HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME -- 30th APRIL 1969 - 2017

Another year older, and we're still alive and kicking (just).

So what to do? Well I always make sure I am never at work on my birthday and this year was to be no exception, booked some leave and enjoyed a fun few days out and about keeping busy. 

So we planned some days out for the rest of next week which begin with an annual day out on Wednesday to Ascot races, together with my big brother and few other faces. 

It's an annual event going racing for this meeting, usually a nice day out, plenty to see and do and we'll cover the racing side of things over on a separate post. 

Making plans for the rest of the week and on the agenda will be a day out to the sea, usually Brighton but if Southern trains are not behaving still perhaps we need to try somewhere else. 

Money has been a problem most of the year but as we have the week off to enjoy ourselves we will ensure we find somewhere to go out for the day. All being well am meeting a great friend of mine Ju's for lunch too and if the weather is nice then aim for some simple days out to either Windsor or Richmond if only to sit down by the riverside and relax which I think will be most welcome. 

As usual am not expecting any cards, gifts or surprises, it will just be another day and another week with a few days off to enjoy, relax and try hard not to keep thinking about all the mistakes I am making, that will have to wait for another day. Used to get a little something for myself on my birthday though right now I neither can afford one nor deserve one, so if I do something it will be small. 

What I do miss is my family, really going to feel all alone, I love all this bunch, we just don't do enough together now really. 

PONTEFRACT HORSE RACING SYSTEM -- 2017 TURF SEASON -- PART TWO

PONTEFRACT SEASON 2017

Monday 24th April 

Welcome to this our second meeting of the new season. 

Back again for the second meeting here in West Yorkshire for Pontefract Racecourse. There are usually 16 fixtures across the season on the turf this meeting and today will includes the second leg in the 2017 Stayers Championship which was won last season by RIPTIDE. We will look forward to getting underway on Monday where the first race will be off about 2.00pm.

As always we count ALL results for this meeting returned to a level stake at SP, and will also show any forecast results too in the daily results but these do not count for the profit / loss figures.

The forecast going is currently reported as 'Good, Good to firm in places' the weather for Monday afternoon is for a partly cloudy day with a forecast maximum temperature around the 11-12C mark, Might be a few showers around too so consider an umbrella, it'll surely improve throughout the spring and summer months. 

Here are our selections for the 8 races on Monday afternoon, remember it's a very simple selection process of stalls 1 and 2 in every race;

2:00 5f Novice Stakes (2yo).
(1) -- SINALOA [3rd 2/1F].
(2) -- PALMER [6th 3/1].

2:30 1m 4yds Handicap.

(1) -- MAGIC CITY [6th 11/2].
(2) -- RED TEA [WON 4/1].

3:05 5f Handicap.

(1) -- BURNT SUGAR [5th 12/1].

(2) -- EDWARD LEWIS [2nd 7/4F].

3:35 2m 5f 122yds Stayers Handicap.

(1) -- WATERCLOCK [4th 9/1].

(2) -- ROCK ON BOLLINSKI [8th 8/1].

4:10 6f Maiden.

(1) -- STAR CATCH [9th 5/4F].

(2) -- WILD ACCLAIM [2nd 10/1].

4:40 5f Handicap.

(1) -- JACK LUEY [3rd 4/1].

(2) -- GROUNDWORKER [7th 6/1].

5:10 1m 4yds Handicap (Div One).

(1) -- LUCY'S LAW [Non Runner].

(2) -- ALFRED RICHARDSON [WON 11/2].

5:40 1m 4yds Handicap (Div Two).

(1) -- CRITICAL THINKING [3rd 12/1].

(2) -- MISS BATES [4th 15/2].

Staked -- 16 points.

Returns -- 12.5 Points. (just 2 winners and a N/R today)

Alas a mixed start in the opening round with a couple of winners and several non runners, a small loss of -1.8 points to SP to carry forward here. Our results from today could have been bit better and another small loss of -3.5 so that's a running total of -5.3 lost. 

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 3rd May. Keep following us throughout the season.

2016/2017 LEAGUE ONE SEASON -- AFC WIMBLEDON vs PETERBOROUGH KO 3PM

This Easter Monday AFC Wimbledon host Peterborough United at Kingsmeadow in League One. The Posh currently stand 11th in the table, only three points ahead of the Dons who stand in 13th mid table obscurity as the season begins to draw to a close. A win today would certainly be welcome as we should then leapfrog our opponents and hopefully also put ourselves back above the smelly franchise outfit. 

