Nine-day charge saves Daily Bargain

2023-07-31

Thanks to a four-win streak in the latter stages of the month, Daily Bargain ran out an easy winner of July’s Besttipping challenge. A final tally of 27.5 points – the challenge’s best return for eleven months – gave the reigning champion a comfortable win. Stable companion Probets, who was ahead for much of the month, had to settle for second with a decent 10.2-point yield, while Personal Info also finished July with a profitable return.

Steve Jones’ two services spent much of the early exchanges in close order, with a just couple of points between them. Then, a mid-month sequence of five winning selections from six put Probets in command. But a lead of 10 points on 18 July was quickly swallowed up as Daily Bargain posted four winners during a nine-day rampage, that put the issue beyond doubt.

Sluggish in the early months of 2022, before recovering to win the challenge with some measure of comfort, Daily Bargain again started 2023 indifferently. With only one winning month from the first four, Daily Bargain was showing a loss of more than 35 points at the end of April. May was better, but another loss followed in June.

The first sign of a revival came on 7 July, with the success of 11/1 Savvy Victory at Sandown. Two days later, 8/1 Ben Hamrash obliged at Chelmsford City. A couple of near misses followed, but it was the back-to-back victories of Jabbar (8/1, Killarney, 19 July) and New Heights (5/1, Epsom Downs, 20 July) that secured July’s profit. But was there more to come? The answer was an emphatic yes as Farhh To Shy (15/2, Yarmouth, 27 July) and Quest For Fun (10/1, York, 28 July) pushed the month’s tally beyond 30 points.

The last three selections all failed, but the return of 27.5 points was the biggest monthly yield since the same service’s 36.5-point haul back in August 2022. And the strike-rate was more than 21% compared to last month’s miserable 8%. Combining a strike-rate of more than 20% with average sp’s of 5/1 or more is a surefire way to a profit, as Daily Bargain has demonstrated time and time again.

Probets’ July strike-rate was 34%, well down on June’s 45%, but still good enough to secure a 10.2-point profit. That would often be enough to take top-spot, but not this time. Eight of the ten winners came in the period between 1 and 16 July including 4/1 Beraz (Hamilton Park, 4 July), 3/1 Northern Express (York, 14 July) and Blue For You (13/2, York, 15 July).

Probets was unable to maintain that high level of form, adding just two more wins from a further 14 selections.

Interestingly, Probets threw a few bigger priced selections into the pot, including the aforementioned Blue For You; only time will tell whether this marks a change in emphasis for the service, which usually seeks out horses priced at 4/1 or less.

Personal Info’s habit of sneaking a profit continued with a 0.1-point return for the Mainline service, but, for once, Saturday-Only ended with a loss. That was only the sixth time that Saturday-Only has missed out on a profit since the start of last year.

A rare Monday bet for Mainline secured July’s profit as Borough (9/2) scored at Ayr on 24 July. And the icing on the cake was provided by Mistamac who took second in the same race, earning PI subscribers nice each-way money. Two days earlier, 9/2 Paladin was successful at Haydock with another each-way suggestion, Sea The Dream (5/1), taking second.

Probets remain top of the 2023 challenge with a 47.9-point yield. Personal Info’s Mainline and Saturday-Only occupy second and third places with profits of 6.2 and 4.6 points respectively, but Daily Bargain, 31.5 points down at the start of the month, are now showing a loss of just 4 points. It finally looks like last year’s winner has finally woken up.