Festivals Taking The P? Plus Free Saturday Selections

Having spent a few days in my home town of Bournemouth this week (have laptop will travel), I have not really taken too much interest in the racing, I must concede.

However, I must confess to Festival Fatigue, a (seemingly) new ailment brought on by too many racing 'festivals' in a short space of time.

After the wonders of Cheltenham and, to a lesser degree, Aintree, we are now being treated to Punchestown and - wait for it - Perth!

Now, lest I offend any Northern readers, let me please clarify a couple of points. Firstly, Perth always looks like a beautiful track and - indeed - a wonderful place to spend a few days. I am also led to believe it is the UK's northernmost racetrack. For all of this, a Festival course it is not, I'm afraid. At least not to this humble (and opinionated) scribe.

Its been an up and down week for TTS followers, with many horses running below par, especially from the Nigel Twiston-Shout (or Davies for the purists) stable. Most of his runners this week have finished with a P to their name, merely extending the P theme of the week.

Over at Punchestown, their Festival really is a war of attrition between bookies, barmen and bettors. Its a five day marathon with a couple short of four thousand races (or so it seems), and for me this 'Festival' seems very much a case of 'after the Lord Mayor's show'.

There are not too many champions on show, with the possible exception of the magnificent and geriatric Spot Thedifference.

So for me its been a "keep the powder dry" week, ahead of some more interesting and - hopefully - profit packed punting (more p's: I'm hitting my stride now with this alliteration mallarkey!) in the weeks ahead on the level.

Other news: Teofilo update. The horse that this (idiotic?) scribe said cannot win the Guineas after his injury scare is due to do his first full work since the setback tomorrow, and all eyes will be on Jim Bolger's gallop for news on the movement and speed of the Second Coming of Shadowfax (I used Pegasus the other day, and I'm now out of mythically fast horses to allude to, so all suggestions welcomed. Does a centaur count? Didn't think so...)

Betfair currently has the horse at a little over 9/4, so for those of you who availed yourself of 11/1 or thereabouts, you have a fine opportunity to trade out and have an interest at around 8.5/1 with no risk. That's about the only way I'd play Teofilo, despite all the recent support.

Bottom line is he will have still missed a very important week or ten days of work, just a week prior to the big day, and I doubt that any horse is capable of winning a Classic at 90% fitness. Well, we shall certainly see. I'll be listening out for the reports of tomorrow's gallop with much interest.

Football: If you're a fan of footy, and like to bet on it, I'll be sharing my thoughts in this column from next season (may seem like a long way off but its only three months away), prior to starting a football service. I only had one ante-post bet this season. Hartlepool for League Two at 14/1 each way. I'm already certain to be paid out on the place, and if the MonkeyHangers win tomorrow and Walsall fail to win, its the gravy train for me... More on the footy in due course.

Finally, as promised, here are tomorrow's TTS and TFS qualifiers, free to you my dear readers:

Sandown
2.15 Sasso
Treasury Counsel
2.40 Hoo La Baloo

Haydock
6.15 Majestic Cheer
8.15 Sowdrey

You can still get Trainer Flat Stats until Monday at better than half price (£27) so, if you're interested, go to www.trainerflatstats.com/introorderpage.html

Until next time, have a great weekend, and may your next bet be a winner!

Matt