Rockingham was 3rd...

...in the final of the Irish Laurels netting me a 25 points return on my 1 point ew bet; 1/4 odds 4 places.

The race was spoiled by the withdrawal of Droopy Robino the odds on ante post favourite. It was fortunate for me, though, having a dog at 100/1 in a 5 dog race.

The Final was won by Catunda Harry, Tyrur Laurel 2nd and Rockingham 3rd. I’ve never taken much notice of the weights of the dogs before but I looked at the result and Rockingham was the lightest by a good margin in the race. It makes me wonder if at this level of racing you need to have a really strong well made dog to succeed ? I may consider that in future.

I lost track a little with my investments on this race (because I often bet after I do my blog) and doing my sums I reckon I made a total profit on the Laurels of 27. 25 points. Which wasn’t bad.

The good thing about betting dogs at this class of racing is that it is likely that dogs will all be trying. It is half the battle if you can put money down with some confidence that it is unlikely that your dog has been stopped!

Now to the Greyhound St Leger…

My tricast was unsuccessful in heat 1 of the Quarter Finals . The dog that let me down was my 3rd place banker: Big Brett Coal. The dog I was scared of Greenwell Flash ran into 3rd spot. So I lost 2 points.

Droopy Requiem (my ante post bet) was in the lead most of the way in its race but could not sustain the pace. Lost 2 points ante post.

Danes Black (also anante post bet) was last, in its race. Lost 2 points. So that’s my ante post bets up in the air!

Of the 9 red marks, indicating dogs that might qualify at a good price, I put at the bottom of the graph on my previous bog …6 out of the 9 got through… and didn’t I just have to pick 2 of the 3 that failed. Yup!!

So, what about the semi finals? You will find them on the two graphs I have supplied. Please enlarge them in a separate window.

Have a look and see if the there are any good bets there. Discreet Cat doesn’t seem to have the figures to qualify in the first heat and Local Knowledge, which I think is a good dog, might struggle to get home.

I’m going to try another straight Tricast bet using trap 1 Directors Chair and trap 2 Iceman Brutus with Vatican Junky as my third place banker. That will be 2 bets at 1 point each bet.

I’m trying the same bet in the 2nd heat using trap 1 Spiridon Louis and trap 6 Westmead Aoifa with Lenson Joker as my 3rd place banker.

I like to set myself little challenges – and Iceman Brutus helped me win a good Tricast doing this same bet earlier in the season. If I lose it will only cost me 4 points…

Looking at Ladbrokes prices for the Final I can see only 4 prices of any value after two heats:

Iceman Brutus: my price1/1; Ladbrokes 6/1– excellent value.
Directors Chair: my price 2/1: Ladbrokes 7/1- excellent value
Westmead Aoifa: my price 2/1 Ladbrokes 4/1- good value.
Greenwell Flash: my price 4/1; Ladbrokes 16/1–very good value.

I fancy Iceman Brutus to win the competition so I will bet it 2 points win. I should really bet it in the semi so that if it wins it pays for the bet!

Come racing!!