Due to holidays Irish tipster data may be delayed until later than usual.
Bet365

Red-hot Postdata score rare double

The Racing Post’s Postdata service dominated event in January topping both the All-tips and the naps tables. A return of 38.6 points on all-tips was earned from 799 individual selections (strike-rate was 28%), while an 11.8-point yield on naps ensured a comfortable victory in that division.

Encouragingly no fewer than seven tipsters posted profitable returns in January with their naps, five more than was the case last year.

Postdata’s all-tips return featured a number of big-priced winners notably 20/1 Action Motion (Cork, 7 January), and two Southwell upsets, 18/1 May Sonic (24 January) and 16/1 Tiger Spirit (10 January). Southwell was certainly a favoured track last month as four of the month’s eleven top-priced successes (10/1 or bigger) came at the East Midlands course. Dundalk was also a profitable venue for Postdata with January winners at 12/1, 11/1 and 10s.

Elsewhere, Captain Keen’s happy knack of unearthing under-the-radar winners continued with two 25/1 punts coming in: Ciao Adios at Southwell (20 January) and Shared (Wetherby, 26 January).

Postdata, who topped the naps listing in October and November, made it three from four with an 11.8-point January posting.

At 18/1, the Charlie Hills-trained May Sonic was the outsider of seven at Southwell (24 January), but Postdata was alert to the chances of the seven-year-old gelding, who was seeking a first win since July 2021. And, sure enough, May Sonic scored a narrow victory under Kieran Shoemark.

There were five other winning naps for Postdata including a run of four from five mid-month. Postdata’s naps yield for the past four months stands at an impressive 31.6 points.

Until May Sonic propelled Postdata into pole position, Templegate held a precarious advantage. Midnight River (6/1) gave the Sun’s pundit a perfect start to the new year with victory at Cheltenham (1 January). Skye Breeze (7/4 Newcastle) maintained the winning habit the next day, but the next eleven selections all lost. West Balboa (12/1, Kempton Park, 14 January) ended the losing streak, but with only two of the last eleven naps prevailing, Templegate was unable to regain the initiative. Nonetheless, a 5.5-point return represented a solid opening effort.

Marlborough’s return of 3.6 points would have been much better but for a mid-month lapse when only one out of 14 naps obliged. This came after a fine opening with four wins from nine and was followed by a robust finale: 3 wins from the last six. All eight winners came on all-weather surfaces with The XO (Southwell, 6 January), Marmara Star (Wolverhampton, 16 January) and Pride Of America (Kempton Park, 28 January) all recording starting prices of 11/2.

Best January strike-rate belonged to West Tip: 46%. And this came after the month’s first four naps lost, meaning that the rate for the rest of January was actually more than 54%. No huge prices – the best was 7/2 Sams Adventure (Catterick, 25 January) – but a steady stream of winners with an absence of losing runs. The overall profit for January came in at 3.3 points.

The Racing Post’s Ratings service also posted a high strike-rate of 39% with just a five-day losing run interrupting the flood of winners. Aazza (7/2, Doncaster, 10 January) was the best priced of eleven winning naps. Prices were again low, which explains the modest profit of 1.4 points.

The Guardian on the other hand, went in search of value and struck gold with six naps all priced between 9/4 and 13/2. Six naps were priced at 10/1 or above, including a rare 50/1 offering. All six lost, but there’s no questioning the ambition. A losing run of the seven at the end of the month reduced the profits to 1.3 points.

Iwilldoit, a 12/1 winner at Warwick on 14 January was the highlight of Spotlight’s month which, thanks to a late rally, ended with a 0.7-point return, while Glendale fell short by a smidgeon.

Date Published: 03/02/2023