I'm back, and hopefully with a bang!

Hello folks, I hope you have all had a successful summer from a punting point of view. I've been back from America around a month now, and while I made a few quid before I left while writing this blog, it wasn't enough to keep me out there for the 3 months I had originally planned on going for. However, the 2 months I did spend out there were without doubt the best 2 months of my life, living in San Diego and visiting places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Mexico along the way. Vegas was the most surreal place I've ever been, and I cannot wait to return there in a few years. Unfortunately, I was home in Ireland about 10 days after I left Vegas to go back to San Diego, mainly due to the casinos cleaning me out of my final few dollars!

To round up my stats from last May, I unfortunately finished off with 2 losing bets. Here are the final stats:

Number of bets: 46

Winners: 6

Placed: 5

Staked: 101 points

Returned: 133.65 points

Profit/Loss: +32.65 points

 

I'm fairly happy with those stats to be honest, as to be in profit from gambling at all is always a positive. However, I feel I have to improve on the amount of winners I get, as only having 6 winners from 46 bets doesn't read very well. I was quite fortunate that I hit some very tasty priced winners along the way which certainly help boost my profits!

 

Onto tomorrow's racing, where there's a very good flat card at Haydock, which is complimented well by a few other decent cards from around the UK as well as some summer jumping in Kilbeggan. Fingers crossed I'll be able to start afresh with a few winners!

 

Haydock 1.40 - Walvis Bay - 1pt e/w @ 12/1 (Bet365)

Walvis Bay looks well capable of taking this class 4 handicap which opens the card at Haydock. He hasn't shown a whole lot in his previous 3 starts so far this season, but there is certainly ability there as he showed in the past. He came back from a small break in the middle of August to finish 7th of 11 at Thirsk in a similar race to the one he'll be contesting at Haydock. I don't think he was fully wound up for that race, and will surely strip fitter for tomorrow. He has also been eased 3 pounds by the handicapper, which will only help his cause. Walvis Bay has won off a mark of 78 just over a year ago, so tomorrow's mark of 76 would certainly suggest he's well handicapped. The good ground and 5 furlong trip will also suit. That win off 78 landed a bit of a gamble that day, and I've noticed that there's been a few nibbles for Walvis Bay already for tomorrow's race, which could hint that connections might fancy another punt if they feel that the horse is ready to strike. Tom Queally is booked to ride, which can only be a positive in my opinion as he's a highly talented jockey. My only concern is that Walvis Bay may not get his own way in front as he likes, because there's quite a few in the field who like to make the running. Because of this, I'm only having a small e/w bet.

 

Haydock 3.10 - La Zamora - 2pts win @ 7/1 (Bet365)

A relatively open looking handicap over 6 furlongs, and I fancy the 5 year old mare La Zamora to take the prize money home for her connections. Going through La Zamora's previous form, it gives me the impression that she has definitely got the ability to be winning a race of this standard. She has previously won class 2 and class 3 handicaps in the past, so she should be well capable of winning tomorrow's class 4 handicap. She's back down to her last winning mark, which was 82 around this time last year. Her last run doesn't look that spectacular on paper, but it's better than it looks as a slow start didn't help her chances. That race was also over 7 furlongs, which isn't her ideal trip in my opinion. Tomorrow La Zamora returns to a more suitable 6 furlongs, which is also the trip she caught the eye on in her penultimate start, having been extremely slow away over course and distance, she finished very strongly only going down by a length in the end. If she reproduces that run, albeit with a faster start, then she should be bang in the shake up come the finish line. I'm slightly put off by the current favourite, Iron Range, who could be anything as they say, having only had 1 previous run on the track. That opponent is the reason I'm only having a 2 point win bet.

 

Haydock 4.10 - Silver Rime - 1pt win @ 8/1 (Boylesports)

Silver Rime has been decent heart this season, with most of his efforts being respectable without getting his head in front. However, I think tomorrow could be his day to enter the winners enclosure for the first time since July 2010. That last win was a similar standard of race to the one he faces tomorrow, and it came off a mark of 83. Tomorrow, Silver Rime runs off 85, but crucially jockey Dale Swift takes off 3 pounds, which brings Silver Rime below his highest winning mark. Having run over 6 furlongs last time out, the return to 7 furlongs will suit Silver Rime with 2 of it's 4 career wins coming over the same trip. The good ground will also be to it's liking. It's a tough looking race to solve, where I could make a case for many of the runners, so I'll only have small win stakes on Silver Rime.