Next week I’m away down to Devon for the family’s traditional Christmas holiday.  There have been times over the past months when I’ve wondered if it’s going to be possible, but I live in a Tier 2, Devon is Tier 2, and we’re keeping within our normal family bubble so it all looks like it should be ok.

The only issue is going to be fighting putting on even more Christmas “padding”, as it looks as if I’m going to eat even more than the usual seasonal excess.  If you can’t go into a pub for a pint without eating a “substantial meal”, heaven help me!  What’s worse is my eldest has recently turned 18, so no doubt the call of the local with it’s real local ale, roaring fire and old oak beams will be more alluring than ever.  Oh well, after the year we’ve all had, if we can’t treat ourselves a little this Christmas, when can we?

Generally speaking I tend not to bet too much over the holiday period.  Racing closes down for a couple of days before Christmas anyway, and getting a proper break from it all is something I find very refreshing.  No doubt I’ll be following Racing Service 1 in on Boxing Day.  It wouldn’t feel like Boxing Day if I didn’t and getting the bets on takes no more than a couple of minutes, but other than that I’ll have a rest and take the opportunity to recharge the old batteries.

Last week showed another overall profit, and the ROI for the month to date remains around a healthy 11-12%, although there were no fireworks similar to those we saw from RS1 the previous weekend.  Precision Value fared the best, bringing in consistent profit through the week.

Other than that and it was all a little mundane.  Good to see Racing Intelligence hit a winner and surely it’s only a matter of time before negative variance slams into reverse and we see a return to the good times  One thing is for sure, this is a service that can win points at a rapid rate when in form so it might not take too long to claw back the losses from this current drawdown.

A nod to Scottish Football Income Booster, who enjoyed another decent weekend.  It really is beginning to find some consistency over the past two or three weeks and hopefully this signals a sustained period of good form.  It must have been a really difficult year for footie tipsters.  Impossible to accurately assess the impact on form that having no crowd, an overly busy fixture list (which is just about to get crazy-buzy) leading to increased muscle injures to the players, the refereeing body changing the handball rule that saw an unprecedented number of penalties being awarded post-lockdown (some of which were, to any sane person, worse than ridiculous) and the incessant nonsense of VAR and the impact that has….blimey, that’s a lot of variables to try to get your head around when looking for value in the markets! Gives me a headache just thinking about it.

So, all that remains for me to say for now, is have a wonderful Christmas.  Stay healthy, and here’s to a much better 2021 for everyone.  It’s been a heck of a year.

Portfolio performance for December (to 13th)

Bet Alchemist (100 point bank): Staked 22pts, -6.975pts

Golf Insider (400): Staked 29pts, +2.75pts

Northern Monkey (100): Staked 14pts, -5.875pts.

PGA Profit (500): Staked 25.5pts, -13.77pts

Precision Value (200): Staked 46pts, +11.838pts

Racing Intelligence (200): Staked 25pts, -5.95pts

Scottish Football Income Booster (100): Staked 22pts, +6.909pts

Racing Service 1 (50): Staked 6.5pts, +9.75pts.

Total for December: ROI 11.75%, ROC 2%

There are times when I am stupid.  Not necessarily in what I do, but how I think (although if you ask my wife she’d probably tell you a fair bit of what I do is fairly daft).  Last week was a case in point.

Whenever a tipster is on a bad run, or if I’m enduring a bad spell with a number of tipsters underperforming, I always get overly optimistic when a new month starts.  I tell myself over and over that it doesn’t work like that.  That form doesn’t suddenly improve just because it’s the 1st of December now, and that November is behind us.  And then for some unknown reason, I’m mildly surprised and disappointed when double digit winners don’t go flying in left, right and centre.

Take Racing Intelligence.  They endured a difficult November and we’ve experienced something of a drawdown.  Why did I, even slightly, think that because we have a new month, that they would immediately start clawing those losses back and show a complete turnaround in fortunes?  It doesn’t work like that, does it?  Any idiot can see that.  And yet here I am, being dopey, and feeling like a parent who has been slightly disappointed and let down by their child’s behaviour in a restaurant.  A feeling of, how could you?

Makes no sense, does it?

