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Your Favourite Uncle Smart Arse's Unofficial Blog

Seen as you frequent tesco their red pepper hummus is quite nice. If you like a little spice they also do a posher Jalepeno one with a lady's name on it which escapes me now but thats rather nice also.

It came to me....Ramona's.
 
Danny said:
Seen as you frequent tesco their red pepper hummus is quite nice. If you like a little spice they also do a posher Jalepeno one with a lady's name on it which escapes me now but thats rather nice also.

It came to me....Ramona's.
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I sure do - thank you.

Another YFUSA tight-arse special is perusing online menus for recipe ideas without ever making a purchase off said menu.

I was browsing a Chef & Brewer chain menu the other night and, among the starters, was toasted cheese sandwich with caramelised red onion chutney for the thick end of a tenner.

I can get all that at Tesco for a fraction of the price - it's only a small money saving, but it feels like getting 9/4 about a 7/4 chance!
 
Funny old day yesterday - Cesarewitch was no good, lost on Pendragon ante-post, managed to burgle 16s Reverend Hubert after he won the Trial but, though heavily backed, he only finished fifth.

Had a banging winner in the States, though, so all's well that ends well.

The extra mature cheddar toasties with the caramelised red onion chutney were sublime!
 
Earlier this evening I paid my bi-annual visit to my personal psychiatrist, Dr Sigmund "Valsverth" Freud of Vienna (now operating in Hertfordshire).

After checking my narcissism level was still at its customary "off the scale," the good doctor asked me what most annoyed me in this world: climate change, the situation in the Middle East, the Ukrainian/Russian War, or Slim referring to big races and big meetings by the sponsors' name?

My answer was predictable, apparently.
 
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Ian_Davies said:
Earlier this evening I paid my bi-annual visit to my personal psychiatrist, Dr Sigmumd "Valsverth" Freud of Vienna (now operating in Hertfordshire).

After checking my narcissism level was still at its customary "off the scale," the good doctor asked me what most annoyed me in this world: climate change, the situation in the Middle East, the Ukrainian/Russian War, or Slim referring to big races and big meetings by the sponsors' name?

My answer was predictable, apparently.
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Make sure you get the correct diagnosis.

If he's working for the NHS you've only got 3 years to sue him.

Something along these lines happend to myself back in the day.

By the time I got released from the asylum it was too late to sue. 😂👍
 
I've got one for Carlisle on Thursday and one for the Abbot on Saturday.

"Excited" doesn't even come close to how I feel about this.

In other news, I've decided to do more cooking.

I'm too tight to give (in all probability, Tory) restaurateurs my money, I love food and I can actually cook, so it's the way forward.

It's my ambition to be the fattest lapsed socialist (I'm not actually that left wing anymore either) in Hampshire - it's good to have life targets.
 
I do recall saying I couldn't have Scandinavia beat the St Leger last month, but that was on a thread that bore less of a resemblance to Johannesburg on a bad night.
 
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I've noticed that every now and then Danny almost dares me to put up a horse on the "Will Win" thread.

Is it gutlessness that obviates the possibility of this ever happening?

Actually, it isn't.

I think it's a cracking, edgy, thread.

But it's not how I bet or view betting.

Maybe it's because I don't need to win every day to eat, but I prefer value and the concomitant "wait between drinks" as a strategy.

Literally any horse can get beat - had something wrong with it, bad ride, act of God, you all know the score.

I didn't ever fall for what I saw as the Mark Coton "myth" during our time at the Racing Post but, one thing that did made me smile as he strode around the office, holding forth to anyone who would listen, was: "Don't fall into the trap of trying to back the winner."

It was a mantra he didn't stick to himself - he had a man in Dick Hern's yard and lumped on Hern horses like they couldn't get beat - all the time, but I liked it nonetheless.

I don't stick religiously either, but I don't mind backing ten losers if the 11th bet wins at 14/1.

Anyway, the first of the duo who interests me is weak in the market, I want the top of the prices about it and I'll name it once I'm on or at post time - whichever occurs first!
 
The horse that interests me today is currently 14/1 with the books, 23 to small money on a thus-far illiquid machine win market and may yet get bigger.

At first glance it's a thoroughly exposed 10yo and vulnerable to bumping into a progressive younger rival.

But it won off 92 over 3m at Perth in July and it's run off 2m5f at Kelso last time gives me cause for hope.

It was 2½ lengths behind today's favourite - and no better off - but a couple of things give me hope.

Firstly, his shrewd trainer Lisa Williamson booked Rian Corcoran, who travelled all the way from the west country for that one ride and the horse was backed.

