CHANGE OF EMPHASIS
Week 11 to June 5
ACOLLECTION of small losses were mostly offset by Manndar, the one big bet of the week. He’d won with a ton in hand at Bath three weeks earlier but the full strength of the performance wasn’t clear at the time. In the 24 hours before his run on Saturday, the second and fourth from Bath both came out and recorded markedly improved figures. Had this happened earlier in the week, I suspect that Manndar would have opened at maybe 1-2 for a Listed race at Newmarket. As it was, he was available at even money, and I staked nearly £20,000.
Weekly total: -£1,736.93
Running profit: £336,258.21
Week 12 to June 12
A quiet, losing week between Epsom and Royal Ascot, when much of my time was taken up with research projects. I was keen on Regal Song and Petarga, a pair of sprinters who had shown enough to suggest they would win in their grade; unfortunately, they didn’t. I recorded losses of £6,758 and £4,850.50, and closed the week’s figures on Saturday afternoon before beginning preparations for Royal Ascot. Each week has to have a cut-off point at which balances are agreed with all the agents.
Weekly total: -£12,411.35
Running profit: £323,846.86
Royal Ascot week, almost a year after I’d been forced underground. It proved some anniversary. The week’s figures below actually started on the previous Saturday evening, with a bigger result than anything I achieved at the royal meeting.
I’d received a whisper for Admirals Flame in a mile handicap at Leicester, and further inspection suggested he was one of very few in the race on a winning handicap mark. He looked like being a big price, but I needed a plan to get the money on in a small race on a quiet Saturday evening. If I moved at early prices the firms would immediately react to the hot money and the odds would tumble. I reckoned that as Admirals Flame was a veteran at eight, they would allow some reasonable bets on him once they had taken plenty of money for other runners, so I decided to leave it as late as I dared before showing my hand. It worked a treat. I managed to get around £3,500 each-way at 16-1 and the bets went on so late that the SP was unaffected. Betting in large amounts rarely goes quite as smoothly as it did that night, but it takes two to tango, of course, and Admirals Flame did his part by finishing with a flourish to land the spoils by a short head.
Four days at Royal Ascot produced losses. In most cases I was just supporting my judgement of the form without any huge edge, but I played in fair size as I’d been going so well. I had to wait until what was then the Ascot Heath meeting on Saturday, when the clothes horses took a back seat, before striking a blow in a Listed contest with Holly Blue. Although the £17,594 winnings weren’t huge by my standards, it was an early race and I’d used Holly Blue to kick off various doubles with four other horses – one of whom, Pips Magic, connected at the morning price of 14-1. The double won a little over £30,000, which gave me a healthy surplus from the week’s trading bets.
There was also a substantial loser to end the week. Pressurise had looked progressive the year before and, with a very good word that he was ready first time out in a two-mile handicap, I went in. He finished third.
Weekly total: £85,732.28
Running profit: £409,579.14
Week 14 to June 27
The end of Ascot week prompted a vital change of emphasis. My confidence was now sky high, but I felt increasingly exhausted and woefully short of sleep. I knew I had to slacken the pace. Wall to wall racing in high summer, seven days a week, had become too much for me to analyse closely. The solution was to set a cut-off point based on the distance of races, and from now on I’d only work in the fullest detail on races of a mile or shorter. I’d still have mountains of homework, but I’d take a few hours off here and there. Hardly slacking, mind.
Although the next three months would still see me studying harder than at any time outside 1999, the Monday of week 14 marked the end of the most intense period of work I’ll ever achieve. I’d channelled my anger to produce a workrate that I couldn’t sustain again – nor would I wish to.
I used some of the spare time to enjoy involvement as an owner. Before 1999, I’d owned parts of three horses. Now, in partnership with Tim Watts and some smaller shareholders, I dipped my toe in again with a two-year-old by Prince Sabo in training with Tim Easterby. Tim was keen to promote the Pertemps brand so I decided to choose a name for the colt that included his company name.
At the time, Bill McClymont was one of my top two agents, responsible for running our main account’s spreadsheet. He was just a shade tubby in those days and had made the mistake of adopting the title of controller, which I soon pointed out made him The Fat Controller, or FC for short. Bill had a share of the new horse and I told him the name was to be Pertemps Professional. It wasn’t until the day of his debut that Bill found out Pertemps FC was named after him.
A busy weekend saw a win for the biggest bet of the week in Fez, who had impressed me with her victory at Redcar a week or so earlier and netted me £16,335. Win some, lose some. Selfish had looked very well handicapped at Newmarket and I invested £7,152.50. She looked sure to win until weakening close home and going under by a head.
Weekly total: £16,922.65
Running profit: £426,501.79
Week 15 to July 3
An uneventful week, with the smallest number of trading bets for some time. Bandanna was the closest thing to a big result. I thought her run at Ascot the time before was a little underrated and she was a decent second at Sandown at 20-1.
Weekly total: -£8,814.06
Running profit: £417,687.73
Week 16 to July 10
The July meeting at Newmarket began on Tuesday, and the previous day I tried and failed to set up a big ante-post touch. Grangeville had gone near the top of my ‘interesting’ list at Sandown a month earlier. Unusually for him, Kieren Fallon had made far too much use of Grangeville that day, and I was sure that he could have won with a better-timed challenge. Monday’s paper carried the first ante-post betting for Thursday’s Bunbury Cup. Grangeville was as big as 12-1, which looked huge to me, but his price was falling even before my agents started to move. I wasn’t the only one who thought the bookmakers had got it wrong.
I ended up with a disappointingly small stake of £3,161 on Grangeville at 10-1 and 12-1. In one of the season’s most competitive handicaps, I had hoped for much more, and on the day the price available wasn’t big enough for me. Despite my netting a tidy profit it was a little frustrating to see him win comfortably under Fallon, as a potentially huge touch had slipped away. It wasn’t the last I’d hear of Grangeville.
