From a purely betting perspective, there’s (potentially, hopefully!) a much better chance of picking a winner, as the form of the best horses stands up better than the form of those nags in class six races who wouldn’t look out-of-place working Blackpool beach.

But there is far more to it than that. While I’ve sadly never been, the atmosphere seems incredible. Also, over four days, the best of the best congregate – a fantastic and memorable performance is only ever a matter of minutes away. Racing history is tangible, and is being made. This week Kauto Star and Denman will face off for a third time for the Gold Cup, in one of sport’s truly greatest duels. You don’t need to have a bet on to appreciate that contest.

I also think something is added by the festival taking place during the week. If you go, or even if you watch at home, there must be that lovely feeling of ‘playing hooky’. Things always seem more enjoyable if you really should be at work. It certainly gives it a different feel to sporting events that take place on evenings or weekends. And by progressing over four days there is a distinct narrative and flow to the week, whether you can get the time off or not (not in my case).

This flow for the week allows for a nice routine, whatever it may be. But an essential element has to be starting the day with the Racing Post. Each morning you’ll find me leafing through it, eager to find that elusive winner.

Yesterday I got lucky, and had a couple of nice wins. I then got a series of text messages from a mate as he racked up over £600 worth of winnings over the course of the afternoon. No such riches for me, far from it, as I’m far too cautious with my betting stakes. Still, that will play to my advantage today as each and every selection elects to stop for a pee half way round, run backwards, grind to a halt, etc etc…

I’m always a sucker for nostalgia, and there’s something I love about obsolete technology too, so I enjoyed reading Twohundredpercent’s look at the imminent demise of teletext very much indeed. The television text service was for many years the main way to access the latest football scores on a Saturday afternoon, with the added drama of having to wait for the right page to come up (and then inevitably looking away and missing them at the crucial moment). In this age where everything is available on demand, and Soccer Saturday’s constantly scrolling results, it’s fun to think back to how things were in simpler times.

Geegeez looks at the trends for November’s Melbourne Cup, if you could do with a few pointers for one of the world’s biggest horse races. I could always do with some help with how to not lose my money, so this is very welcome.

And there’s fun to be had at the Rogue’s Baseball Index, a sort of urban dictionary of, well, baseball.

What sporting stuff have you been looking at this week?

Goldolphin and Frankie Dettori are in a rich vein of form at the moment, so I’m concentrating on their runners today:

York:

Spring of Fame

Huntdown

Dandy Man

Salisbury:

Black Snowflake

All in the mug punter’s favourite bet, an each-way lucky 15. We’ll see how lucky I am, eh?

Until today that is, when my betting escapades make a (welcome? unwelcome? unnoticed?) return. With some time off work I’ve had the opportunity to study the form, decide on a plan of action and go to war with the bookie. However, I’ve ended up just following other tipsters and going along with what seems like reasonably sensible bets. I’d say Poets Voice is the only conclusion I’ve come to on my own – so perhaps you’re best avoiding that one like the plague!

Today’s selections:

York Racing:

2.15 Poets Voice

2.50 Jukebox Jury

Football

Sunderland to draw or win

Celtic/Arsenal to draw

Goodwood:

3.40 Jimmy Styles (15.00) and Mac Gille Eoin (17.00) 1pt ew

5.25 Mountain Pride (6.00) 2pt win

Galway

2.25 The Shepherd (7.00) 2pt win

So, here goes…

Goodwood:

2.10 Drumfire (4.50) 2pts
3.25 Tartan Gigha (17.00) 1pt ew
4.00 Dick Turpin (2.00) 2pts
5.10 Red Dune (13.00) 1pt ew
5.45 Strictly (6.50) 2pts

Bangor:

4.50 Cooksgrove Lady (1.80) 2pts

Plus, as it’s Friday and I’m feeling dangerous I’ve gone for an each-way Heinz on the above too, a massive 1p a line, so £1.14 in total. If every horse comes in, I’m in the money. Of course, this isn’t going to happen.

But without these tips, I’ll have to actually generate some content…

Today I’ve veered away from studying form, trainer form, draw bias, the going or anything else. I’ve basically gone with what I’ve seen tipped elsewhere, and with Dazed and Amazed, a horse that actually won for me once. So, even if these come in I can’t really take any credit. “Today’s tips” as a blog post title is probably over-egging this particular pudding.

All Goodwood:

2.10 Hyades 2pts
2.45 Sugar Free 2pts
3.25 Schiaparelli 2pts
5.45 Dazed and Amazed 1pt ew
5.45 Piscean 1pt ew

Anyway, today’s losers…

2.10 Swingkeel (7.50) 2pts
2.45 Chapeno (7.00) 2pts
3.25 Paco Boy (4.33) 1pt and Forgotten Voice (29.00) 0.5pts ew
4.00 Highland Glen (7.50) 1pt and Akmal (11.00) 1pt
4.35 Damietta (7.00) 2pts
5.45 Something (13.00) 1pt and Purissima (5.50) 1pt

12 points staked.

2.10 Lang Shining (11.00) 1pt ew
2.45 Tactic (13.00) 1 pt ew
3.25 Ouqba (6.00) 2pts to win
4.00 Mister Manannan (10.00) 1pt ew
4.35 Sugar Ray (12.00) 1pt ew
5.45 George Benjamin (5.50) 2pts to win

12 points staked. I’ve gone with some in-form trainers (both at the track and generally) and tried to avoid the low draw. Hopefully the each-way bets are a safer means to a return – shame they are only for the first three places…