Another Festival Thread but..............

[Grizzly]

I've not been online since before the festival and thanks to some rogue porn finding its way onto not606 I can no longer access the site from the office !
I've tried reading the threads from last week, not managed them all, hope you all found a few winners and enjoyed the racing.

I'm sure you've done somethingv similar already but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on:

Biggest pick up of the festival
Biggest loser of the festival
Inspired punting moment
Bonehead punting moment
Favourite moment of festival
The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment
Best ride of festival
Worst ride of festival
Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival

Look forward to your responses
Cheers

 

[OddDog]

Biggest pick up of the festival --> Quevega / Big Bucks double (same as last year)
Biggest loser of the festival --> Hurricane Fly
Inspired punting moment --> Realising Bellvano and Carberry were a match made in heaven
Bonehead punting moment --> Backing ****ing Somersby
Favourite moment of festival --> I REALLY, REALLY liked Brindisi Breeze winning the Albert Bartlett - small yard, lovely genuine horse who hurdled superbly, given a great ride
The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment --> I did think Sizing Europe would've won without the last fence malarky.
Best ride of festival --> Carberry on Bellvano. Geraghty was persistence personified on Riverside Theatre but Carberry's ride was quite simply genius - perfectly judged and executed
Worst ride of festival --> Andrew Lynch on Sizing Europe - should've put Finian's Rainbow to the sword coming down the hill yet was nervous and hesitant on a proven stayer. Made the last fence malarkey decisive when it should have been a minor blip
Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival --> Quevega / Big Buck's double

 

[Grizzly]

Cheers Oddy - should give my thoughts I suppose...

Biggest pick up of the festival - BB/Quevega double
Biggest loser of the festival - Sizing Europe
Inspired punting moment - Ripping up my On the Fringe slip and deciding to back Salsify
Bonehead punting moment - Not leaving an order on betfair to lay Giant Bolster having backed him at 260!
Favourite moment of festival - Hunt Balls moment in the winners enclsore
The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment - opposing Make your Mark in a match bet with Cotton Mill, you couldn't make it up....
Best ride of festival - Noel Fehily Rock on Ruby
Worst ride of festival - Ruby on Boston Bob
Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival - Captain Chris

 

[GGW]

Biggest pick up of the festival - Cinders and Ashes or Balthazar King (both were 11/1 same stake. made for a cracking day out )

Biggest loser of the festival - Long Run is a big loser but Hurricane Fly was my biggest loser

Inspired punting moment - Cinders and Ashes. Really fancied this one for the Supreme after spending a good 3hrs studying/watching the form. Also, it was clear that we weren't going to make the race with the traffic so instead of parking in the course for free and missing the first I paid some geezer a fiver to park in his field and we legged it to the track. Got there at 1.25 and at 1.35 I'd more than earnt back the fiver. Not only that I'd told my mates to get on and they'd texted their mates to get on too.

Bonehead punting moment - Not managing to back the Sprinter Sacre - Cue Card forecast because I was in the Guiness tent. Had been talking it up for weeks and it paid 7/1 too

Favourite moment of festival - Big Bucks. Wow. Just wow. Also, hate to bring it up again! but getting the first winner of the festival was a really nice start.

The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment - Not really any moments like that this time round but I told my brother to get on Cotton Mill if that counts....!

Best ride of festival - Carberry on Bellvano. Coolness personified.

Worst ride of festival - Ruby Walsh all week. Sorry Ruby.

Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival - There aren't any at this stage. Big Bucks/Quevega/Sprinter Sacre are probably the three most 'certain'. Watch out for Cinders and Ashes in the champion hurdle and I hope Brindisi Breeze goes at the world hurdle (and not chasing) because I think he runs the type of race that could upset Big Bucks (but he's the best animal in training and had VLV more held than it may have looked) so Big Bucks fans shouldn't be too worried

 

[King Shergar]

Biggest win - Sprinter Sacre*
biggest loss - Long Run*
Inspired punting moment - didn't realy have any outstanding picks, to be fair*
Bonehead punting moment - picking out Brindisi Breeze on the Monday, and then changing my mind once I realised Boston Bob was running. I got suckered into believing Haydock form was exaggerated. So felt like a right wolly when he won.*
Favourite moment - Sprinter Sacre*
Unluckiest punter - I must have backed atleast 6 horse's who were pulled up.*
Best Ride - Andrew Lynch gave Voler La Vedette a brilliant ride in the world hurdle, even though he was facing an impossible task.*
Worst ride - I'm realy struggling with this one, there was nothing that was terrible, but I felt Waley Cohen kept trying to go through gaps that weren't there on Long Run, costing his mount momentum at vital stages. I still feel Geraghty would have won on him.
Nailed on winner for 2013 festival - Sprinter Sacre

 

[the don]

Biggest pick up of the festival - Quevega Single & Q/BB double
Biggest loser of the festival - Hurricane Fly
Inspired punting moment - Laying Long Run / Lumping on Quevega all the way down from 2.58 on betfair.
Bonehead punting moment - Opposing Sprinter Sacre
Favourite moment of festival - The excitement on the train to Cheltenham and the Tuesday night out!!
The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment - Missing backing Sizing Europe because I was queuing at the bar / bogs!
Best ride of festival - Tough one.... can i just nominate Barry Geraghty on Wednesday?
Worst ride of festival - McCoy on Binocular - thought HF was the only other horse in the race rather than riding the race for Binocular. 2nd probably Andrew Lynch on Sizing Europe.
Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival - Quevega (boring.....)

 

[NassauBoard]

Without looking at the other selections

Biggest pick up of the festival - The steak sandwich on Gold Cup day, expensive but the best bit of trade I did on the day
Biggest loser of the festival - Me, too many bad selections and unlucky in running stories. Long Run was a major loser.
Inspired punting moment - Brindisi Breeze at 11/1 or Art Professor at 66/1 EW were the two long price highlights
Bonehead punting moment - backing Long Run with SWC, or backing Pedler's Cross despite it going against my ideas of what you need to win at Chelts
Favourite moment of festival - the roar when they announced that Kauto Star was ok.
The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment - the moment Dickie Johnson and Wishfull Thinking ploughed into a garlic eating surrender....
Best ride of festival - Tough one, for me its got to be Mr Carberry on Bellvano
Worst ride of festival - Too many to mention, Tom Scu on Kazlian was appauling and gets my vote
Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival - Steak Sandwich on my visit to the course. Nailed on.

 

[cityhull]

Biggest pick up of the festival - Big Bucks
Biggest loser of the festival - Long Run & Hurricane Fly
Inspired punting moment - Taking SP about Big Bucks in the morning when it wasn't BOG
Bonehead punting moment - Adding Long Run to my Chelsea to Qualify- Big Bucks double to make it a treble
Favourite moment of festival - Big Bucks, all class far too much in the tank for any youn pretendor
The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment - Far too many placed horses
Best ride of festival - AP on Syncronised, kept him interested and plugging away to bring his stamina into play
Worst ride of festival - Ruby on The Fly, if he had him closer he wouldn't have had to use up too much energy down the hill and would have had the finishing kick still there
Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival - Big Bucks / Sprintre Sacre double

 

[Zenyatta]

Biggest pick up of the festival - Simonsig at 14/1 for the Neptune Antepost.

Biggest loser of the festival - Hurricane Fly. He didn't cost me a catastrophic amount in terms of stake lost but my Festival would have been a lot more successful had he won. I had lumped on the Sprinter Sacre/Hurricane Fly/Quevega treble on Betfair who were refunding if HF was the one to let you down. He was, so I got my money back, but the winnings would have sorted me out nicely.

Inspired punting moment - Picking out Cinders And Ashes as the clear paddock pick and backing him accordingly at 12/1 with no strong opinion on the race beforehand.

