Bottom of the barrel

The clocks are about to change, racing gets earlier in the day and the quality drops off. The flat turf season is just about expended and the jumps and all weather racing are popping up with increasing regularity. Its officially the start of the tough period!

OK, lets not get all gloomy, there are plenty of opportunities, just less of them and fewer quality ones. Also it’s all relative. I am sure anybody starting out, would be happy with what some people consider a poor return. But as you go through the years though you realise the chance for really big totals and records has gone for the year. From a practical perspective, the issue you suddenly face is that that the good results become more important to get and the bad results much more important to avoid. If you are not careful this can play on your mind and affect your trading. You can often find yourself scraping the bottom of the barrel in order to top up your results for the day. Then suddenly a good race can replace many poorer ones.

But take heart, harder periods create opportunity as well, it’s a low risk time to try new things. There are other aspects too. For personal reasons I had to take last February off. It’s the first time in years I’ve had so long away from my desk. Despite this, as I approach the end of October I am already ahead of last year’s total for October and well ahead for the year on a like for like basis. So while missing a month put a dent in my P&L, it turned out not to be much of a dent. Missing some time here and there doesn’t really matter in my opinion. What February taught me was that I really should bring my life / work balance back into line. Also, if you have a tough day, I wouldn’t worry too much, its quite normal and in the scheme of things it doesn’t matter. Try and broaden out your view from just a race or a day to a much wider measurement.

I’ll be toning down my expectations from now for a few months. I’ll still look to do the best I can but I am also significantly increasing my activity in other areas this year. I also have a few projects to work on and some extra time to spend with the kids, it’s half term next week. Life is for living and while winter is decreases opportunities in some areas it opens them up elsewhere.

Category: Using Bet Angel