Weekly total: £22,214.15
Running profit: £439,901.88
Week 17 to July 17
A quiet week until Saturday. River Times looked to be quite favourably treated in the mile handicap at Newmarket, but there was a twist. The race had little obvious early pace, and River Times was suited by racing close to the leaders. I spoke to his trainer Tim Easterby and suggested it might be a race he could steal from the front. The plan worked to perfection; River Times – 16-1 in places in the morning and backed to win £38,335 – landed a little tickle, returning at 9-1 .
At the time, it all seemed a bit too easy. The prospect of expanding into racehorse ownership had the added bonus that most trainers were far too busy to research races and plan tactics in great detail. My ability to point them in the right direction on a few occasions would surely prove invaluable. I was to enjoy many successes as an owner and make serious profits, although it doesn’t always prove as simple as it did in 1999. It’s one thing for a trainer to see that a plan makes sense, but often quite another for him to convince the man in the saddle of its merits. Even if a rider agrees with his instructions, you still need him to remember his orders if they are given in advance.
That afternoon, I went for a huge touch on Seraphina in the Newbury Super Sprint. In an extremely strong betting heat I managed to stake more than £6,000 to win and some place as well, mostly at 33-1, and stood to win a fraction over £200,000. It was disappointing when she trailed in tenth, but I was more disappointed a month later when she was beaten only a neck, at 66-1, in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at York. On that showing, she would have won comfortably at Newbury.
Weekly total: £35,758.30
Running profit: £475,660.18
Week 18 to July 24
The week started with a sizeable loser. Alegria had run well in much better grade at York and I thought she had found an easy race at Yarmouth. I went for a touch at 4-1 and 9-2, but she cost me £16,284 as the race turned into a tactical affair that did not suit her. This was to prove doubly costly, as she convinced me that she would win next time granted a better pace. That wasn’t to be the case either. Oh well.
Meanwhile, Pertemps FC had had three races. He had been mildly fancied on his third start at Newcastle, when I’d placed a bet of £2,000, but he ran badly, seeming to resent wearing blinkers. However, a subsequent visit to Tim Easterby’s stables at Great Habton told a different story. In a home gallop without blinkers, Pertemps FC had easily beaten three stablemates, two of them winners. Tim had only recently taken over the licence from his father Peter, who was with us at the top of the gallop. He doesn’t offer his opinions lightly, so when he said, “That’s t’best he’s worked all year, that”, I knew we’d be going for a punt.
Pertemps FC was entered for a seller at Newcastle on the Saturday. Although a few people knew about my connection with Pertemps, I needed to be at the course to impress on our jockey Kevin Darley that he should race as close to the stands’ rail as he could manage, to make best use of the considerable draw bias at the time. Kevin needed to work his way across from his draw, six off the rail.
My first priority at Newcastle was to make arrangements for the Oilman to place a couple of bets for me at Ascot. Zucchero was running there in a ladies’ handicap only five minutes after Pertemps FC’s race, and I felt he was well ahead of the handicapper after an impressive win a week earlier. With my agents likely to be busy, I gave the Oilman my bet of £8,500, which made my total stake on the race £10,000 after a trading bet earlier in the day. The Oilman managed to average 6-1 as Zucchero was backed from 7-1 to 3-1 before being pipped by a short head.
At Newcastle, I needed to combine placing the business on Pertemps FC with making sure I got my instructions across to Kevin. I was in the parade ring with a mobile at each ear, trying not to attract too much attention. Fortunately, the huge crowd covered the view of the parade ring from the nearby bookmakers. I was going full steam on the phones when he appeared, whereupon I suddenly yelled “hold on!” into both mobiles before putting them down to my side.
Later, I was to learn that giving riding instructions required a combination of firmness and courtesy. Jockeys are used to owners who say plenty but know very little about racing, let alone riding tactics. But I was new to this, the adrenaline was pumping and I needed to return to the phones in seconds to complete the business. I’m afraid I must have come across like a sergeant major. Sorry, Kevin.
“Right. You need to miss the break, just a touch, so that you can switch straight across to the stands’ rail. WHATEVER HAPPENS make sure you get on that rail. Then STAY ON THE RAIL. Do not under ANY circumstances come off the rail unless it’s inside the final furlong.”
Kevin looked a little startled, but a firm nod from Tim Easterby was enough to convince him that he should take notice rather than write me off as a lunatic owner. To his credit, Kevin carried out the instructions to the letter. The betting was a little shambolic, though, with one or two mishaps between agents causing some heated words afterwards. Total winnings of just over £30,000 were disappointing after so much work had gone into the planning.
Back home the next day, I was keen to play at Ascot, where the draw bias was again favouring racing against the stands’ rail. Draw biases were much more significant then than now, thanks to improvements in both the techniques and equipment for watering. I fancied Frankie Dettori’s mount Cretan Gift quite strongly in the sprint handicap from his favourable position in stall two, and in a strong market got plenty of cash on at 11-1 and 10-1. Frankie was well versed in the value of staying on the rail at Ascot at the time and he swooped through on Cretan Gift to win well.
For the second time, I enjoyed a winning week of almost exactly £100,000. On this occasion it was no coincidence, as I had a couple of bets planned late on Sunday afternoon but, having updated my figures, decided to leave them alone to preserve the six-figure win. I felt it would give me even more confidence going into Goodwood week. It proved a lucky move as I saved £4,000 when both horses lost, but in truth I seriously look down on this sort of profit watching, as betting decisions need to be taken purely on their merits.
Weekly total: £100,134.71
Running profit: +£575,794.89