Last week, Kitty’s brought light, Welsh football gave us a kicking, Ffos Las gave us a sweat, Chepstow told us we’re not as clever as we think we are, and a point-to-point reminded us we’re still living with the scars of Covid.
Let’s start with Sandown and Kitty’s Light. Words can’t describe how happy I was for this little horse to win once more for Christian Williams and his family.
I won’t go over it again as last weeks Dragon’s Mouth covered the story, but you can take comfort in the fact that a horse can show so much fight and you know the family will be showing even more.
The victory was once again ‘For Betsy’ and what a victory it was.
The football kicking came as a result of us offering early odds on the Welsh Blood Service National Cup Final between Colwyn Bay and Barry Town.
It’s a policy of ours to try to always offer the best service, coverage and odds on Welsh sport and events – be that Gerwyn Price to win the darts, Mark Williams to win whatever snooker tournament he’s playing, or whatever Welsh football and rugby is going ahead through the week.
Getting a hammering is the risk we take and one that, this week we got.
As soon as we put the odds up we had a huge amount of bets for Barry Town. The odds were shortened and the bets kept coming.
We eventually had to suspend the market before finding out that Colwyn Bay were sending their development team. Something to do with a fixture date mix-up, apparently.
Barry duly won 6-0, so there’s quite a few people enjoying a drink or three on us this weekend. Enjoy it, lads, and fair play to you.
The Ffos sweat came as a result of a big bet each way on a horse called Stan’s the Man on Tuesday.
Ffos Las isn’t usually the place for big wagers, but decent bets are what we’re in the game for and another policy of ours is to always ensure that a fair bet is laid.
We ended up standing it for well into five figures, but approaching the last it was pretty clear we were going to do our money.
However, as the saying goes, fortune favours the brave and Stan’s the Man made a horrendous mistake almost unseating the rider.
He finished second and although we had to pay out on the each way part of the bet we know it was one we got away with.
Keep an eye out for him next time as he is well worth putting in your notebooks.
Friday saw us standing at the final jumps meeting of the year at Chepstow, with the feature race being the Dunraven Bowl.
It’s the ‘Gold Cup’ of Welsh point-to-pointing and a race I look forward to all year.
Being a point-to-point bookie, and a Welsh one at that, you’d think I’d have a better insight into the horses than most.
For me, the favourite, First Preference, should have been a 1/2 shot and I wasn’t shy in telling anyone who’d listen.
He opened at 4/5, so I bet him. He then went evens, so I bet him again. Long story short, he jumped like a bag of spuds and was soundly beat, leaving me with egg on my face and a hole in my pocket.
Saturday was hugely enjoyable and, thankfully for me, a profitable day at Bonvilston Point-to-Point on the outskirts of Cardiff.
I took really good money including a few thousand pound bets and even more £500’s.
The worry was the lack of runners with a few owners I spoke to saying that Covid just got them out of the routine and that they are now reluctant to get back in.
For the good of Welsh racing, I hope they come back sooner rather than later or we risk losing the rich breeding ground that these events are.
So, onto this weekend and the start of the classics on the flat. I’ve got no opinion just yet on the likely winners of the 1000 or 2000 Guinneas, but I’m looking forward to seeing what action we have on site because we’re ready for the fight.
Pob lwc if you fancy one yourself. Thanks for reading, and, as always, thanks for betting with DragonBet.
