Garry Owen, Farringdon and Ratings score big March profits

Garry Owen, Farringdon and Spotlight show the way with big March returns

The productive start to the year continued in March with six tipsters posting naps profits. This takes the overall tally of profitable monthly returns to 16 so far in 2023, compared with just 10 for the same period last year.

Garry Owen topped the March list with 18.5 points. In what proved to be a tight month, the Daily Record’s correspondent was pushed all the way be Farringdon and Racing Post Ratings, who finished March with returns of 16.5 and 16 points respectively. Newsboy came fourth with 12.4 points while the list of profits was completed by the Duke (4.9 points) and Templegate (4.4 points).

A profitable Cheltenham was at the centre of Garry Owen’s success. Marine Nationale, the 9/2 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle hero (14 March) and Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase winner, The Real Whacker (8/1, 15 March), secured a 10.5-point Prestbury Park profit. The month had opened brightly with 3 winners from the first six naps including two 9/2 chances, while the post-Cheltenham highlight was the victory of 12/1 Cianciana at Musselburgh (24 March).

The speculative napping style of Farringdon paid off with three correct calls earning a 16.5-point return. Athmad came home in front at Southwell (7 March) at a huge price of 28/1. Two days later Dingle, a modest 7/2 chance, prevailed at Newcastle. Marty Byrde completed the month’s business with an 11/1 win at Exeter (26 March). Ten Farringdon naps were sent off at 10/1 or more, including one a 40s and two at 100/1.

Thanks to a 16-point return (37% strike-rate), Racing Post Ratings retained top position in the 2023 table, although Garry Owen is just 0.4 points adrift after March’s impressive showing.

Ratings was in typically consistent form, recording a third profit in as many months. Just two short losing sequences of four and five clouded an otherwise impeccable display. Successes included 9/1 Coral Cup winner Langer Dan (Cheltenham, 15 March), 11/2 Gallic Geordie (Wetherby, 21 March) and 5/1 Without Conviction (Ayr, 10 March).

Newsboy’s first profitable month of 2023 erased losses from the opening two months with added interest. The return was 12.4 points, pushing the Mirror’s pundit up to third in the overall table with 4.4 points.

Seven of Newsboy’s eight winners came in a frantic 11-day spell between 12 and 22 March with Iroko (6/1, Cheltenham), Major Dundee (12/1, Uttoxeter) and Skinflint (5/1, Chepstow) scoring on successive days between 17 and 19 March. This after a grisly opening with eight straight losing naps.

Major Dundee was also on the scoresheet for the Duke, who avoided any long losing streaks. That wasn’t the case for Templegate, however, who ended the month with 10 losers. Thanks to the Cheltenham success of The Real Whacker, however, Templegate, still finished with a return.

Like Newsboy, Robin Goodfellow’s March winners all come in a bundle: six out of seven between 6 and 12 March. This sequence featured 13/2 Sandown Park winner West To The Bridge (7 March) along with two 5/1 shots, but with losing runs of five and eighteen bookending the winning streak, the month ended with a 0.3-point loss.

Glendale’s form was also patchy: five wins from six between 5 and 10 March, featuring 12/1 Too Much (Southwell, 9 March), but just three wins from 19 either side of this feast ensured that the month ended with a small 0.9-point deficit.

Like several others, West Tip found winner-hunting easier in the first half of the month. A strike-rate of 50% for the period up to 17 March, but just 8% for the remaining two weeks. And a 1.9-point loss.

Turning briefly to the all-tips table, Marlborough went into the last day with an overall profit of 13.1 points. Alas, a 15.1-point loss on the day denied the Telegraph’s racing correspondent. But, after 704 selections, there was no shame in a 2-point loss (bets settled to SPs). As mentioned on twitter, punters who backed Marlborough’s selections with best odds guarantees would have ended the month well ahead.

Newsboy led the way for the duration of the Cheltenham Festival, posting a 36.8-point profit during the four-day period 14-17 March. Spotlight of the Racing Post (31.9 points), Garry Owen (27.2 points), Captain Keen (18.3 points) and the Guardian (12.3 points) also took the bookies to the cleaners during the Festival.

Date Published: 06/04/2023