a case of seconditus today............

from the two services followed, but The Bet Plan at the time of typing is 3/3 on the day with one to run at Wolves tonight, im not a great advocate of a service that has multiple selections, a constant gripe of my time with Isiris and multiple insiders, but Harry the brains behind the selections has explained the strategy and his past results are impressive, so far 2 weeks into using the service my initial bank has risen from £500 to £764.37, and my stakes using 5% of my bank has correspondingly increased from £25/bet to £38.22/bet from tomorrow. All bets are win only and the software if left running on a pc places the bets on betfair via the auto bet controller, although i prefer to place my bets when received via a BOG bookmaker.

Both selections from OPTIMUM & VSR ran with great credit and with Cheltenham on the horizon my confidence for a successful festival is growing especially with our Cheltenham Ante Post portfolio looking good.

FRIDAY

OPTIMUM

3.15 Newbury SOUTH BANK £25 ew @ 12/1 2nd +£35

VSR

2.00 THE PANAMA KID £25 ew @ 5/1 2nd nil p/l

comment posted on the30kchallenge today

Excellent -will you be following tipsters and if so which ones? Is it correct that Incrisis is no more? I haven't seen an ad for Noddy recently (though I don't read the Post as often as I used to do).

hi there mr/mrs anom, i follow OPTIMUM RACING, VSR and am currently trialling a service called The Bet Plan, the links for these services can be found on my links section, if you require any thoughts on these services and which may suit your needs the best, please email me at raceto30k@hotmail.com

Mark now runs a private service, no advertising required and at present no new members are being accepted, and this looks likely to be the stance for some time. The service has gone from strength to strength since the service turned private late last year.

Isiris shut up shop end of 2008, but KB is hoping to resurrect the service this summer if enough members show an interest, they will, so theservice will resume jul/august time.

£10 ew trixie .................

thats what i wanted to get on, the selections were ................ 2.30 Taunton Summery Justice, 3.30 Taunton Cast Cada & 4.30 Taunton Postmaster, my first port of call as always was Stan James the only bookie around that will lay me half a decent bet, but upon logging on all i was getting was "No more retries, please contact customer services", now this always poses a problem as my accounts are in the name of Mrs Diggler and as hard as i try im no Mrs Doubtfire and my female voice is more Arthur Mullard than Lorraine Chase, so i have to rely on the email to sort problems out. My next port of call was Paddy Power as they offer BOG but they would only let me back them in singles !!! so Laddies was next and i was allowed 75 PENCE EW DOUBLES & A 50 PENCE EACH WAY TREBLE !!! At work we were one man down and i was lucky to get out of the room for a pee, a walk to the bookies was out of the question, yes i could have got a mate to place for me but i decided to curse the industry that employs me and sulk !!! Thank fuck Postmaster did not not win thats all i can say !!!

The Stan James problem was resolved later that afternoon, Stan James UK, Stan James GIBRALTER & Bet Direct have completed their merger and Stan James Gibralter now is the daddy, as i had accounts with all three but different usernames/passwords they had reset my account and sent me an email to a rarely used email address informing me of this, i only mention this just in case any of you experience problems

Now on the punting front today was good, when i could get on that is ! OPTIMUM put up Shake the barley in the Taunton 4.00 @ 10/3, my inability to get on with SJ was not a factor here as Laddies let me have a max stake of £75 on this at the price, which was handy as thats all i wanted. VSR put up Cast Cada in the 3.30 Taunton, well this was a bet i was happy with, a decent judge from the west country was not keen on the fav Gullible Gordon and aftertiming Diggler here now thinks i should have had some on for my personal account, but i nabbed the 7/2, with Cast Cada proving successful @ 2/1.

Decent words received for winners Summery Justice, Alvino and Samsons Son could have made this a day to remember but no good harking on about what COULD have happened, i had a nice winning day and my SJ account is all up n running now, perhaps i could do with another alias preferably male but most of my avenues in this respect has been used up, although i do have outlets from mates i prefer to be hands on and in total control ! The exchanges have their uses but the races i like to play are the uncompetitive races that lend themselves to EW punting and the exchanges are no help here, as they offer odds that are nearer the mark than the place terms with traditional bookies.