Bonehead punting moment - Trying to be clever opposing Big Buck's with Oscar Whisky and Thousand Stars with the Ladbrokes 1/2 the odds EW on the Thursday morning. It would have been a much better idea to continue my usual 'lump on the money machine' tactic. Lesson learnt.

Favourite moment of festival - My three favourites would be Big Buck's (and Quevega) for sheer greatness and legendary status, Hunt Ball for a fantastic story, and Simonsig for bringing home the bacon after I'd been banging his drum very loudly for some time.

The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment - Nothing stands out as unlucky really but I was pretty peeved not to get at least one of Oscar Whisky and Thousand Stars in the money behind Big Buck's. Ladbrokes must have cleaned up on the race. Much more concerned with seeing Big Buck's win so not an issue really. I suppose the Champion Chase fiasco could qualify but fortunately I decided against lumping on Sizing Europe after getting my fingers burnt on Hurricane Fly.

Best ride of festival - In defeat, it was a fine effort from David Bass to get Oscar Nominee (one to watch) as close as he did. In victory, there are a whole heap of contenders but I'll give the vote to Paul Carberry. A wonderful ride.

Worst ride of festival - Don't think Daryl Jacob gave Zarkandar a good ride in the Champion. He didn't make use of any of his abilities and gave the horse little chance of winning. He would surely have gone closer had he been ridden closer to the pace. Tom Scudamore did kick for home just a little early on Kazilian.

Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival - I'll keep my flag flying on the Simonsig mast and put him forward for the Arkle next season.

 

[Ron]

Don't bet and didn't, but if I had:

Biggest pick up of the festival: contemplating The Giant Bolster ew (that's as far as it got)
Biggest loser of the festival: would have been Sizing Europe
Inspired punting moment: I can only think that The GB must have been inspired as I would have never picked it on form
Bonehead punting moment: that would been going against Sprinter Sacre
Favourite moment of festival: not watching the Gold Cup live
The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment: that would have been Sizing Europe
Best ride of festival: Ruby on BB or AP on Alberta's Run
Worst ride of festival: didn't notice
Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival: Sprinter Sacre

 

[Sir Barney Chuckles]

Excellent thread. My answers to the old posers are:

Biggest pick up of the festival – Sprinter Sacre
Biggest loser of the festival – Long Run
Inspired punting moment – Ignoring a couple of my long term fancies and going with Hunt Ball when I realised just how good he actually was and how even off top weight he looked well in.
Bonehead punting moment – being a sentimental fool (as always) and ignoring the claims of Salsify in the Foxhunters. In hindsight he looked the clear choice and 7/1 was a corking price.
Favourite moment of festival – Sprinter Sacre proving just how good he was. Also the optimism and excitement that was generated following his win as he could, in the future, be even better.
The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment – the ‘unluckiest’ has to be Cotton Mill. I don’t think he would have beaten Simonsig but his ‘antics’ robbed us the chance of finding out just how close he would have got.
Best ride of festival – pains me slightly to say it but I thought that the Geraghty boy on Riverside Theatre was superb.
Worst ride of festival - agree 100% with what The Don has said re McCoy on Binocular but I think he was just shaded by the amateur on Harry The Viking.
Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival – Sprinter Sacre in next terms Champion Chase. If he stays fit and healthy he could plunder the prize for the next few seasons.

 

[DanishPastry]

