I’ve got the vision

By Ronan Groome

Saturday, May 29th

Summer only begins for us college students after exams, which I finished last Thursday. I have to say I am more of a Christmas/Winter man myself; it makes me feel better about myself slouching on the couch when it is raining outside. But I had a feeling of relaxation and happiness this Saturday morning. Exams were over and I had quite a profitable weekend. After messing around with my big pay-out from Inter’s Champions League win, I wisely decided to withdraw a large chunk of that, and in doing so, my Betfair account forged into an overall profit since I made my first ever deposit. That was a huge achievement for me.

Whilst studying for exams during the week, my mind had drifted into a coma of day-dreaming at least five or six times each day. Amidst thinking about the likes of women, my purpose in life, how boring it must be to do accounting everyday and is it really necessary for a company to have a HR Manager, I had come up with a new betting strategy for the weekend. My plan was to get my bets on in the morning and turn my laptop off for the rest of the day; no pansy laying off, no hesitation (a wise friend once said, hesitation equals devastation), no wasting winnings and no regrets. I had studied the racing on Friday evening and narrowed my main focus down to four races. I had €20 on Bewitched at 6.1 in the 2:30 Listed race at Haydock, €10 on Rainfall at 12 in the same race, €8 on Business As Usual at 6.6 in the 2.45 three-year-old handicap, copied Tom Segal’s advice for the sprint handicap at Newmarket, €15 on Gene Autry at 8.6 and €5 on Swilly Ferry at 16 and finally €18 on Giant Slalom at 10.5 in the 5.00 at Navan. Sitting back watching the action was one of the most enjoyable Saturdays I have had in a long-time. Bewitched led home Rainfall, I was counting my beans over two furlongs out. Then, 15 minutes later, Business As Usual did the business, if you like, at Newmarket. Then, Swilly Ferry swooped late in the big sprint at Newmarket, all hail King Tom Segal. Giant Slalom let the side down for a clean sweep but I was already well covered for the day. This new strategy couldn’t actually work could it? Surely it couldn’t be that simple.

It was time to unload on Eurovision. As one of my mates said, all of Europe’s problems should be dealt with via Eurovision. No need for wars or the like. I mean there was no way Iceland had any chance, even if they had an act that flew across Oslo and back, the rest of Europe were not going to have it. Azerbaijan were the warm favourites and were out of stall one. After watching, I immediately scrambled on to my laptop and had €25 on their girl at 3.75. I was reasonably happy until 20 songs later, second favourites Germany were up and I am not going to lie, there was just something about the 18 year-old’s voice that had me hooked. I could not believe she was drifting on Betfair mid-song. After deliberating for 15 minutes, I decided to jump ship, laying off my other bet and having €30 on the German girl at 5.5 instead.

Let me hear you say: LENA…LENA …LENA, boom!

Sunday, May 30th

Woke up to the sound of “Like a satellite, I’m in an orbit all the way around you”, oh yes, and I was in an ultra-confident mood as well for the feast of Sunday sporting action that lay ahead. England were playing Japan and Capello looked to have gone with a very decent line-up. I had a few correct score bets, €12 on 3-0, 3-1 and unquoted score for England. The Japanese took the lead inside six minutes, and England were fairly abysmal after that. It took two woeful own goals to get them in front in the second half and needing one more goal to land a hundred bucks, Heskey missed a header from four yards.

In between I got to watch my golden girl Caroline Wozniacki advance to the last eight of the French Open, she is now as short as 10/1. She could well end up facing Dementieva in the semi-final which would guarantee me a player in the final. I also watched the Turkish Grand Prix (I am now an avid Formula 1 supporter) and managed to get a small bet on Lewis Hamilton, who emerged victorious at 11/4, thanks to two Red Bull drivers crashing into each other. What a sport. Imagine next week in the Derby, Johnny Murtagh on Jan Vermeer and Colm O’Donoghue on Midas Touch smashing into each other and handing the race to Godolphin. Crazy Stuff.

The rest of the day was a brief reminder of my humanly characteristics. I backed Down (€35 at 2.3, in-running) to win in 70 minutes against Donegal, who were useless in the second half. Down eventually started playing and took the lead a minute from time only to be pegged back straight away in the dying seconds. The Munster hurling championship got underway with Cork and Tipperary clashing at Pairc ui Chaoimh. All the experts had pointed to a high-scoring game with a Tipp victory. I went for the former, having €40 on over 40 points at 11/10 on Paddy Power. Cork battered Tipperary, and in doing so limited them to just 14 points which killed off any recuperation from the previous match. Always keep your feet on the ground.

By Ronan Groome