Angel fools

On Sunday, I had my worst-ever day gambling on the horses. I should have known as early as the first race, as the short-priced favourite I had backed fell at the final fence when a long way ahead of its rivals, leaving the race to a horse that I had laid.

I’ve been trialling some new software, Bet Angel, which is a complex ‘betting bot’ that should make it easier to make a profit from my betting. But it has so many features, that it is easy to forget to cancel a bet or press the wrong button. This is exactly what happened to me on the second race of the day – and my fast-diminishing funds took another hit.

I was only 10 minutes into the afternoon’s racing and I was already £60. In an attempt to claw back some money, I started blindly backing favourites. It was soon clear that it was going to be a day which would be dominated by outsiders (to put things into perspective, Templegate, The Sun’s acclaimed tipster, had only one winner from 19 selections).

I was more than £100 down when I made my customary shocking decision. I laid a horse, which was running poorly, at 30.0 to lose £240. Within a minute, it looked as fresh as the proverbial daisy and was in third place, and going better than any of its rivals, with thee fences left to jump. I couldn’t risk losing £240, so quickly had £85 on it at 3.0. Of course, only seconds later it was struggling again, and finished third. If I’d had done nothing, I would have made £8 on the race. Instead, I had lost £85.

Now facing a deficit of almost £200, I started increasing my stakes on the favourites. But I just couldn’t back a winner – my run of luck was incredible. This was the fate of the horses that started at 5/2 or shorter during the course of the afternoon: 1/3 first, 4/9 unplaced, 4/6 second, 4/5 first, 5/6 unplaced, 5/6 second, 9/10 unplaced, 10/11 first, Evens unplaced, 11/10 third, 5/4 third, 6/4 second, 6/4 third, 6/4 unplaced, 13/8 first, 13/8 first, 15/8 dead-heat first, 2/1 first, 2/1 second, 5/2 third, 5/2 unplaced and 5/2 unplaced. If you had placed a £20 bet on each of these (and I did on all the losers – of course, overlooking a couple of the winners), you would have lost £135.

The afternoon reached a nadir with the 4.55 at Leopardstown. I had read in the morning that a horse called Indian Ridge was being heavily backed. As this is usually a good sign, I had £20 on it. By the time the race had started, it was favourite. But the jockey settled the horse near the back of the field, and as the leaders rounded the home turn, Indian Ridge was about 30 lengths off the pace. In desperation to recoup a few quid, I identified a horse near the back of the field with less chance of winning than my selection. So I laid it for £3 at 26.0. A combination of my hastiness and the poor camera angle, however, meant that instead of taking a bet on a horse whose jockey was wearing yellow-and-blue silks and a stripy hat, I had taken a bet on a horse whose jockey was wearing yellow-and-blue silks and a spotted cap. Of course, the horse I had laid, Majestic, was in second place and within a couple of seconds had raced into an unassailable. Suddenly, Indian Ridge appeared on the scene and chased Majestic all the way to the line. It got within half a length and would have won if the race had been 50 yards longer – or the incompetent jockey had started his run a split-second earlier. If Indian Ridge had won, I would have made £80 on the race. But as Majestic held on, I had lost £85. Quite a difference.

I should have clawed a significant amount back on the final race of the day. But, as usual, I made the wrong decision. I was felling somewhat reckless and decided to back the three shortest-priced horses in the race for a total of £60. Halfway through the race, all three were running fine. Then one of my horses fell, bringing down another. So I had one chance left – and if that didn’t win, I would lose another £60.

Now when I have laid a horse and it moves into the lead, I rarely back at the vastly reduced odds on offer. I just cross my fingers that something will beat it because if I do back it and it fails to win, I have still lost a lot of money. Whereas if it fails to win, as I originally anticipated, I make a profit. But with the boot on the other foot, and my one remaining runner contesting the lead, I decided to lay it for £60. Within a second of me placing the bet, it had pulled clear of the field, and was never in danger of not running. My decision meant that rather than winning £110, I won only £40. Of course, if it had been beaten, rather than losing £60, I would have won £5.

Why is that I always take out insurance on a selection when I needn’t have, and do nothing, when I should be doing something? Another hideous afternoon – and a loss of £280. When is this run of luck going to change?