I am having a look at a service called the Bet Plan http://thebetplan.com/ , run by the most approachable and helpful Harry, early stages so far, no fireworks but my £500 bank has shown an increase to £613.72, my stakes are 5% of my bank, which is the upper end of his recommendation (3-5%) but the service does include a useful trading application

THURSDAY

OPTIMUM

4.00 Taunton SHAKE THE BARLEY £75 win (3pts) @ 10/3 WON +£250

VSR

3.30 Taunton CAST CADA £25 ew (1/2 pt) @ 7/2 WON +£109.38

It was a struggle...............

but the end result was a 2pt profit on the day, it looked unlikely for most of the race. The race was the 2m 7 1/2f hcap chase from Leicester, where the Optimum selection finished a staying on 3rd, never front rank ridden patiently and a few sloppy jumpy did not help, but pleased to report a small profit on a otherwise quiet day.


TUESDAY

OPTIMUM RACING

2.50 Leices YA I KNOW £50 ew @ 8/1 3rd +£50

welcome back !!!!

Well first action from Optimum for a week and we get to the first with an u/r...........not the ideal return but at least the day got better after Black Apalachi took the feature event at Fairyhouse, we wernt on today but we are for the Grand National at 25/1, who is now trading at a best price of 14/1, supporters will be hoping for a wet aintree. I had forgotten to add a deficit of £100 from the 3rd test from Antigua, i had numerous opportunities to trade out as i layed £125 @ 1.8 but i stuck to my guns, i missed the climax of the match as i was celebrating a mates 50th late on Thursday night, but i was frustrated by the new captains conservative approach on Wednesday with Jimmy Anderson fart arseing about for an hour and then wanting 500 as a target for the West Indies when 450 would have been sufficent even if Freddie was injured, and thats another thing sending Fred into bat when struggling at number9......... not Strausses finest test, and it just highlights the conservative nature of the captain. KP is not everyones cup of tea, and i did not agree with his ultimatum approach in respect of his relationship with Moores but if KP was in charge for the 2nd Antiguan test im quite confident we would be looking at 1-1 now.
Getting back to today, VSR added to my misery with an unplaced selection, so my p/l has taken a hit over the last few days.

SATURDAY

SPORTS BETTING from thursday night.

3rd Test WI v ENG lay £125 @ 1.8 DRAW lost -£100

OPTIMUM RACING

1.50 Newc SILVER SEDGE £50 ew @ 13/2 lost -£100

VSR

1.40 Chep CYPRESS GROVE £25 ew @ 4/1 lost -£50

a quiet week..............

with nothing to report, i got a couple of emails if i was on holiday with Andrew from Optimum racing !!! Obviously nothing from Optimum and VSR dipped their toe in the water for the first time this week on Friday, been lively at work so ive had more than enough to keep me occupied. VSR put up Burton Point at Sandown, and he never looking likely to collect on the win part but it was still a decent performance giving weight to the first two and a step up in distance looks sure to suit, and could be one to follow.

FRIDAY

VSR

2.45 Sandown BURTON POINT £25 ew @ 9/2 3rd -£2.50

A quiet weekend .....................

nothing on Friday, and Saturday was extremely quiet especially when you take into account that their 8 meetings today, just the one horse racing bet from VSR that was placed at 9/4 and Sunday saw just the one bet an unsuccessful ew play. My sports betting showed a profit of £90 that meant my p/l stayed marginally in profit for the weekend.

Im not going to elaborate on too much more, because not too much else to report and secondly im knackered !! Sunday in a raceroom due to the shortened trading hours always seems to be hectic and today carried on in this theme, non stop and im looking forward to my day off on Thursday already!!!

SATURDAY

VSR

4.50 Wincanton IN VINO £25 ew @ 9/4 3rd -£13.75

SPORTS BETTING

England +10.5 on hcap v Ireland £150 @ Evs WON +£150

SUNDAY

VSR

2.10 Hereford BLACK JACARI £25 ew @ 11/4 lost -£50

SPORTS BETTING

Everton v Aston Villa £60 @ 5/2 DRAW lost -£60

What a judge i am .............