Biggest pick up of the festival – Une Artiste (complete fluke)
Biggest loser of the festival – Hurricane Fly. Still hurts to think about.
Inspired punting moment – Une Artiste. I looked at 50/1 and thought 'that seems a bit long', went each way, hopeful of sneaking a place at long odds. Unbelievable fluke.
Bonehead punting moment – Having piled into Hurricane Fly, piling into Sizing Europe.
Favourite moment of festival – BIG BUCKS!
The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment – Thinking A New Story had won, after me telling my mates he was massively overpriced at 20/1, then finding he'd been beated by a head by Balthazar King.
Best ride of festival – Andrew Lynch on Voler la Vedette. Acknowledging that sneaking past Big Bucks is the only way and playing to dodge Ruby's movement was a brilliant idea. Unfortunate that a) Big Bucks really is that good and b) Ruby realised and changed back. Also points to Harry Derham and Empire levant for hurdling a faller - interesting manouver but worked out well!
Worst ride of festival - Daryl Jacob on Zarkandar. If he'd been kept five lengths closer then I think he could have won. One for a longer trip I think - although with Big Bucks there, PN's isn't going to waste Zarkandar on the World, and the middle distance doesn't have a Cheltenham option. One for Aintree though.
Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival – Brindisi Breeze for the RSA (if, that is, he goes chasing). And also Big Bucks for the World, regardless of whether or not Brindisi Breeze goes chasing.

 

[TopClass]

Biggest pick up of the festival: Day One Placepot.

Biggest loser of the festival: Hurricane Fly. I had a last min save on Cinders for the Supreme, put the winnings on Sprinter Sacre, then put the winnings on Hurricane. Back to square one, and day one totally obliterated. Lesson learnt- be happy with ANY profit, you muppet.

Inspired punting moment: Nothing really other than the wonderful price that the bookies decided to hand out for Big Bucks. What a moment, what a horse. Although my £4 one line placepot went in on Day One, which saved me!

Bonehead punting moment: Backing Sir Des Champs quite well at 40s and 50s for the RSA thinking I was being a bit sly and clever. Then not covering him in the Jewson, where he hosed up. Most of my week was bonehead punting and so were my anteposts.

Favourite moment: Kauto Star being cheered when it emereged he was safe and sound after being pulled up.

Nailed on winner for 2013: No such thing. Will be looking for a price on Samain for the Supreme Novice though- hopefully they can have him fit this time- heard good reports about his schooling prior to his setback this season.

Best ride of the festival: Noel Fehily/Ruby Walsh on Rock On Ruby & Big Bucks. Very smart rides- both playing to the strengths of their mounts, both knowing full well the danger of hitting the front early, but both understanding the logic of flattening out those horses behind the,. Very, very smart rides. Lynch was magnificent in defeat on VLV.

Worst ride: Boston Bob Albert Bartlett (sorry Ruby)- stamina horse who took a while to pick up on heavy ground last time, is ridden even further off the pace and closes too late.

 

[Petito]

i didn't bet but i picked horses and also for the competition:

Biggest pick up of the festival - cinders and ashes, first race of the first day fattened my virtual pot

Biggest loser of the festival - toss up between peddlers cross, hurricane fly and grands crus, not sure if they were the biggest loss but the losses i remember

Inspired punting moment - brindisi breeze

Bonehead punting moment - picking peddlers cross for a second time in a race he wasn't running in

Favourite moment of festival - selfishly, voler la vedette who i think was not really short odds, briefly levelling with big bucks near the end. unselfishly, kauto being taken out of the race to live and fight another day.

The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment - cotton mill

Best ride of festival - not sure about best but i'd say most satisfying, noel fehily winning on rock on ruby for paul nicholls.

Worst ride of festival - not the worst maybe but not great, SWC on long run who seemed to be put in the wrong place and squeezed or backed out

Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival - um.. i'll look at the cards the night before!

it was all over so quickly as always. it rushes up and flies by.

 

[Reebok]

I hope that the porn can be cleaned up and the poster banned. Without my office pc I am severely restricted!

Biggest pick up of the festival - Bellvano at 18’s and 20’s – and I didn’t even know it had won until the following day!
Biggest loser of the festival – ante-post with Unaccompanied not running, but covered by the one above.
Inspired punting moment – inspired to do something I don’t usually do, namely follow someone else’s theories. But Stick’s pointer to Smad Place ew proved to be a great decision 
Bonehead punting moment – didn’t have one thankfully
Favourite moment of festival - Riverside Theatre winning, and Sprinter Sacre sticking it to all those who thought that the hill would see him out – made I laugh
The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment – quite a few placed horses that “should” have won because they carried Reebok’s Roubles!
Best ride of festival – Carberry on Bellvano no mistake.
Worst ride of festival – I thought Zarkander could have been ridden better, and probably will next time.
Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival – Sprinter Sacre

Here's to next year

 

[redcgull]

Biggest pick up - Cape Tribulation on the day @ 16/1... Simonsig with my ante post bet @ 12/1...