The posh come here on the back of a Good Friday home defeat by promotion chasing Fleetwood. But they have a goalscorer of note in Craig Mackail-Smith and I fully expect goals in this contest. The Wombles are in 13th place, becoming safe in mid-table although recent results having been a bit in and out including last Friday's disappointing goalless draw at struggling Swindon. However for our first season in League One this sort of consolidation is fine and for me personally anything above the bottom four would be a wonderful season. 

Form guide (last six matches);

AFC Wimbledon -- DLLWLD
Peterborough United -- LLWWDD

Last meeting;
Peterborough United 0-1 AFC Wimbledon (Tom Elliott)

We shall update on Monday before kick off with the confirmed starting XI for both sides and any further news as it comes available. 

Line Ups (Confirmed);

  AFC WIMBLEDON 
  Odds -- 7/5 (William Hill) 

McDonnell (Gk),  Sibbick,  Charles,  Kelly,  Robinson (c),  Francomb,  Reeves,  Soares,  Barcham,  Taylor,  Barnett

Subs – Bursik (Gk), Bulman,  Nightingale,  Poleon,  Parrett,  Fitzpatrick,  Egan

PETERBOROUGH
Odds -- 17/10 (William Hill) 

McGee (GK),  Smith,  Bostwick,  Hughes,  Freestone,  Forrester,  Chettle,  Da Silva Lopes,  Maddison,  Nichols,  Mackail-Smith

  

Subs –  Tyler (Gk),  Taylor,  Inman,  Binnom-Williams,  Morias,  Borg,  Grant



H/T Score – 0 - 0.

First Half Comment;
Yawn. Not the greatest first half of football, does seem like the teams are already "on the beach" or had too much Easter fun. Only the one shot on target for each side so far, and a couple of bookings for the Dons so hopefully the second half improves.

F/T Score – 0 - 0.

Match Summary;
Oh well, that was shite, nothing to play for I know but two goalless draws in consecutive matches means there's no momentum going forward. Plus the franchise scum are back above us now.

My Man of the Match – Toby Sibbick, assured full debut for the 17 year old academy player, in a poor game he did well.

Referee -- Our Referee for this Easter Monday fixture will be Darren Handley.  A seasoned referee at this level, he's spent his season between League One and Two fairly consistent and doesn't seem to be too card happy either.

Attendance – 4,294.

Next match:
Saturday 22nd April vs Bradford City (Away) 

KEMPTON PARK RACES 2017 -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #11 12th APRIL

Our eleventh meeting of 2017 now here at Kempton and as the flat turf season has begun there are still plenty of Wednesday nights to be enjoyed. 

Dropped a couple of points last week however we still maintaining a small profit for the season to date and if we can keep progressing during a busy year that's fine. As things stand we are up +2.25 points to level stakes at SP. 

As always our focus will be on the handicap contests for each meeting but will occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too. Keeping records of our endeavours to a 1pt level stake at SP, naturally we will personally be looking to get better odds but for the purpose of the results we record to SP.

We will keep up with our occasional lay opportunities of short priced favourites too, once again will keep these results separately from the handicap figures. We managed to pick up a pair of successfully beaten favs last time so although we lost on the handicaps we clawed a little back with the lays and will continue with these keeping a separate tally throughout the year.

This week is our eleventh meeting for 2017 and we are expecting a seven race card tonight with five handicaps for us to delve into so we will be busy tonight. This evenings action will commence at 17:45 with a Class 6 handicap over a mile. 

Here's a link to this Wednesday's race card; 

EVENING RACECARD

The going on the polytrack surface is described as Standard once more and the current weather forecast is for a dry but cloudy day with a max temperature of about 14C when the meeting gets underway and looks likely to remain chilly throughout the evening.

Here are our selections for this evenings 5 handicap races;

17:45 -- 6f Handicap.
A dozen runners declared for our opening event, a handicap over 6f, recent winner SWENDAB might be popular but doesn't really have a profile for winning regularly and was only hanging on by a neck last time. 

Going for a pair against the field, top one SPELLMAKER [3rd 16/1] should go well at this trip and COMPTON PRINCE [2nd 9/1] won around here a few runs back. 

18:45 -- 1m 3f London Middle Distance Series Handicap (3yo).
Just a field of six declared for another round of the Middle Distance Series. Godolphin run two from different trainers and they look closely matched but I will take BIG CHALLENGE to beat ANDRASSY AVENUE. (Match bet won).

MONARCH'S GLEN [WON 7/4] will be popular with Dettori riding for John Gosden and the market will prove informative here. 

19:15 -- 7f Handicap (3yo).