NOT !!! On the way to work reading the post i noticed that Kayf Aramis was out in the 4.30 Chepstow, now this one had a tiring race 6 days earlier at Fontwell i remember the race well, just three runners in tiring ground, Kayf Aramis although jumping poorly throughout looked home n hosed after jumping the last and must have traded at near the basement price of 1.01 before Kayf Aramis legs turned to jelly and the Fontwell hill took its toll, as his stablemate Latainier swamped Kayf Aramis just before the line. His poor jumping coupled with the hard race 6 days earlier made this a big lay for today............... what a difference 6 days can make !!! never touched a twig(apart from second last !) as Kayf Aramis jumped really well and travelled kindly throughout to win cosily by 6l, luckily for me i refrained from laying as VSR put up the rather one paced (racing term for slow !!) Any Currency so i made a small loss on the race.

I managed to recoup this loss on the back of the Optimum message, although i did start off with a small loss on Presenting Copper but my days p/l was in credit after Andrew was keen to oppose the front 2 in the market Notabotheronme and Pretty Star as he felt the bookies could get a eresult, he was correct in his view as Victory Gunner took the prize.

THURSDAY



VSR



4.30 Chepstow CURRENCY £75 @ 2/1 lost -£75



PERSONAL TRADING



3.20 Chepstow PRESENTING COPPER back £60 @ 3.65 lay £35 @ 3.50 lost -£25



3.55 Chepstow NOTABOTHERONME lay £60 @ 3.65 2nd +£58.20
3.55 Chepstow PRETTY STAR lay £50 @ 3.95 unpld +£49.50

Exciting times at Diggler towers ..................

not going to divulge to much at this stage, but im about to enter the world of betting bots and automated systems, nothing ventured nothing gained !!! It may all go tits up but i,ll only have myself to blame, during my time here ive made countless mistakes............. the 3 marraiges being the most costly !!! but my life has been full of fun, excitement and yes a few tears but i have set aside £500 for this project, i have told the brains behind this venture that i dont expect a return but i hope he can make me eat humble pie !!! Details and regular updates to follow.

A quiet day so i thought id update my p/l, a slight decrease in my running total which now stands at £1966.27

OPTIMUM -£130

VSR +£343.75

PERSONAL +£1088.47

SPORTS +£664.05

THE10KCHALLENGE................................ +£1966.27

Independent bookies..............

It is a constant struggle to get on let alone beat the enemy, in our case its the bookies !!!! Being behind enemy lines has been a real opener im now in the world of monitored customers, cctv images, known associates, runners and customer bet reduction factors and then we have the daily battle versus the mr conways and mr envers of the betting world with the various slow counters and ambiguous bets................. its never a dull day !!!

Anyway i going off on a tangent here, got a few emails regarding my nice trixie win at the weekend courtesy of a free bet balance and the 3 selections from Optimum, and the emails wanted advice/info on the bookies i use, well im very much restricted thesedays all betting done in the names of associates but i personally use 5 bookmakers for approx 75% of my business and these are ;

STAN JAMES - http://www.stanjamesuk.com/ OR http://www.stanjames.com/

Quite simply the best around, will lay a bet, best odds guaranteed, professional and plenty of markets. My preferred choice of bookmaker.

DEMMYBET - http://www.betdemmy.com/index.shtml

One of the old school, dont expect 24hr coverage but BOG, politeness, accuracy and plenty of special offers.

VICKERS - http://www.asportybet.co.uk/main.htm

Not BOG but a reliable and professional service.

BETTER - http://bettercorporate.com/ click on £100 offer

Known for its retail operation with a high quality shop fit, recently reopened call centre BOG and free bet offer, not 24 hr coverage but pleasant and will lay a bet.

JENNINGS - https://www.jenningsbet.com/jenningsbet

A family bookmaker that has been in operation for many years, over last year or so has experienced a rapid expansion through their retail and website operations, BOG on a large proportion of races. Get more on if you use the call centre rather than the internet.

