New Year's Day racing summary

A Happy New Year to everybody!

A good deal of opportunities to back horses today, but my win bets turned in a loss of just under 2 points. Six qualifying bets but just the one winner, Poker De Savola available at 10/3 on Betfair.

I am still showing good form with my lay bets: Open De L'Isle was stepping up in class, and running in handicap company for the first time. In theory, each horse has an equal chance in a handicap race, and so by definition the favourite must represent poor value for backers, and good value for those laying bets. The horse never made any impression on the race and wound up sixth.

My second lay bet was Beare Necessities in the Class 2 handicap hurdle at Cheltenham. I wanted to oppose this horse because, as with Open De L'Isle, he was trying to win in a class in which he has never won before. He was the morning favourite and available to lay on Betfair for just 13/8 before drifting out to a starting price of 11/4

So by the end of the afternoon my two successful lay bets had recouped my losses from my win bets.