As the greatest show on earth is upon us, and my bundle is primed to do battle with the old enemy the bookie, may I pass on some words of financial wisdom to the big hitters and the smaller investors alike
Over four days next week an estimated £600 Million will be wagered on the 27 races that make up the Cheltenham festival .The days of Mr McManus visiting the betting ring may be over but with off course betting likely to make up 80% of the business the figure could easily exceed £1 billon and I intend to make some of it mine.
It is with age and experience that one learns betting for profit is a long term strategy and gaining any advantage to do this should be sought out which often requires hard work and research

With bookmakers facing evermore competition many of them will offer concessions such as paying ew to 5 places on selected races and MONEY BACK on win and ew singles if the favourite wins the first race on Tuesday. These concessions can make the difference between profit and loss and should not be viewed as a gimmick but as a sensible investment to the punter who has taken advantage of them. It is worth mentioning that to take advantage of all the concessions on offer I have set up accounts with most of the leading bookmaker s and was often rewarded with a FREE BET for my trouble. I take the view if I have many accounts then I am able to pick out any value and keep my bookmakers eager to pursue my business.

Without doubt many punters next week will be holding antepost tickets at if not big but nice prices. Master minded was chalked up at 5-2 for this years champion chase as it passed the winning post in the race last year and I remember thinking that’s a bit short The 1-3 on offer now makes 5-2 look massive and of course those of you lucky enough to be on should be able to lay it off.

Don’t listen to those let it ride lunatics, Lay! Lay! Lay! do the maths and lay off whenever you are in a good position it doesn’t make you chicken its chicken brained if you don’t. This can apply at Cheltenham on the day with in running betting . Consider my friend’s mistake I accompanied him to the New Years Day meeting at Cheltenham he was going to have one bet £400 on Franchoeck he took the 7-4 the horse jumped the last 3lenghs clear and with AP on top £700 profit looked assured.

The in running betting matched the horse as low as 1.14 and when it failed to stay up the hill finishing 3rd the cash was lost. My friend should have left a lay on it say at 1.5 We can all do the simple maths and let the in-running boys give us a little insurance against that most infamous battlefield that is the hill at Cheltenham