Tuesday 30 June 2015

The Ashes 2015 - prepare for another over-hyped series

As u get older, u have experienced more, and sporting things, tend to become less relevant, and certainly, less exciting, than, when they were first enjoyed.



After the pleasure of watching England and New Zealand play cricket, in a sense of enjoyment, rather, than purely trying to win, am preparing myself for the shit-storm,that will no doubt hit, when Australia play England in their back-yard.

Series betting is as follows :

England to Win ..5.5

Australia to win 1.40

Drawn Series ..9.0

England are a work-in-progress type team, with some pretty tired bowlers, but, they generally, have been v hard to beat at home. Australia to win 5-0, are only 13/1, which, to me, is an insane price, given the prices for the first test in Cardiff are :

England  4.5

Australia  2.06

Draw 3.55

I would advise a maximum lay of Aus to  win 5-0, but, it involves tying up a decent chunk of your bank, for 5 weeks or so.

I think Aus are a little over-rated, and have laid the 1.40, for Aus to win the series.




Sunday 21 June 2015

Royal Ascot - This is the life ...

So, I cracked an invite to a box at Royal Ascot, Day 4.

This is a big deal .. u need to wear a suit/tie/decent shoes .. which, takes some preparation, and then try to actually get there, as the other 60-70k people, are also trying to reach a similar destination, at roughly the same time.

Ascot has been re-built/modernised, over the last 6 yrs, and, its still the biggest wind-tunnel in the world - (not my fav racecourse), but, as I say, a box is a box, and some yrs, having worked in the silver rings, thought it would be nice, to have a day off, and watch from the good seats.

We set-off, for the 1hr 45 min journey, 4 hr 30 mins, before the first race - I wanted to talk to my host etc, and we know all the short-cuts in to the track, so, traffic was unlikely  to be a major problem.

Unfortunately, 30 mins from the track, the motorway, was gridlocked .. an accident up ahead, caused a 90 min delay ... not fun :



 Anyway, we finally got to the track, 20 mins before the first race, and walked into the box, that was absolutely rammed with people, listening to John Mccricick, talk/tip the assembled throng through the card. He was v good .. my host doesn't spare any expense, but, am a trifle uneasy, about all the money he spends promoting his business.

Anyway, had a quick selfie with John, the food had largely been scoffed, so, we had some left-overs, and ambled down to the ring.

I say ambled, the place is rammed, u can barely move :



Looking from the outside in, its hard to say, if Ascot during Royal Ascot week, is a place with racing and people meet, or, just a place people meet, which happens to have some racing going on.

Bookmakers have to purchase a 'right' to bet at this course, just for those 5 days. The best pitch, is about £150k, for which u get the right to bet, for 40 yrs, (thou u still have to pay the racecourse about £5k per yr, ontop) - a middle of the road right, might cost £6k.

The expenses of betting, with staff etc, mean the bookies have to bet to a decent margin to win .. I have always found it unfair, the number 1 right, pays the racecourse the same, as the worst right .. obviously, trap 1, will hold, probably 50x as much, as the guy betting in trap 100 .. but, the Trap 1 right holder will say, he has invested £150k .. which holds some merit - but, I still feel, its a bit inequitable - I would prefer a sliding scale.

Anyway, we looked at the overall business for 2 races, and decided the place was just too packed, to be anything remotely like fun, and decided to leave.

I am not sure if its worth buying a lower number to actually bet, during these 5 days. Its a lot of work .. sure, if u invest £10k, u might be guaranteed £4k per yr - but, u need to organise a LOT, to achieve this.