Week-end racing summary and weekly results

For a fleeting moment yesterday I thought I had been blessed with the Golden Goose of horse racing....

As usual the Redd family sat down to watch the National, just like millions around the country. Similar to hundreds of thousands of punters and once-a-year bettors we each had our bets on a horse thundering round the Aintree course (in fact we each had a pound on two horses, placed at Coral's in Tring that morning). After going through the form and evaluating the weights and prices, I decided my choices would be Simon and Royal Auclair (BOTH fell at Valentines!). My wife decided to lend her support to Tony McCoy in the hope he would at last steer home a Grand National winner, but again this year it was not to be. Her second choice was Hedgehunter, because she loves it when the crowd sings of the jockey Mr Walsh "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby!" a la Kaiser Chiefs when he wins(?)

Now I kid you not, and I would like to know anyone's opinion of the likely odds, these were the choices of my boys: Wes (age 6) Idle Talk and McKelvey, Daniel (age 4) Numbersixvalverde and Silver Birch, and Scott (age 22 months) Slim Pickings and Longshanks.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will see that as a family we had the first three (should have gone each way, I know!) More remarkable was that Daniel also picked Numbersixvalverde last year for two National winners in-a-row!

So look out for the Redd Boys' tips next year.

As for me, I had four win bets, but produced a tantalising three runners-up and a third. Good, but not good enough, and the records will still show 4 losing bets.

My only lay bet of the day was successful as I saw Detroit City overturned. So, in all a loss of 3 points on Saturday.

Today I advanced the Win Bet account forwards once again with two bets, and a well-priced winner in Presenting Alf which was available at winning odds of 17/2 on Betfair.

My suggested horse to oppose was Palomar, the morning favourite for the novice hurdle at Kelso. He had run only once over hurdles, with a disappointing run in a class 5 maiden. Today he was stepping up in class. His short price was based upon his form in class 1 and 2 handicaps on the flat, but I felt he was not going to translate this form to jumping obstacles. He finished over 20 lengths behind the winner and gained me a point profit.

On the Back-To-Win account this week I think I have managed to turn the corner and move out of a period of disappointing results. I have added over 20 points profit, and I shall be looking to consolidate these gains again this coming week. The Lay Bets have performed equally as well, with 8 successful bets from 8 and more than 19 points to add to last week's gains of 20 points profit.

Profit for the week :- Win Bets 20pts, Lay Bets 19.5pts