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Wednesday 27 February 2013

Is there anything to be gained backing ante post at this stage ?



Jim Mcgrath said on last Saturday's morning line that there was no point backing ante post on some races at Cheltenham as you just dont know what is going to run until the final declarations are provided 48 hours before.

Tom Segal, in today's Weekender, who is a lover of ante post bets, puts up David Pipe's Ballynagour as a good thing in whatever race he runs in but Ballynagour currently has a choice of 4 possible races - The Byrne Group Plate (best price 6/1), The Grand Annual (16/1), The Coral Cup (16/1) or The Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Hurdle (16/1).
Okay if we get lucky and choose the right race we may get a few points extra but equally if we choose the wrong option then it's a point lost before we start.
When we make these ante post bets it is surely in the hope that the selections will win rather than place and when the festival is finally here nothing will have changed we will still be wanting that horse to win but more importantly we will then know exactly which race Ballynagour is in and we will also know exactly who the opposition is.
There's no point speculating, or backing everything in sight everytime someone says they know something, why not sit tight and wait until the night before and then get stuck in. The chances are the bookies will want to attract bets and will push the prices out again.