Blog writing can be hard work

Believe it or not, but I stared writing this blog on Saturday morning!
I wasn't able to post it on the day due to a family commitment at lunchtime and by the time I got back to it, the day's racing was gone.  I did post my selection for the BetVictor Gold Cup on twitter (Starchitect who ran 2nd beaten only a neck) but I'm not sure how many saw it. for the time-being, I will be posting any selections I make on twitter; the reason being is that it is near impossible for me to put in the form study that I used to do (now I don't know how I did it before).
That, and I also have "issues" with my wrist which is made worse by using the laptop to search the formlines.  Typing isn't so bad, as that is more use of my fingers, but using the "mouse" requires thumb use and that is painful these days.  It has been creeping up on me for a couple of years, but now it is almost intolerable.  To try and alleviate the situation, I've even removed most of my social media apps from my phone.

I also started a new job last week, working from an office in Canary Wharf just a stones throw from the Racing Post offices, and now that retirement is probably less than 10 years away I'm having to concentrate more and more on paid work rather than blogging. The Pension Pot has to be filled.

As I have written before, I'm finding value is getting harder for the average punter to find, and you certainly won't find it in the big handicaps unless you are fortunate. Recently, I've been concentrating on smaller races which are more specialist, such as 3-mile handicap hurdles.  What I'm finding is that the formlines for the jump racing is more than reliable enough to make a decent profit, in fact it has reinforced my belief that jump racing is a better gambling medium than flat racing. I'm sure flat racing fans will disagree. However, the compromise that I've had to make to take advantage is that more and more I'm having to break the "no less than 9/4" rule for my wagers.  For instance, on Sunday, Fox Norton was sent off the 4/5 fav for the Shloer chase despite having about 10lb in-hand over his 4 rivals. I did point out he looked tremendous value the day before the race (on twitter) and I duly took advantage. The only way I could see him not winning was if he didn't finish the race and, as he's never fallen before, that was unlikely. I thought he should have been 1/3 maybe even 1/4 - he certainly won in that manner.

We've a good weekend of jump racing coming up, and I will be making some notes on Thursday with the intention of posting a blog on Saturday morning.