Biggest loser - Zarkandar not coming in anywhere cost me some... I also had several doubles, trips, 4 timers and not one came in...!!! Had the Fly, Long Run etc well in fact any of the so called certs come in i would have had a better week... (Or maybe if i made the pairings up better that would have helped... maybe next year...) Biggest single punt would have to be on Long Run... Chased a bit back and didnt hit...!!!

Inspired Punting - Following the market on Hunt Ball... Made day one all the better for it to...

Bonehead moment - I wasnt too bad on this... Had e/w bets on 4 runners in a couple of races and not one came in... The lucky last on Friday being one of em... Bloody mine field of a race and ive got 4 runners going in em and still dont hit...

Favourite Moment - For sheer amazement Sprinter Sacre... For the pocket because it was so close and i won on him Riverside Theatre... For sheer class and beauty the run of Big Bucks... (though i was impressed with Simonsig...)

Luckiest Punter moment - I was going to lump on with a bit of my winnings with Boston Bob in the Albert Bartlet but got caught up trying to update my screen only to find the race had started... It was a last minute thing but i got away with... i nearly did the same with Long Run but i got that bet on...

Best Ride - Geraghty on Riverside Theatre...

Worst Ride - Take nothing away from AP but i thought Sam WC's ride on Long Run was really bad...

Nailed on for 2013 - That the Not606 forum wont be able to wait that long and Wooly starts his countdown earlier than he did this year...!!!

 

[Dexter]

Biggest Pick = stating in November that PC,AF and GC wouldn't feature in any of their events,despite heated opposition.
Biggest Loser = Long Run,no excuses and certainly don't blame SWC,horse wasn't good enough on the day.
Inspired Punting moment = N/A
Bonehead Punting = Heavily medicated by 5.15 on CGC day and backing Astracad
Favourite Moment(s) = 27 of them and none involving any arabian dictators in the winners enclosure.Bliss.
Unluckiest Punter = Backing On The Fringe AP in the Hunter Chase and seeing him withdrawn late on.Normal improvemnet from L'town would have seen him run Salsify very,very close.
Best Ride = Colman Sweeney on Salsify..for an amateur,utter class.
Worst Ride(s) = Tom Scud on Balgarry and Kalzian.Clueless clown.
Nailed On 2013 = No such thing.

Cheers Grizz...good thread.

 

[ROTO]

Biggest pick up of the festival - Getting on Son of Flicka at 40s for a tidy profit

Biggest loser of the festival - Trifolium. Heaped into him for win purposes and stupidly ignored the e/w

Inspired punting moment - Spotting the cheating McCain's plot on Son of Flicka the night before

Bonehead punting moment - Stupidly fearing the alarming drift on Big Bucks and not taking the enhanced 10/11 in shop in Boylesports

Favourite moment of festival - Tie between the scenes of Hunt Ball completing the meteoric rise since November and Big Bucks proving he still is the king

The 'I'm the unluckiest punter in the world' moment - None really

Best ride of festival - BG on Riverside Theatre was something else

Worst ride of festival - 'The Dentist' on Long Run

Nailed-on winner for 2013 festival - One of newbies winning the big one. Can't have any of this years Gold Cup contenders going close next year

 

[redcgull]

Favourite Moment(s) = 27 of them and none involving any arabian dictators in the winners enclosure.Bliss.

.

 

[Ron]

Nailed on for 2013 - That the Not606 forum wont be able to wait that long and Wooly starts his countdown earlier than he did this year...!!!