2011 Review
Welcome Back The Flat
After some tricky months on the AW over the winter, to say I was relieved to see the return of the Flat would be an understatement. Early winners in the shape of West Coast Dream (8/1) at Leopardstown and then Nimue (4/1) at Leicester got things up and running early and a solid start to the season extended into April where Norman Orpen was placed for us in the Spring Mile and several minor winners such as Captivator (11/2), Ivan Vasilevich(7/1), Fair Passion (11/2), Norville (11/2) and Justfortheroad (5/1) all followed, contributing to a small profit for the first full month of the season.
May also proved to be another steady away month with St Moritz(8/1), Ginger Ted (16/1) and Masamah (12/1) adding to Overturn's (6/1) victory from the front in the Chester Cup.
Sticky Summer
That solid start to the season was undone somewhat between June and July when results went through a sticky spell. June had actually started well with 16/1 chance Fox Hunt landing a huge Epsom gamble for us, however, a couple of near misses from win-heavy each-way bets Waffle and Noodles Blue Boy affected the profit column as a slight loss was noted in June.
In the case of Waffle, he had been a long-term ante-post pick for the Wokingham at 25/1 and ran the race of his life to take second at Royal Ascot after being backed into 12/1. History now shows he lost little caste in defeat behind Deacon Blues, four times a winner subsequently, last time at Group 2 level, but a meagre return from the place component of the bet that day meant we had little to show for Waffles efforts.
Coeus landed a big win for us at Newmarkets July meeting when scoring at 12/1 but, in general, July too was a month to forget, with a 'win only' staking policy proving costly around Glorious Goodwood with three selections finishing in the frame but not managing to poke their noses infront where it mattered.
Back on track
However, things got back on track in August with a return to normal each-way staking and the winners retuned. Quasi Congaree (8/1) hacked up at Newmarket and other notable returns included Pepper Lane (12/1) obliging in the Great St Wilfrid at Ripon and Rose Blossom (5/1) and Our Joe Mac (10/1) scoring at Pontefract and York respectively. The selections were performing to a high level of consistency with seven out of the last ten bets in August yielding a return in one way or another and a healthy +5.75 pts profit (+19 %) was noted at the end of the month.
Classic Success
September could be described as another solid month, with a 10 % yield recorded. Ante-post St Leger pick Masked Marvel winning the Doncaster Classic at advised odds of 10/1 was the undoubted highlight, while there were also victories for Take It To The Max (7/2), Taqleed (12/1), Bowdlers Magic (13/2), Qushchi (8/1) and Chokurei (12/1) amongst others, which built up nicely towards our most profitable month of the season, October.
Irish sprint success
Victory for Move In Time (12/1) helped offset Wizz Kids underperformance in the Prix De L Abbaye (fifth) and Blue Moons(10/1) victory upon her return to the all-weather was a timely profit boost. Mount Athos ran well for us in the Cesarewitch (fourth) but the result of the month, and the season, was My Girl Anna's victory at Navan on 19th October. Advised as the first 3 pt (maximum strength) bet of the season she got the job done at advised odds of 10/1 and contributed heavily towards a month that ended in +15.73 pts profit (+56 % yield).
The only other 3 pt bet of 2011, Carragold, also came close to landing a big return in November, but after committing for home too early at Nottingham under rider Duran Fentiman, was headed in the final strides and had to be content with second, a large profit swing going against us in the process as we would have been 9 pts better off had he held on. However, despite a bad run from ante-post gamble Pekan Star (12/1 advised, into 13/2 SP) the season ended on a high note with Sugar Beet landing a strongly fancied win at 9/1 and Lockantanks following up (5/1) shortly after for another decent win. The end of season stats (1st March to 30th November) were thus:
Total Pts Staked: 301.33
Total Profit: +53.2
Seasonal ROI: +18 %
