Saturday, August 06, 2011
BETFAIR has long played a major part in Irish racing and there is little doubt is often a useful tool when it comes to winner finding.
Essentially, it is of limited use until say about ten minutes before each race and then can prove most informative.
There are those who follow Betfair blind and swear by it. If such a system works for you then fine.
I have, however, long held the belief that there are as many, if not more, mugs playing on the computer as there are in betting offices.
The only real difference is the ability of the computer mug to remain relatively anonymous, whereas everyone knows who the mug in the office is.
Such a thought process was prompted, again, with regard to the Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes at Leopardstown on Thursday night.
I fancied Dermot Weld’s Sense Of Purpose to go very close, knowing she would almost certainly make the running and prove hard to pass.
She’s as tough as teak, came into the contest in the form of her life and is in the care of a man who can just about walk on water right now.
But the way she travelled on Betfair was nothing short of astonishing. There were only five runners and one of them, Leceile, was a complete no-hoper.
Mount Athos had been running well in English handicaps but the form of the two races he had contested of late hadn’t worked out at all.
Marksmanship looked a good horse when winning his maiden at the Curragh, but then had been found wanting when stepped up in class on his next two outings.
That left Bob Le Beau, beaten a neck into second by Sense Of Purpose at Leopardstown previously.
You didn’t have to be any sort of mathematical genius to work out that wherever Bob Le Beau finished then Sense Of Purpose was entitled to be right alongside.
I settled down for the build-up to the contest and watched in astonishment as Sense Of Purpose got bigger and bigger in the betting.
She opened at 5-1 and soon drifted to 6’s, clearly fuelled by Betfair. If she was a massive price with the layers then that was nothing compared to what was going on with the machine.
Out she bounded and we wondered if the mare might have lost a leg on the way to the start!
By the time she left the stalls, Sense Of Purpose was available at 8.4, which was lunacy for those who wanted to lay her.
She did exactly as it said on the tin, set off in front and, under the most magical Pat Smullen drive, was never headed.
After that it was simply a case of forming an orderly queue in the battle to be paid! So what did the boys on Betfair think they knew that mere mortals clearly didn’t?
Also at Leopardstown, Weld must have been literally purring after a horse called Learn had won the opening maiden for juveniles.
We spoke here last week of that two-year-old maiden at Galway on the Monday night in which Weld’s Riviera Poet came late and fast to cut down Learn and win by a length.
The fact it was 13 lengths back to the third was obviously encouraging, but it would still have been ridiculous to get too carried away.
I think, however, we can allow ourselves a little more enthusiasm now. Learn absolutely bolted in at Leopardstown, so the logical conclusion has to be that the Galway contest was well above average.
Layers lost the plot with Rebel Fitz
THOUGHT that was rather an interesting maiden hurdle at Cork on Monday, won by the Michael Winters-trained Rebel Fitz.
A strong order in the offices in the morning, he looked sure to be returned around 8-11 shortly before the off. But then he dislodged Davy Russell and cantered down, gently, to the start on his own. You could see it took nothing out of him and he was caught very quickly.
The layers, however, decided that it was now time to go and get him and evens soon became available. Those who hadn’t played in the morning were given a second chance and plenty grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
Rebel Fitz won comfortably and the two horses he beat, Park Ranger and Buy Back Bob, shouldn’t be too long about winning.
Park Ranger’s jumping was a bit sloppy and that will certainly improve with time, while Buy Back Bob has to be one for the notebook. He used to be trained on the flat by Ger Lyons and was rated 92 on his final appearance when third at Gowran Park in September.
Cork was his first outing since then, and his first over jumps, so it is reasonable to expect Tony Martin to squeeze a success or two out of him!
Picture: Sense of Purpose leads and Pat Smullen (right) win the Ballyroan Stakes. Picture: Healy Racing
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