Corcoran reported the horse was never travelling - it didn't look that way to me, Corcoran is capable but I might he may have misjudged his instructions and given Dalileo (3.45 Carlisle) too much to do.

He gave a similar ride to a horse at Worcester yesterday - he rode 23 Point winners last season and is a young rider with a future, but they make mistakes along the way as they learn.

Regular rider Peter Kavanagh is back on today.

If you're a "jam today" sort of punter, bets like this are not for you.

But if you've got the patience of a saint it's bets like this where you can get ahead - and stay ahead - in the long run in my experience.
 
Ran alright (probably needs to return to 3m where it might still have a race in it) and, with the books paying four and even five places, a bit of jam today after all for anyone who bet it on the each-way or win and place.

The other one has been declared and I'll talk about it tomorrow.
 
Ian_Davies said:
Ran alright (probably needs to return to 3m where it might still have a race in it) and, with the books paying four and even five places, a bit of jam today after all for anyone who bet it on the each-way or win and place.

The other one has been declared and I'll talk about it tomorrow.
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Thanks Ian I had a little ew and it was a good drift as well.
Certainly needs a bit further.
 
I backed Dalileo today, too ( only watched the race because Adam had two runners and I always back them). Was top rated on the WHill page and I was quite hopeful of a good run. Bit painful that he finished 4th at such a good price on top of Top Flight Century not getting his head in front. (I’ve just remembered it hit 100/1 in running and I was tempted to put one of my 3 penny bets on it albeit wishing that I could bet it to place…)
 
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Lock Out 2.54 Newton Abbot, currently best-priced @ 7/2 with Bet365, is the other one.

He goes well fresh, won first time out last season after a similar break, he's only a pound higher now and Rian Concoran can claim 10lb because he rides for his retained yard.

A 3m2f Chase round "The Abbot" should be right up the lad's street - he rode 23 winners in Points last season - and if he has the horse right at its fences that 10lb is worth 12 lengths at the trip.

I can see why the favourite is market leader, but I actually think Lock Out has every bit as much chance, if not more.
 
Ian_Davies said:
Lock Out 2.54 Newton Abbot, currently best-priced @ 7/2 with Bet365, is the other one.

He goes well fresh, won first time out last season after a similar break, he's only a pound higher now and Rian Concoran can claim 10lb because he rides for his retained yard.

A 3m2f Chase round "The Abbot" should be right up the lad's street - he rode 23 winners in Points last season - and if he has the horse right at its fences that 10lb is worth 12 lengths at the trip.

I can see why the favourite is market leader, but I actually think Lock Out has every bit as much chance, if not more.
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Jack Tudor is already provisionally booked to ride Lock Out in the 4:15 race at Fontwell next Thursday( the23rd ) which is another three and a quarter mile handicap chase. If he wins today the freshness aspect won't apply for that race, but I think that wins in conditional jockeys' races do not incur a penalty.
 
Well, that was some day.

I don't normally bet at short odds, but when you make a horse about threes on and it's nearly evens you have to have a bet.

Love Trawlerman - genuine stayer who gets every inch of 2m4f.

Kalpana at 3/1 on Friday was a good bet to have had too, but both these winners just funded the losing Ascot bets, really.

Lazzat had looked a fair bet to me at 4/1 on Friday and got touched off at much shorter, and the QEII and the Balmoral were no good.

I did win on the Champion Stakes, though only thanks to a Kalpana/Calandagan related contingency King George form double.

These are such good value bets when they come along - Gstaad/True Love at Royal Ascot was another - and they're a form of related contingency the bookies can't swerve laying.

Newton Abbot didn't go according to plan - the horse got bet alright, but was never going that well and, tbh, though it was never going to win, while he presented at its fences well enough for the most part, I thought Corcoran showed the least nous out of every Conditional in the contest and he's still got a fair bit to learn.

Oh and yes, obviously I hope he's alright after his fall - I hope everyone is alright after every fall - do we really now live in an age where we have to virtue signal and say/write stuff like that every single time?

Managed to win on the AW and a bit more fiddling about doing some other things, so it wasn't too bad a day in the end.

Had some very nice breaded calamari with garlic mayo for supper - I know how to live!
 
It's actually been the best lazy Sunday I've had in ages.

So, what do the next two weeks hold?

Next Saturday, it's the Futurity at Doncaster, the Horris Hill, Radley and St Simon at Newbury, decent Jumps racing at Cheltenham and the clocks go back.

The following week it's the countdown to the Breeders' Cup on the Friday and Saturday and I don't think I've ever looked forward to it quite as much as I do this year.
 
Thursday evening and I'm immersed in the weekend racing - I've already in the last 24 hours looked at nine races tomorrow and I am now looking at a further nine on Saturday.
 

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