Shining so bright, Probets claim another monthly crown

2022-04-30

Probets continue to dominate the 2022 Besttipping challenge, posting a fourth consecutive monthly crown. A return of 5.2 points was enough to secure April honours, although the two Personal Info services – Mainline and Saturday Only – stayed close to the action throughout the course of a testing month. And the reigning champion Daily Bargain led briefly, before dropping away in the latter stages.

In claiming a fourth consecutive monthly prize, Probets emulated Mark Your Card, who topped the table four months in a row in 2015, and PJA Flat, who secured four straight winning months in 2011.

Eight of Probets’ April selections were winners (28.57% strike-rate), while ten of the other twenty finished either second or third. Best of the winners were Major Gatsby (5/1, Wolverhampton, 19 April), Proclaimer (4/1, Kempton Park, 6 April), Fine Wine (7/2, Southwell, 1 April), Roman Mist (100/30, Kempton Park, 18 April) and Shine So Bright (3/1, Newmarket, 29 April).

Personal Info’s Saturday Only service maintained the good start to 2022, with a third profitable month in a row, following a small loss back in January. Three April bets produced two winners: Dr Zempf, winner of the 2,000 Guineas trial (11/8, Leopardstown, 2 April) and the Fred Darling Stakes heroine, Wild Beauty (100/30, Newbury, 16 April). Wild Beauty’s success made it nine winning bets on the bounce for Saturday-Only, but the dream of a perfect ten from ten came unstuck at Haydock the following week, though Baltic Bird’s second place (11/2) did earn some each-way place money.

Personal Info’s Mainline operation doubled up on 27 April with Missed The Cut (4/7, Pontefract) and Code Purple at Musselburgh. The latter, advised at 5/2, was subject to a rule 4 deduction, which cruelly denied Mainline a thirteenth profitable month from the last fifteen. Dougies Dream was a 5/1 winner at Redcar (18 April) and each-way returns came via Vintage Choice (third at 11/2, Wolverhampton, 19 April), Baltic Bird (second at 11/2, Haydock, 23 April) and Al Baahy (second at 11/2, Pontefract, 27 April).

After showing signs of recovery in March, Daily Bargain faltered again in April, recording a loss of 2.5 points, with a 10.3% strike-rate. The month’s three winners came in a six-day flurry mid-month, a run started by the victory of 11/2 Fortamour (Ripon, 14 April). Patsy Fagan (12/1) obliged at Southwell (17 April) and New Pursuit (6/1) completed the sequence of wins when scoring at Epsom Downs two days later.

Splitting the wins of Patsy Fagan and New Pursuit was Stay Well, who finished second, beaten a head, at Kempton. Had that 10/1 shot found a little extra, Daily Bargain would have been celebrating a table-topping success. Instead, the four-time champion trails stablemate Probets by more than 50 points in the 2022 challenge.

Now that the 2021/22 jumping season has been consigned to history, it’s time to concentrate on the Flat turf season. The first two Classics of the year have been run and now all attention moves to the series of traditional Derby and Oaks trials, starting at Chester later this week.