Where were we? Oh, yes. In the doldrums.

I'm currently reading a novel by the Irish author John Boyne, which is based around the story 'Mutiny on the Bounty'. I'm sure you're all familiar with what happened on that boat and the tale of Captain Bligh's remarkable journey to safety once cast off by the mutineers. Well anyway, in the chapter I read last night it described the boredom suffered by the men as they slowly crossed the ocean, the only distraction the occasional storm that added to the already burdensome workload of the crew. It didn't take a tremendous leap of the imagination to draw parallels with my betting and with what is happening at the moment.

Of progress there is none. Last year, when things were going along nicely, there were a few services that excelled, a few that trod water, and just one or two that went through a rocky spell before recovering. Since the start of this year though, it seems that too many services have experienced really tough spells. Really tough. The unfortunate knock-on effect is that the portfolio as a whole has essentially stood still, as the better performers have merely served to keep the portfolio head above water, as opposed to providing strong profits.

This last month has been a microcosm of this. Starting well, the month has been dragged down over the last two weeks and is now running at a loss. On The Nose has been remarkable and had a terrific York, picking Our Joe Mac (8/1) and Navajo Chief (25/1) plus a couple to place at good odds, and added to the haul at Sandown on Saturday with Fallen Idol (15/2). They are currently up over 36pts for August at an roi of 121%!

You would think that this would be enough to be the basis of a fairly strong performance from the racing services, wouldn't you? But as seems to be so typical for this year, the profits from On The Nose have been turned into a loss by 4PA, which had a a very poor York, and Winning Racing Tips which seems to be going through the type of run where anything that can go wrong does.

Not been a good weekend on the football either, with Football Elite's three selections all going down, two teams giving up leads today by letting in late (very late in one case) equalisers.

So what sort of toll is this taking? To be honest, not a huge one at present. It's disheartening, of course it is. Trying to be dispassionate though, each one of the services followed have a long term track record, have been through bad spells and come out the other end. That must be the focus, and is the only way to cope with the effort taken to make progress whilst going through the doldrums, waiting for the day when a fair wind will blow and fill the sails again.

Month to date: Staked £5,127.50, -£221.22, roi -4.31%.
Running total (inc. fees): -£530.02, roi -4.28%.


There's a new tennis tournament starting tomorrow in the States and with that, plus some interesting football to watch this week, posts may be scarce. I'll post as and when I can.

Oh, and if everyone can have a look for a cheque book in the name of 'Arsenal Football Club', I'd be most grateful. It appears to have been mislaid.