. I followed this with a small winning trade.

My next trade was mt best of the day and it came in the 17:35 at Bangor where I laid Romping Home for £182 @ 4.59 to give me a profit of £182. Again I followed up with a small winning trade.

In the 18:05 at Worcester I backed Bouncing King for £132 @ 1.38 and laid it all off at 1.19 to leave me with a £25 profit. Next where 2 small trades, one was profitable whilst the other gave me a small loss and was my last losing trade of the day.

My next trade was in the 18:35 at Worcester where I laid Lawyer Des Ormeaux for £100 @ 5.00 before backing back £20 @ 10.52 to leave me with a profit of £90. I followed this with 2 further small winning trades.

Next was the 19:45 at Uttoxeter where I laid Merymaker for £15 @ 6.10 before backing back £13 @ 7.00 and later laid Dickie Lewis for £10 @ 100.00 to result in a profit of £13.

In the 20:05 at Worcester I laid Original Fly for £80 @ 4.5 before backing back £18 @ 5.00 and £10 @ 30.00. Later I laid again for 35 @ 1000 to result in a profit of £57.

My last 2 trades both resulted in small profits and this left me with a total profit on the day of £211.

Friday 18th May 2007

The Sports Trader had a very short day of trading as my daughter, Josie and her boyfriend Stuart, came back from their holiday and I had to go to Glasgow airport to pick them up at 1:30pm. By the time we got to my house and made lunch my son, Oliver, called round to see us all after finishing work, and before I knew it I had missed over 2 hours of race trading. It was good seeing them so I wouldn't of had it any other way. By the end of my trading day I had traded on just 8 horse races and 1 football match.

My day started with a trade in the 16:05 at Newbury where I laid Trans Sonic for £52 @ 9.90 to start my day with a profit of £52. I followed this with a small winning trade. They where the only trades I managed in the afternoon session. I then took my 3 young children to their mothers for their weekend visit.

In the 19:30 at Hamilton I backed Boscobel for £5 @ 2.50 before laying off @ 2.00. Then later I backed him again for £25 @ 1.50 to result in a profit of £15.

Next was the 19:45 at Aintree where I laid Beauchamp Oracle for £6 @ 5.00 and later laid Hip Pocket for £9 @ 9.00 to result in a profit of £15. I followed this with 2 more small winning trades.

My final race trade on the day was in the 21:10 at Hamilton where I laid Ashes for £20 @ 25.00 to give me a further £25 profit.

So at the end of a short race trading day I had made a profit of £125.

I did trade a little in the Notts Forest v Yeovil game whilst getting ready to go out for a few drinks with my son. I had backed the under 2.5 goals market for £101 @ 2.35 which I laid of @ 2.08 a few minutes later. I decided to leave it at that whilst I had a shower and by the time I got back into my office another 2 goals had been scored so I ended the game all square.

I had a great night out with Oliver and met up with several other friends so I didn't get back home until 3:00am, hence the late update for my blog.

Thursday 17th May 2007

The Sports Trader has had a good day with 14 races traded even though I had to take around 3 hours off during racing to make the evening meal and get my daughter, Zoe, to and from her school disco.

My day started with the 13:55 at Salisbury where I laid Rough Rock for £10 @ 11.85 to result in a profit of £10. I followed this with a small winning trade.

My next trade was in the 14:35 at Perth where I backed Pay Attention for £1500 @ 1.01, whilst well clear of the rest of the runners, to give me a profit of £15. I followed this with 4 small winning trades.

My first loss of the day came in the 16:10 at Perth as I backed Trading Trouble for £43 @ 1.10 and £10 @ 1.01 when leading close home, only to see him passed approaching the line to cost me £53.

I quickly made up for that result in the 16;35 at Salisbury where I backed Mason Ette for £135 @ 1.41 to result in a profit of £56.

The second of my two losses came next in the 16:45 at Perth where I backed Kid'z'play for £100 @ 2.16 when leading but he fell at the third last fence before I had a chance to lay off. I also backed Lord Who, the eventual winner, for £303 @ 1.01 close to the finishing line to result in a loss of £97.

My next trade was in the 17:00 at York where I backed Bollin Derek for £150 @ 1.80 to result in a profit of £120.

I had another good result next in the 17:15 at Perth where I laid Sting for £111 @ 7.00 to give me a further £111 profit.

In the 18:25 at Folkestone I laid Spanish Point for £25 @ 6.00 and backed back £10 @ 13.50 to result in a profit of £15.

My final trade of the day came in the 20:35 at Limerick where I laid Taipan's Way for £128 @ 4.00 and backed back £50 @ 7.00 to result in a profit of £78.

So my day had finished with a profit of £272.

Most readers will be aware of Russ Wiseman's daily Daqcast's on the Betdaq Exchange Views Blog. He has been interviewing many well known professional punters and TV personalities over the course of the last few weeks. Recently he has called on the expert analysis of Nick Luck, of Racing UK and Channel 4 fame, for a really informative take on the York Dante meeting. I always tune in to hear the experts views which are often very entertaining and they can also highlight horses with outstanding chances in the day's racing.

Wednesday 16th May 2007

The Sports Trader has had a decent day although I had to be away from between 5:00 and 9:00 so I missed quite a lot of today's sporting action. I attended a talk about financial trading, not that I want to get into that type of trading, but I thought I may just pick up some tips that could help with my sports trading. Well I didn't learn anything that could help me but I did interest quite a lot of people in sports trading so my evening wasn't a complete waste of time. I had an interesting drive into Glasgow as there was a bit of a football match being played at Hampden Park which is directly between my house and Glasgow City centre. I ended up trading on 7 horse races and 2 football matches.

My first race trade was in the 14:25 at Exeter which resulted in a small profit. Next was the 14:35 at Fontwell where I backed Dusky Warbler for £25 @ 1.98 to give me a profit of £25.

In the 14:45 at York I backed Passage of Time for £299 @ 1.83 before laying off £64 @ 1.63 and £235 @ 1.49 to result in a profit of £97.

My next trade was in the 15:40 at Fontwell where I laid Johnstone's Swallow for £18 @ 6.60 and later a further £3 @ 60.00 to result in a profit of £21. I followed this with another small winning trade.

In the 16:15 at Fontwell I laid Fleetwood Forest for £126 @ 3.60 before backing back £5 @ 3.57, £100 @ 4.06 and £5 @ 6.00. Next I laid for a further £20 @ 5.00 and backed back £1 @ 25.00 to result in a profit of £29. This was one of those occasions that I laid a horse before the off, as the favourite had been withdrawn making Fleetwood Forest the new favourite. In situations like this the price laid at is reduced substantially and usually allows you to back back at a profit as happened here.

My last race trade of the day was next and this resulted in a small profit so my race trading had finished with a profit of £174.

After I got back from my meeting I traded on the match result of the West Brom v Wolves football match. I started with a back of the draw for £48 @ 2.23 and soon after West Brom scored so I started backing them for £414 @ 1.34 and £294 @ 1.33. I then laid for £255 @ 1.24, £192 @ 1.23 and £200 @ 1.20, to result in a profit of £43.

I just caught the last few minutes of the UEFA Cup Final and started trading in extra time by backing the draw for £47 @ 2.36 which I laid off @ 2.24 to give me a profit of £6. During the penalty shoot out I managed to give back the £6 so I finished this game all square.

My day had therefore finished with a profit of £217.