King’s Head was beaten fair and square by a decent looking animal. Prince Ary ran a stinker today and finished with quite a nasty cut on his leg. I’ve now had five second places and a couple of thirds since my last winner – roll on the flat season.

I was spectacularly bad today – all my fancied horses finished unplaced and the only horse I laid won. Not much to be said about that. King’s Head goes tomorrow. He’d like it a little firmer but he should go ok – I spoke to Gary today and he said that the horse works like a good ‘un and is …

I’ve rung around my various trainers to see if I could turn up anything. Nick Gifford has five going at Newbury today. I asked him about Latimer’s Place in the 2.25. The horse is getting on a bit. The ground is key (he needs it good) and he has that. He’s getting a bit old though and can sulk when …

At last a decent period of action on the horse front – I have runners on each of the next three days. Master of the Race goes on Saturday at Newbury in what looks to be a red hot novice. I had a long chat with Tom about him this morning – Tom was expecting a big run from him …

With Cheltenham now over I now have to honour my promise to my wife and give up smoking. I’ve been smoking solidly for 25 years so this may not be easy – still there’s nothing like a good challenge. Fortunately there are two others in Betfair who are giving up – Josh Apiafi and Martin Cruddace. Josh and Martin will …

Cheltenham drew to a close and I faced the horrible realisation that for the first time in my life I have gone through the meeting without finding a single winner. I didn’t bet in as many races as I normally do due to time constraints and I twice had the heartbreak of seeing my horse jump the last in a …

A busy day yesterday. Still no luck betting and heavily down for the week. I left early and drove over to Bimingham to pick up a puppy, then drove back home. I’ll make my way back to Cheltenham this morning for the final leg. I’ll take Degas Art to win the Triumph today, with a saver on Parrain. I’m on …

I’m in the Betfair tent now listening too all the gossip. The World Hurdle is the big one and I’ve heard a few views. BJK is not proving popular with the experts I’ve spoken to. Mighty Man seems to be the big Timeform fancy and there are a lot of good reasons to like him. I’ve been more influenced by …

It was a typically busy day at the course yesterday. I got there early and went to the Betfair marquee. We had a betting panel of four giving their views to our guests. Harry Findlay, part owner of Denman, appeared impromptu in the box and got onto the stage – he spent about 15 minutes explaining why he thought Denman …

Not a great start to the week. I ended up with two large bets – one on Distant Thunder and one on Straw Bear. The Bear was going like a good ‘un when he burst a blood vessel – he trotted in after the race with blood pouring from his nose. I was with Nick in the early afternoon and …