The nice man at Betfair has fixed my account problem. You’ll remember my consternation when I discovered that I didn’t have a funded account. It turns out that I wasn’t bankrupt after all. It seems that the iPhone app iBetMate needs a transaction every now and then on the Main Wallet to keep working and all my money is in the Australian Licence Wallet. It’s a bit of a fiddle but the problem was solved by transferring one dollar into the Main Wallet. So I’m all set again to lay some horses.

A beautiful day at Flemington, but warm and sticky. The first race is made for me: two-year-olds and only seven runners. Two place dividends, if you can find that second horse. Redangelo is the red hot favourite, comfortable and relaxed, and I’ve crossed out all the other horses. The books have it at $1.45 for the place so it looks like no bet, but with 20 seconds to go it’s holding up at $1.90 on the tote on a small pool, so I go for it. The horse fights on well after being headed in the straight for a strong win. I’m happy with $1.80.

In the second I like Winged Charm and the $2.00 for second makes it two from two. Gail looked the goods in the third, a big strong looking mare, but too short at $1.40. I liked Port Vell in the fourth, but the favourite Cabeza looked very good too, so no bet. In the fifth Pergola was sweating up badly, but I regard that as a positive on a hot day. However, I didn’t like it resisting the jockey. I had Cheerful Jury on top from Olympic Win and Pheromone. Cheerful Jury was $5.00 the place with the books which was too tempting to resist, but the horse shamed me by finishing tailed off 12 lengths last. Olympic Win won, and Pheromone got a sniff for third at $4.10.

In the sixth Big Spirit sported some lovely orange winkers for my picture library. And the filly, Warm Love, was a stand out, with Grand Duels the only danger. Normally I would discount Grand Duels chances because of his bandage, but he has won so often with it that I now ignore it. Warm Love was $1.55 with the books but with 10 seconds to go hit $1.90 on the tote. Grand Duels just grabbed the filly on the line. The final dividend of $1.70 for second was under my threshold $1.80 but I was happy to collect. No bet in the seventh. Voile Rouge was sweating up copiously and won convincingly. The horse clearly demonstrated that sweating up on a hot and humid day is a help and not a hindrance. King Diamond was a picture of perfect fitness in the last. He won like a good thing and I had a very modest win bet on him just to round out the day.

A good day, with three out of four winning place bets. And in the end I didn’t lay a single horse.

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