We make bold but little profit in last day betting nightmare

LAST day at the races, time to be bold.

After Thursday’s 10-race marathon we had a mere nine from which to pick winners yesterday at Cheltenham, with about five tips for many of them.

The memory of a close second with Limestone Lad several moons ago prompts a go at Sweet Kiln in the mares-only race, £20 at 7/2. The Bowe family’s latest star struggled for stamina, as it turned out. We know the feeling.

The second brings at least six we’ve been determined to back at various stages in recent weeks, but in the end we side with Mouse Morris’s Venalmar, on the each-way market. Not the only ones, as he was backed into 11/1 from about 25/1 a couple of weeks ago. Narrowly edged out for the win this time around, he pays nicely for coming second so we’re back on track for the day.

Then the first handicap of the day, the near-impossible Coral Cup. We decide to avoid it like the plague. Somebody said Naiad du Misselot was Ferdy Murphy’s nap of the meeting, we remember as he squeaks home by a nose. Too late.

Franchoek looks a good thing in the Triumph Hurdle, but hard to back at 6/4, so we go for a forecast —– Franchoek to beat Noel Meade’s Silverhand into second. Those forecasts are a waste of time. The hot favourite didn’t even win, Ruby and Celestial Halo beating Tony McCoy into second.

We heard a whisper on Thursday night that Parson’s Pistol would go well in the next, the three-mile novice hurdle, with Meade again saddling the candidate.

The odds are tempting again, and we stick with the coward’s option of each way. It makes no difference, with the pistol failing to fire.

The Gold Cup looks like a match between Kauto Star and Denman — neither of them at particularly attractive odds —– so we decide to enjoy the spectacle and let the bookmakers have a break from our terror.

Onwards to the seventh of the day, the Foxhunters’ Chase, and we heed the advice of Deep Throat in All the President’s Men — “follow the money”. We follow JP, seeking his third win of the meeting, and plunge on Drombeag at odds of 7/1. After briefly threatening, he didn’t come close to repeating last year’s win.

The Grand Annual doesn’t offer inspiration and we give it a miss on the betting front, waiting for Psycho in the get-out-of-jail stakes, the County Hurdle, which finishes off the festival. Backed at 9/2, £20 to win, he failed to catch 50/1 Silver Jaro on the line. Sums up the day, really.

Lucky we kept a few euros to get the car out of Cork airport.