Anyway, turning towards the more positive, and last weekend saw Racing Service 1 really get it’s season underway with an 8/1 winner on Friday and a 22/1 winner (yes, 22/1, although I should have got 25s but that’s another story) on Saturday.  So in a week in which Bet Alchemist, PGA Profits, and Racing Intelligence all ended with losses, whilst Golf Insider ended level and Precision Value only a small profit, I’ve somehow ended the week up at an ROI of over 11%.  Offer me 11% over a year and I’d snap your hand off!  So why am I feeling gloomy?

Finally, an honourable mention to Scottish Football Income Booster, who came good this week.  Not spectacularly so, but that’s two profitable weekends in a row now, so perhaps we’re seeing something of a return to form.

Return to form.  Seems to be a theme for the week.

Portfolio performance for December (to 6th)

Bet Alchemist (100 point bank): Staked 13pts, -8.55pts

Golf Insider (400): Staked 18pts, 0pts

Northern Monkey (100): Staked 7.75pts, +0.8pts.

PGA Profit (500): Staked 17.5pts, -17.5pts

Precision Value (200): Staked 21pts, +1.375pts

Racing Intelligence (200): Staked 16pts, -13.45pts

Scottish Football Income Booster (100): Staked 12pts, +3.65pts

Racing Service 1 (50): Staked 3.5pts, +10.75pts.

Total for December: ROI 11.86%, ROC 1.09%

Well that dragged.  November seemed to go on forever. Perhaps it was the gloomier, colder weather.  Perhaps it was the lockdown.  Perhaps it is because I follow Racing Intelligence, which had a month to forget.  Either way, it’s over now and we have Christmas to look forward to, a vaccine, and perhaps the first real light at the end of the Covid tunnel.  Here’s hoping so.

Let’s start the round-up of the month with the best performer, and as the title of this post will have told you, that’s Northern Monkey.  It’s re-entry into the portfolio was well timed, and it was like saying hello to an old friend you haven’t seen for ages.  Well done, Wayne old chap.  Keep it up – there’s a good fellow. 🙂

In second place, timing it’s run as well as one of it’s winning tips storming up the Cheltenham hill, was Racing Service 1, who had winners at 11/1 and 10/1 on Saturday.  It’s been a difficult first month of the new season for RS1, coming to terms with a new bet release time, an altered way of doing write-ups, and Exchange price crashes.  As ever though, A. seems to have got on top of things, made a couple of tweaks, and I’m as pleased for him for Saturday’s results as I am for myself.

Then we have Golf Insider, and his 500/1 winner this month will live long in the memory.  I’m pretty sure that’s the longest price I’ve collected from ever.  The New Year will see me adopt a different, level stakes approach, as was recommended in the SBC review.

Precision Value managed to tip four horses to finish second from five bets on Monday, and by doing so downgraded what looked like being a great month to a merely decent one.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was kinda hoping the fifth tip would finish 2nd too, through some sort of weird masochistic desire.  It didn’t – it came nowhere.

On a similar theme, Bet Alchemist gave back a few points over the weekend to take the gloss off what in the end was a solid enough month.

The three services to end in the red were Scottish Football Income Booster, PGA Profit, and Racing Intelligence.  I have to say I was hoping for a lot more from SFIB, which traditionally excels at the start of the season.  With lower league Scottish football resuming this month, I was optimistic.  Hopefully, those expected profits will materialize in December instead.

As for Racing Intelligence, what is there to say other than it was a rotten month, best forgotten.  Let’s see what it can do to turn things around.

Now, I’m off to get a haircut…

Portfolio performance for November

Bet Alchemist (100 point bank): Staked 39pts, +5.737pts

Golf Insider (400): Staked 55pts, +45.837pts

Northern Monkey (100): Staked 44.5pts, +20.26pts.

PGA Profit (500): Staked 62pts, -28pts

Precision Value (200): Staked 99pts, +13.041pts

Racing Intelligence (200): Staked 258.5pts, -58.341pts

Scottish Football Income Booster (100): Staked 25pts, -2.641pts

Racing Service 1 (50): Staked 14pts, +5.758pts.

Total for November: ROI 5.29%, ROC 2.51%