Hope that helps, dont bugger me up by taking all the early prices !!

Greed and loss of discipline = No Supper for me ........

Quite frankly a day to forget, work was manic not sure if it was the McCoy factor but phones never stopped ringing and the sharks were out in force trying to get on a hooky snooker match Barry Hawkins v Joe Perry backing the draw at all rates from 6/4 down to 4/9 when we pulled the plug on the event !!!! Didnt see the match but the comments on the betfair forum were quite amusing although we were doing our dough, thats the second dodgy match in the last month or so and the authorities need to crack down on this or else snooker will lose all credibility and the smaller events/matches will not get priced up.

Now onto my day of personal punting where a little greed and loss of discipline raised its ugly head, i took a beating for this and i promise to be a good boy for the next couple of months at least !! Now Optimum put up No Supper, who runs in the Optimum colours in the 2.00 Plumpton, a very confident 6 point selection. I had £150 @ 13/8 with the Tote, i could have taken 6/4 BOG with Stan James but never in a month of Sundays did i expect it to finish longer than these prices............ As we aproached the race 11/10-6/5-5/4 were the prices generally on offer from the bookies, but on course it drifted out to 2/1 before returning an sp of 7/4, well i knew the horse was fwf.......... fit well fancied so i dipped my toe in again having £100 @ 3.00 on the exchanges, then when i saw 9/4 on the exchanges i thought id take advantage of their genourosity !!! a sort of green mist descended and £100 @ 3.30 was placed and talking of mists ............. for good measure i had a £50 saver on Mist Again @ 7.2 after a word from a respected judge ;-( yes it all went pear shaped and overall a loss £400 on the race.

MONDAY

OPTIMUM

2.00 Plumptn NO SUPPER £150 @ 13/8 unpld -£150

VSR

1.30 Plumpton POUR CHANGER £25 ew @ 5/2 unpld -£50

PERSONAL TRADING

2.00 Plumpton NO SUPPER £200 @ 3.15 unpld -£200
2.00 Plumpton MIST AGAIN £50 @ 7.2 unpld -£50

The frustrations of being a tipster !!!

firstly apoligies for calling the services i use tipsters !! but the frustrations of being a horse racing adviser seemed a little long winded............ please bear with me on this, but as a teenager working on the southern racetracks i came into regular contact with 3 types of tipsters the first i remember was coming off the train at Sandown and a bloke tried to sell me a tips sheet for the card, the second was at Newbury we usually took the train but on this occasion we drove and as we were getting out the car a chap tried to sell his marked racecard the third i remember and most vividly remembered was at Sandown again and i was on the "floor" working for my father and hedging with one of the other books, placed the bet strolling back to our pitch just before the off when an elderly gentleman came up to me and quite abruptly told me to get on a horse i was slighty taken aback and rather defensively told him to fcuk off in no uncertain terms !!! During the day i saw this bloke continually play the same game, and a couple of mugs followed this blokes advice. On the following Monday night we were at Windsor and again this bloke was playing the same game and one of his victims succumbed and backed his advice with us............... the horse won and as im paying out who suddenly appears wanting a cut !!!!
Anyway i digress, OPTIMUM will show a loss on the account of 4 points, these services proof their selections to the Racing Post and that provides the foundations of their results that are advertised either in the Post on their personal websites. But the nuts n bolts of the message are invaluable and yesterdays message from Optimum highlights this. The 12.15 message went into detail on 3 races, and i put down the phone with 3 bets in the shape of PANCAKE 1.10 Kempton, SAMMY SPIDERMAN 2.35 Ayr and TARTAK 3.25 Kempton ............ ALL THREE WON @ 5/2 - 5/6 & 7/2 i had £34 in my free bet account from an independent and had a £8.50 trixie at 11/4-SP-SP that yielded a return of £500.97 after the stake was taken back.
Its a fine line that these services live by and i dont envy them in respect of which they put up on the account, i prefer the selective approach and on the account as stated Optimum today lost 4 points but due to the message i copped over £400 on the day !!

