Reasons to be cheerful.

Well, back into it all again.

To very quickly bring things up to speed, April ended just shy of £1,300 down which makes the running total for 2011 a loss of £400. Not disastrous by any stretch, but blimey, it has been tough going. Strangely though, I'm going into May feeling very positive. A clawing back of nigh on £600 over the last week has probably contributed more than anything else to that feeling, but there are other reasons for taking the optimistic approach too.

At the top of that list of reasons is that last month was the worst I have ever had by quite some distance (my previous worst was a deficit of just under £500 last July), and yet somehow, by hook or by crook, psychologically I seem to have come out the other end. Looking back, I'm not too sure how, and if it wasn't for my wife placing last week's bets I would have been £1,800 down for April and couldn't say legitimately that I had come out the other end ok. Behind every (not so) great man, and all that.

What other reasons are behind the feeling that things are looking up? Well looking at the figures, it seems that the upturn has been down to a number of services stretching across the portfolio. It hasn't been as a result of one particular service going on an absolutely once-in-a-lifetime run or anything. Winning Racing Tips, Chasemaster, Football Investor, Strike Zone...they have all performed extremely well over the last week or so. But even services that made an overall loss on the month began to claw back some of those losses - ProBandit and PJA NH come to mind. Suddenly, I feel that the whole portfolio has a solid look again.

Finally, there's the new set up at TPI Towers; a sharing of the workload which as I stated earlier in the month should allow time away from it all. It also negates the need to downsize the portfolio, something that I was beginning to feel was necessary for personal reasons but far from desirable on punting grounds.

Of course, it could all go badly wrong again in May. Who knows? If so, we'll just have to absorb the losses, and go again in June. Easier said than done I guess. What I do feel though, is that some valuable lessons have been learnt over the last few weeks. Experiences that will be remembered and drawn upon when things go wrong in the future which let's face it, will happen.

Let's see what May brings.



Weekend's Action

Saturday

A very solid day's punting on the nags. On The Nose staked large on Green's Destiny (Newmarket - 13/2), PJA NH picked King Of Dubai (Uttoxeter - 8/1) and Olympian (Uttoxeter - 9/4), and Northern Monkey weighed in with Justfortheroad (Thirsk - 5/1). ProBandit also had that one, and Chasemaster had two tips and two winners - Overlaw (Uttoxeter - 4/1) and Fortysecond Street (Hexham - 9/1). Obviously there were losers amongst this lot, but overall a nice profit was returned.

And then came the football. Plaudits first...Football Investor rounded off a very good month with four from eight including Macclesfield at 6.25/1 and Eastbourne at 5/1. Eastbourne were 3-0 up in the second half, allowed their opponents to come back to 3-3, before scoring a winner in injury time! Strike Zone also produced a small profit with one of their two selections winning.

Now a last minute winner for Eastbourne was nice. What wasn't so appreciated were two very late equalisers against two of The Football Analyst's three picks which in the space of five minutes, turned a very healthy profit into a wipeout. Graeme really has had no luck at all this month, with so many of the big selections ending in draws. It has been a terrible month for the system I follow, but I know for a fact that TFA will be in my portfolio next season. More on that in the monthly review.

Finally, Football Elite had a loser.

So all in, subtracting the football losses from the racing gains, I ended up £41 up. Could have been so much better.


Sunday

Much quieter day on the gee gees today. 4PA's 1000 Guineas antepost tips both finished unplaced, but they did get a return from Hawkeyethenoo finishing in the frame in one of the handicaps at Newmarket. On The Nose found a very nice winner in Time's Up (Newmarket - 10/1). A blank day for Northern Monkey.

It was the football this afternoon where some real satisfaction was found...Football Investor and Strike Zone both indicated that Arsenal should be backed against Manchester United. In the words of Churchill (the dog, not Winston)...Oh yes!

Month to date: Staked £360, +£48.13, roi 13.36%.


Has 'Match of the Day 2' started yet?