[Mike]

Hi
Dino Blue obliged albeit at 1-4 on but it gets the ball rolling for January with Hopefull,Andy, G and Rob all getting of the mark with +8.25 points. January will not take much winning as most of the big guns ran over x-mas so I might even stand a chance….lol.

[Mike]

Hi Suds
I do hope the Christmas break helped to recharge the batteries. ? Nice to see you back on the trainer trail and I can see you are going back to the original concept which worked so well for you.
I am still following your last trial option and the Eion Staples/Gavin Cromwell combo popped up again yesterday with Dameauscottlestown @ 12-1 and I will be storing this idea in the notebook especially regarding specific apprentices.
Anyway best of luck with the thread for 2026 and thanks for your continued assistance with the developing data base project.

[Mike]

Hi
Well not the dream ending I was looking for but such is life I am more than happy with the way this one went and the temptation to run it on into 2026 was very tempting but being approx +200 points up the challenge has somewhat gone out of this one.
Therefore I will restart from scratch for 2026 and try and expand on the idea to include maybe NHF races or change the staking plan to make it a bit more interesting. ???

[Mike]

Hi
As we start the new month the first horse up is a popular selection with Hopefull, APm, Mgame and Robmull all looking for the dream start to January with….

Dino Blue in the 2.45 at Fairyhouse

[Mike]

Hi
The last ditch effort looked promising two out on both options but alas no joy. I will not be totally giving up on the horse racing bet builder idea but may use it on another thread another day. I will commandeer the title of this thread so that I can start up another “Ridiculous Idea” thread for 2026 as unfortunately the joint venture did not come to fruition in time and I need to archive the 2025 one by tomorrow.
I will leave all the content on here for the time being and just rename this one until we can come up with another idea to play with.
Thanks for giving it a go and I am still convinced that the idea is solid its just that it did not pan out this time around. If anyone has a joint venture they want to try out or need a hand with please feel free to post it.

[Mike]

Hi
With Woodland Park only managing second the December Competition is done and dusted and the finishing positions were as mentioned in the previous post.

Joe (JoeH) +45.63
Suds (Clarence) +36.73
Hopefull +33.23

Joe wins the £5 free bet for winning the monthly competition and with Joe and Suds both having 4x winners apiece to make the cash competition a bit more interesting we have decided to give both of them a £5 free bet.
This means as it stands the cash competition now stands as follows
Suds has 1x unused £5 free bet but already has a £9.50 profit having used the first free bet to good effect. This means the used balance can be either be cashed reused or split in half and reused but the new £5 bet can only be used in one bet.
Rob and now Joe still have 2x £5 bets to use.
Remember that they do not count as profit until you have used the bet and it must be a win bet on horses from your competition list of entries. You may bet without the favorite/s etc and once a winning bet has been made the money from that bet can be split in half for future bets.

In the overall competition the standings are as follows

Suds +109.07
JoeH +99.27
Rob +93.17
Hopefull +65.85
Mgame +63.40
APm +48.97
Hmmm…+ 48.25 (who could that be)…lol

[Mike]

Hi All
I am not one for totally giving up on anything and before renaming this thread to ” The Bletchley Park Gang” or similar I wanted to throw one last Bet Builder option in.
Punchestown 3.05
Blue Reed
Dameauscottlestown
I’m Flattered
Space Warrior all for top 8 finish @ 10-1

Midnight Eagle
Dameauscottlestown
I’m Flattered
Space Warrior all for top 9 finish @ @ 10-1

[Mike]

Hi Rob
Strangely I had been discussing resurrecting the old “Cheltenham Countdown” thread over the x mas break but I never used to get involved until the non runner no bet offer came into play. ? But I am guessing the best prices will have gone by then unless you back chancers like mine…lol. As usual all the best with your new venture, from my recollection (from back in the day) if you had gone on “Mastermind” Group/Graded races would have been your specialist subject, so I have the faith in this thread from the off.

[Mike]

Hi
Andy (APm) has one going tomorrow but unfortunately for Andy mathematically it cannot effect Decembers result so it will be hats off to Joe (JoeH) and Suds (Clarence) this month. I will post the final totals tomorrow night. Andy’s runner is as follows.

Uttoxeter 12.43 Woodland Park

[Mike]

Hi
We have one last runner tomorrow for this thread and I would love it if it troubled the judge but I as you know I am happy enough with the thread this year, but…come on “Space Warrior”….lol.

Punchestown 3.03 Space Warrior 1 point E/W @ 9-1 for 6 places with Sky.

[Mike]

Hi
For the observant among you I had been playing with the excel sheet and made a boo boo with the points totals yesterday but the positions were more or less correct. Nothing has changed since correcting the the mistake yesterday with the exception that Suds had 2x winners by way of Wodhooh for +8.53 and Lossiemouth for +15.67 today totaling +24.20 and although a bold late move, could not catch JoeH.
This means that unless Hopefull or Andy have big priced winners with there forthcoming runners over the next two days, Joe will win the monthly competition as no one else has anything declared.
The monthly standings are as follows JoeH +45.63, Suds +36.73 and Hopefull +33.23 The overall standings see Suds the first to break the 100 point barrier and now has +109.07 Joe is the next inline with 99.27 and Rob remains on 93.17.
At the moment Joe H and Suds are both on 4x wins apiece and are inline for Decembers free bets for the most winners.

[Mike]

Hi
Another day of surprises but at the end of it Joe went into the lead in the monthly competition with a total of +45.63. Hopefull goes into second place with +36.73 and Hopefull is tucked in on +33.23. Joe has 4 wins in the bag but no more runners Hopefull has 3 winners and 1 declared for Tuesday so still has a shout. Mgame has 3 wins and needs Brighterdaysahead to win tomorrow at odds of 11-4 or better to threaten Joe and get the all important extra win. Suds has two wins and three going tomorrow albeit two in the same race but there are still possibilities to grab another free bet if two of those win.
In the overall competition JoeH is now leading with +99.27 and couldould still be in that position as we go into the new year unless Anzadam wins for Rob tomorrow as Rob is in second place overall on +93.17. Suds is on +95.87 and is also closing in fast but with the added bonus of having two runners tomorrow.

[Mike]

Hi
That would be a nice way to finish the thread off if this was the last bet as Accustomed finished 6th for a +2.80 point profit. I will wait just in case there is another one going as we still have a couple of days to go before we hit 2026.

[Mike]

Hi
The Dancen Kid was a non runner and Miss Mini Bee lost but we still might get another couple of chances before we close this one down. Over at Leopardstown tomorrow we have one going which is a new runner and at the price will only need to be a 1/2 point e/w wager.
12.45 Accustomed @ 33-1 for 6 places

[Mike]

Hi
I am beginning to think after today’s results this is going to develop into a match between Suds & Rob…lol. All of the other entrants runners which I expected to get home missed out but Bownesonfire (Suds) +11 points & Haiti Coleurs (Rob) + 20 points both came in.
This means after day two of the big weekend the monthly standings are as follows.
Rob has now gone back into the lead with +35.73 and 2 wins
Mgame & JoeH remain on +28.13 points both with 2 wins
Suds has moved up into contention on +23.33 points and also has 2 wins
There are two +15 points races tomorrow and a +12 with Hopefull holding most of the aces if the bookies have got it right. Both Joe and Andy could get involved if it goes to plan but Rob could close this months competition off if his two come in.
This is why I absolutely love these competitions as it looks like this will go down to the wire once more. Rob has also retaken the lead in the overall competition with +93.17 and Suds is close up in second on +84.87 Joe remains on +69.77 but as mentioned above could turn it around tomorrow.

[Author]

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