June made nearly fourteen points, from forty eight bets, and it came from exactly where I said it would after May. Southwell, Newcastle, Wolverhampton, Kempton. Small fields, consistent ground, prices set by a thin crowd. I'll take it, and I'll be honest that I'm relieved.
The May post said two things would change. Fewer turf handicaps and a floor on price. Both held. The turf bets I did have were mostly at the northern tracks, Catterick and Doncaster and Musselburgh, where the fields are smaller and the ground is announced in advance and stays that way. The sand did the rest.
There's a thing about the all weather in summer that people miss, which is that the good flat horses aren't there. They're at Ascot and Newmarket and the Curragh. So the all weather in June is full of honest, limited handicappers who've been running against each other since January, and whose form is the most exposed form in the whole sport. A horse that's been third, second and first over seven furlongs at Southwell is going to run its race again. The market knows this too, which is why the prices are short, and why most of my bets on the sand are 1.8 to 2.5 shots that win more often than not.
That's not exciting betting. Over a month it's a few points, over a summer it's the difference between a book that's ahead going into the jumps and one that's catching up. June is the first time this year the book has been clearly ahead, and nearly all of that is sand. Two weeks for £5 shows you exactly what a sand month looks like, bet by bet.
Royal Ascot, since someone will ask. One horse all week, Shadow Of Light on the Friday, win and place, and he got beaten in both. A point and a quarter gone. I love Ascot week. I just don't bet much in it, for the same reason I don't bet much at Cheltenham. Honest prices, short.
July is usually my best month on the flat, and I've no idea why. The book says so and I've stopped arguing with the book.
Lee
See exactly what I do for two weeks.
For only £5.
Every bet I make, by email each racing morning, with the stake and my line on why. Pay £5 today, then £49 on day 15 for the winter pass to 31 March.
If your first month on the £49 loses, I refund it. Nothing renews after 31 March. Full details.
More from the notebook: Mojito Des Mottes, and the best month in the book · Rajak at Yarmouth, and a day I won't get used to