On Monday, whilst child #1 (birth order) was at Alton Towers with her friends, we took child #2 and child #3 (the dog) to Vicar Water Country Park for a gentle stroll around the lake. At one end of the park there is a sculpture of a giant hand and we took several photos posing around it as you do. There was another family group also doing the same and one of them, a middle-aged father like myself, kindly asked if we would like our photos taking. “I’m no David Bellamy,” he said and it turned out he was no David Bailey either.
Before I supply the winner of The Grand National, there is the small matter of seeing how my last “hypothetical” £20 win double fared and what my final double of the current football season is going to be.
The last double I tipped, back in February, was Manchester United and Arsenal and what could go wrong with that? Manchester United losing 1-2 at home to Fulham. There are no guarantees in betting, as that result shows, but hopefully the following is as bomb-proof a bet as they come.
A casual glance at the League Two table would suggest DONCASTER ROVERS (5/6) are the epitome of mid-table mediocrity, but based on their last ten games they are top of the league with eight wins from ten. On Saturday at three pm they play Accrington Stanley (altogether now…) who on the same terms would be bottom of the table with just two wins from ten. Home win. Also at three pm on Saturday, Hollywood glamour boys WREXHAM (4/11) welcome Forest Green Rovers who sit at the opposite end of League Two from their hosts. Wrexham are currently second and third on recent form. Forest Green are bottom of the football league although they would be safe in nineteenth place based on their last ten matches. There is still a gaping chasm between them however and when you are fighting for survival the Racecourse Ground is not the venue you would choose to visit. Home win.
My “hypothetical” £20 win double on Doncaster and Wrexham currently returns £50 with Sky Bet at combined odds of 6/4 for a profit of £30 after deduction of stake. Best case scenario, this blog ends the 2023-2024 season £162.87 up; worst case scenario I’m still £112.87 in the black. I won’t spend it all at once.
Back in 2009 I worked out that I could back ten horses in The Grand National to varying stakes and still make a profit on the race if one of them won. Amazingly my selections comprised nine of the first ten horses home. Less amazingly the race was won by 100/1 shot Mon Mone, which I wasn’t on.
I am far less interested in horse racing these days but I will still be tuning in - IT'S THE GRAND NATIONAL - and having a bet. The race is a lottery - and famously the first winner was Lottery in 1839 - but one with much better odds of winning. I am a great believer in “horses for courses” and NOBLE YEATS (20/1 generally) has already “been there, done that” winning the race in 2022 at the precocious age of seven, the last seven year-old to win the race prior to that being Bogskar in 1940. At nine Noble Yeats is now the average age for a National winner and should get the better of last year’s winner Corach Rambler who was third in this year’s Gold Cup and wasn’t given an easy time of it. You never know!
I hope to see you next time, likely September fingers crossed.
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