Next up a handicap for three year olds only, we've a field of nine declared and plenty stepping into handicap company for the first time having come out of maidens and it's two of them we will take against the field. NETLEY ABBEY [5th 7/1] and PERLA BLANCA [4th 5/1] both hail from strong yards and look closely matched for this we will see how they fare in the market too but forecast is 12/1 each. 

20:15 -- 7f Handicap.

An intriguing race but one where GULLAND ROCK [3rd 8/1] has already done us a good turn and is priced generously so will be happy to side with that one again while it's in good form. 

There's possibilities of a strong run from CHETAN [6th 10/1] who has form on all the AW tracks in the south, and is drawn low so with a good jump from the stalls might be up there able to challenge. 

20:45 -- 1m Handicap.

The lucky last is a low grade affair with a field of 14. Top weight CAT ROYALE has a bit of experience on the AW surfaces away from here, and did win a mile contest at Windsor around this time last year, but could be tricky to catch right and top weight makes him vulnerable. 

MAGIC MIRROR [7th 9/2] is chasing a hat trick of wins here with victories in January and March, could still be improving this year and only up a few pounds, this level won't take much winning.

Staked -- 9 points.

Returns -- 2.75 points.

Dropped a couple of points last time and that left us with +2.25 point profit to carry over to tonight. Sadly only the one winner and several places. So a disappointing loss of 6.25 points which puts us behind -4.0 points overall. 

Still plenty of the season to come.

Lays -- Now stands as 4 from 7. 
No selections for tonight. 



We now have a few weeks off from the regular midweek AW meetings and as such will be back at this course on 24th May.

PONTEFRACT HORSE RACING SYSTEM -- 2017 TURF SEASON -- PART ONE

PONTEFRACT SEASON 2017

Tuesday 11th April 

Welcome to our opening meeting of this season. 

And we are back again for another season here in West Yorkshire for Pontefract Races. There are usually 16 fixtures across the season on the turf this meeting also includes the first leg in the 2017 Stayers Championship which was won last season by RIPTIDE. We will look forward to getting underway on Tuesday where the first race will be off about 2.10pm.

As always we count ALL results for this meeting returned to a level stake at SP, and will also show any forecast results too in the daily results but these do not count for the profit / loss figures.

The forecast going is currently reported as 'Good to Soft' the weather for Tuesday afternoon is for a partly cloudy day with a forecast maximum temperature around the 11-12C mark, Could be better I guess for April, it'll surely improve throughout the spring and summer months. 

Here are our selections for the 8 races on Tuesday afternoon, remember it's a very simple selection process of stalls 1 and 2 in every race;

2:10 1m 4yds Handicap (Div One).
(1) -- SUNNUA [5th 13/2].
(2) -- SHEARIAN [4th 16/1].

2:40 1m 4f 8yds Maiden (3yo).

(1) -- FULL TILT LAD [5th 33/1].
(2) -- MARQOOM [2nd 5/1].

3:10 6f Handicap (3yo).

(1) -- BRIAN THE SNAIL [WON 6/5F].
(2) -- CHIPPING [8th 8/1].

3:40 2m 1f 216yds Stayers Handicap.

(1) -- UNCLE BERNIE [WON 7/1].
(2) -- LA FRITILLAIRE [Non Runner].

4:10 1m 2f 6yds Handicap.

(1) -- EMPRESS ALI [Non Runner].
(2) -- MAGIC CIRCLE [Non Runner].

4:40 6f Fillies Maiden.

(1) -- INCENTIVE [5th 16/1].
(2) -- SUGAR BEACH [4th 8/1].

5:10 1m 4yds Handicap (Div Two).
(1) -- BUCKLAND BEAU [3rd 6/1].
(2) -- OFF ART [5th 5/2F].

5:40 1m 2f 6yds Apprentice Handicap.

(1) -- LE DELUGE [Non Runner].
(2) -- FRAMLEY GARTH [6th 14/1].

Staked -- 16 points.

Returns -- 14.2 Points (2 Winners, 4 N.R.)

Last season might have been a bit of a blowout compared to recent years, but we start the season with another clean slate, and results from today will be updated later on at the end of the meeting.

Sadly a small loss on our opening day, -1.8 points to SP. 

Our next meeting will be on Monday 24th April. 

Keep following us throughout the season. 

2017 AINTREE GRAND NATIONAL WINNER

And the winner is ... 


ONE FOR ARTHUR 14/1

2017 GRAND NATIONAL WINNER 

Congratulations to all involved with this famous Scottish winner. Jockey Derek Fox with a wonderful ride around this unique course. 

The first Scottish winner since Rubstic in 1979 and only the 4th female trained winner so well done to Lucinda Russell and Peter Scudamore too !

Pleased to add that ALL 40 runners came back safe and sound too.