SATURDAY

OPTIMUM RACING

4.00 Kempton DOUBLE DIZZY £50 ew @ 7/1 lost -£100

PERSONAL TRADING

Pancake 1.10 Kemp 11/4, Sammy Spiderman 5/6 2.35 Ayr, Tartak 7/2 3.25 Kempt £8.50 trixie
ALL 3 WON +£500.97

a small profit on the day.............

no account bets but played in a couple of races on infomation received. Got a call early doors telling me that all the right faces where backing Devotee in the UAE 1000 guineas every price was getting knocked over, i managed to get £100 @ 11/10 within an hour i layed £50 @ 1.70 giving me £50 @ 6/4, the horse was backed as if defeat was out of question............. what a shock her backers had, as her action went as soon as she was asked to pick up, hopefully its nothing too serious.
My only other bet was on the back of Optimums message, although no account bet, Andrew was keen on Limerick Boy in the hunters chase from Bangor. My bet although successful had me questioning my staking plan as i invested £60 @ 2.72, just short of 2.5pts on my staking plan with Optimum, so although not an account bet i had more on Limerick Boy than i may have had on an actual account bet !! which for me didnt make sense, i do try to be disciplined in my betting and staking, my concerns in respect of staking faded as the selection was successful with Limerick Boy winning comfortably at 6/5.

FRIDAY

PERSONAL TRADING

4.25 Bangor LIMERICK BOY £60 @ 2.72 WON +£100.10
6.15 Nad al Sheba DEVOTEE £100 @ 11/10 Lay £50 @ 1.70 lost -£51.50

So much right but a loss on the account........

A return today at Taunton for NH enthusiasts, and OPTIMUM played in the 3.50 siding with Pistol Dubois 3pts win @ 7/2. Andrew was keen to oppose Adare Prince the 5/2 fav and was the correct stance as McCoys mount was pulled up, a good word for Enroblim Trip who finished 3rd @ 14/1 but Pistol Dubois made an early exit unseatig at the 5th, so a small loss on the account. Nothing else to report on a quiet day.

THURSDAY

OPTIMUM RACING

3.50 Taunton PISTOL DUBOIS £75 win @ 7/2 lost -£75

a unproductive week so far.............

and in all honesty quite tiring, with the weather causing travel chaos i have been leaving for work around 6.15am and getting home around 9pm but i now have a few days off to recharge the batteries, nothing doing monday or tuesday but i returned to action with one trade on wednesday and i ended up with the value but sod all else !!!
The chain of bookmakers i work for has every race priced up by 8.30am but we keep half of the races back until 11.00/11.30 these are the maidens, novice hurdles & chases plus the sellers, so basically leaving just the handicaps and most of the conditions races priced up and available to our customers until we release the other prices. Well today (wednesday) i took a call from a highly respected judge with whom i get on well with, he was enquiring on the price of Lacrosse in the Lingfield 1.00 we had him marked down as a unreleased 5/4 shot, i explained no price and i was informed that he needs to get a sizeable sum down. I looked on the exchanges and at early doors 2.32/2.34 was on offer. I invested £300 @ 2.32, there was a 8/1 withdrawal but next time i looked Lacrosse was odds on i then layed £200 at an average of 1.77 leaving me with £100 at a fraction under 2/1 for the 8/15 fav............. but thats as good as it got !!! Lacrosse was one paced and disappointed his backers finishing a never threatening 3rd.

WEDNESDAY

PERSONAL TRADING

1.00 Ling LACROSSE £300 @ 2.16 lay £200 @ 1.77 3rd LOST -£100

VSR continue their consistent run..............

with another placed effort today, although a small loser on the account they do play in ew uncompetitive events and over time this style of betting will prove profitable, they are nearly 8pts up since the 1st Jan at my prices and the service is user friendly with a text on the morning detailing the bet & best odds.

SUNDAY

VSR

1.30 Muss DIVERS £25 ew @ 11/4 2nd -£11.25

p/l figures

OPTIMUM +£195 (7.8pts)
VSR +£393.75 (7.87pts)
PERSONAL +£888.90
SPORTS +£664.05

THE10KCHALLENGE.............................. +£2,141.70