No repeat of '22 as Probets increase lead in Besttipping challenge

2023-08-31

Steve Jones’ Probets topped August’s Besttipping table, holding off a stout challenge from Daily Bargain. Probets finished with a 15.7-point yield, while Daily Bargain took second with a 10-point profit. Personal Info’s ever-reliable Mainline and Saturday-Only also posted profits.

Joy all-round then, but for Probets August’s reward was an increased lead in the 2023 challenge. It came exactly a year after Probets apparently impregnable lead in the table began to shrink in the wake of a remarkable Daily Bargain onslaught.

August 2023 showed that history does not always repeat itself. After a quiet opening, Probets slipped into top gear with a fantastic run of five wins from eight between 6 and 13 August. It began with 9/2 Dark Trooper (Haydock, 6 August) and was followed by 100/30 Dasho Lennie (Ripon, 8 August) and 4/1 Executive Decision (Chepstow, 10 August). A couple of 13/8 strikes completed the sequence, by which time Probets had established a big lead in the month’s challenge.

But the winning ways continued with three successes in a row: Gallant Lion (3/1, Windsor, 17 August), Bopedro (4/1, Newmarket, 18 August) and Arrest (7/2, Newbury, 19 August). The Juddmonte International Stakes hero, Mostahdaf (5/2, York, 23 August), Many A Star (4/1, Goodwood, 27 August) and Love De Vega (100/30, Musselburgh, 30 August) then ensured that the month would end with a substantial profit, and, critically, it increased Probets lead in the 2023 challenge to more than 55 points

Up until the start of August, 2023 had followed a similar trajectory to last year with Probets dominating the early exchanges with Daily Bargain languishing at the foot of the table. But August marked a change in the script, as Daily Bargain, though posting a nice profit, had to settle for second. Remember last year? August saw Daily Bargain begin a miraculous comeback with a 36-point yield, and in so doing shifted the momentum away from Probets.

This year, that momentum remains with Probets, who scored a one in three strike-rate with plenty of successes priced at 100/30 and above.

Probet’s cause was helped by a miserable start to August for Daily Bargain with the month’s first 13 selections yielding no winners and just three placed efforts. From that point on, Daily Bargain’s fortunes picked up somewhat with four winners: Rockin Rosa (6/1, Newcastle, 15 August), Mudamer (10/1, Beverley, 16 August), Forest Demon (6/1, Newmarket, 18 August) and Marhaba The Champ (14/1, York, 25 August). Following that last success, Daily Bargain held a four-point lead in the month’s table, but a weak finish gifted the August crown to Probets.

And yet Daily Bargain’s supporters could come away from the month with a certain degree of satisfaction: a 10-point return was the third profitable month from the last four, and the overall deficit is significantly less than it was at the same point last year when a 79-point mountain loomed.

Three wins from six bets gave Personal Info a 2.1-point profit, the seventh such return from eight so far in 2023. The winners were See The Fire (4/1, Newmarket, 12 August), Sailthisshipalone (9/2, Thirsk, 18 August) and Continuous (4/1, York, 23 August). And the profit was also supplemented by each-way money from Duely Spiced, second at 9/1 at Lingfield on 5 August.

Personal Info’s second service, Saturday-Only returned to winning ways in August thanks to the efforts of See The Fire and Duely Spiced (see above).