Today was a day for playing around. It was also a day for rolling with the punches. Finally, it was a day for basking in the glow of a small profit, content in the knowledge that I’d made the right choices at the right time.

In the first race I had a £40 bet in running on New Little Bric, backed at 5.4 and subsequently laid at 4.3. This generated a free position that would have been worth £41.80 after commission, but with NLB finishing seventh, it was all for nothing. L’Antartique was the 20-1 winner, the third day in a row where a fancied runner was turned over and an unfancied horse returned at a big price.

My book on the Ryanair was far more complicated. I laid off my Monet’s Garden 3-1 from Ladbrokes on Betfair at 3.4, generating a £60 free bet. I put this on my real fancy, Taranis, at 5.8, but subsequently laid and backed the horse three more times (laid 5.5, backed 5.8, laid 4.2). This meant that my final book read Monet’s Garden +£60, Taranis £103.30, The Field -£5, a position I was justifiedly pleased with. As I thought, the 7-4 favourite lacked the pace to cope with the French bred Taranis, who finished about five lengths in front of him, the 9-2 winner.

As I mentioned earlier today, my ante-post bet on Inglis Drever was starting to worry me. I managed to lay £104.16 on Betfair at 5.8 to cover myself, which left me with a 3p profit if Inglis won and a £1.05 loss if anything else did! I also decided to back Mighty Man, putting on £50 at 5.4, which was subsequently laid off in-running at 2.4. Inglis drifted badly on the exchanges and I bought back £20 @ 6.8 for old times sake, although this then also got laid in-running, £24.16 @ 5.8. When the dust settled, my position here was Inglis Drever +£20.03, Mighty Man +£141.45, The Field -£1.05, another book that I was very happy with.

Black Jack Ketchum was sent off 2-1 favourite and fell at the third, at which point the odds on the others all shrank noticeably. Inglis fell out of contention early and his price drifted alarmingly on Betfair, leaving me pleased with having got out of jail with my AP bet on him. Mighty Man ran well for a while, but then dropped back a bit and with about half a mile to go, Inglis came from behind and took the race by the scruff of the neck. He eventually won at 5-1, about a length in front of a fast finishing Mighty Man who was sent off at 100-30. The winning distance probably doesn’t do justice to ID’s superiority and I think he had the race under control at that stage.

Now I know that if I’d left alone I’d have been £500 up rather than £20 odd, but I’m happy that I did the right thing. I made the decision to lay Inglis off because I realised that at that time, if I hadn’t already backed him, I wouldn’t back him there and then, in which case it would have been wrong to leave the bet to stand. Also, when he dropped right back in running, I would have cheerfully sold my AP bet for £20 if I hadn’t already laid off, because it looked like he had no chance of winning. I’ve laid off many bets in the past that would have lost if they went to term, so you learn to take the rough with the smooth.

I had a small TV interest bet in the RP Plate, having £10 on No Full at 50.0 and laying off in running at 30.0. He beat three horses home. Doumen’s horse Moncadou was backed down to 5-1, which was far too short for me to have any interest, the same going for the 7-2 favourite Opera Mundi. They finished 14th and 19th respectively. Idole First was the 12-1 winner.

I listened to the NH Challenge Cup on Betfair radio, wishing that I could see Gungadu live. He went off the 2-1 favourite and had traded at probably 5-2 on the exchanges, a much bigger price than anyone anticipated. I might have laid him at 5-4, but I certainly wasn’t going to a 5-2, but with 12 stone on his back, I couldn’t bet him either. Instead, I was tempted into putting a tenner on a horse called Ballytrim, which Timeform bigged up on the radio and which also happened to be trained by Willie Mullins, who I’ve always been partial to. I got 26.0 and tried to lay at 16’s, but there was nothing doing there as he never got into the picture. He was one of the ten finishers, coming eighth at 16-1.

Gungadu ran quite well, but fell two out (a very hard fence). By the sounds of it he was quite tired by this stage, so even if he stayed on his feet I doubt he’d have won. A shame that he didn’t get the chance to try though. It will be interesting to see the replay later as there was carnage at the third last, with four falling and about five more being hampered. One that got through was Jonjo O’Neill’s Butler’s Cabin, who became another big priced Festival winner at 33-1, maybe landing a touch for JP?

Finally, the Pertemps went to Oscar Park, a 14-1 shot.

So my Cheltenham day ended at £113.33 in profit, giving me £884.33 for the week so far. Tomorrow will be crucial and I may try and lay my 2-1 on Wichita Lineman off if I stand a chance of getting even money or slightly greater. The horse currently trades a little over 6-4, but I think there will be a big plunge on this one tomorrow and I expect him to be a warm order. I would like to get to a four figure profit for the week and don’t really want to lose anything back. Exotic Dancer is my only other extant bet.

I’m slightly tempted in the Triumph after Sublimity’s win in the Champion on Tuesday. He was the best flat horse in the race and I think that the Triumph may well go a similar way. Degas Art has the best flat form and is trading at 10.0, Lounaos was also decent and is 5.3. I still like the 14.0 chance Duty, but he was a bit behind them on the flat. I have a lot to think about here.

Finally, on another note I traded out my position on Ireland in the cricket at the interval, when they were down to 2.18. It would be a small profit, but I'm worried about the effect of the rain on their fielding. Nine overs into Zimbabwe's reply, the Irish have drifted out to 3.25, but I think this could still be a close match, although do need to bowl as well as they bat.