They're back! Mark Your Card strike at the right time
2017-03-31
After a shaky start to 2017, Isiris’ Mark Your Card resumed winning ways in March, posting a table-topping 71.2 points. In recording their best monthly haul since last September, Mark Your Card also made a stealthy move up the overall 2017 table to second position behind new leaders, First Favourite.
Middleton Racing and Those2oppose both maintained long traditions of generating profits during Cheltenham Festival month; Middleton’s 24.5 points earned second position with Those2oppose third on 9.7 points.
There were also March profits for Personal Info Saturday-Only, Personal Info, Probets and First Favourite.
March was a month to savour for Mark Your Card, particularly the four days of the Cheltenham Festival. On day one, Tully East was advised at 11/1; Supasundae, a 16/1 advice, was the big Ladies’ Day winner, but the best was yet to come. Domesday Book, a 40/1 advice, triumphed in the amateur riders’ handicap chase on day three, while the conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle victor, Champagne Classic, was advised at 33s.
Away from Cheltenham there were wins aplenty, headed by 18/1 Pearl Spectre (Lingfield, 3 March) and 14/1 Redkalani (Catterick, 8 March). There were also a further two 14/1 successes, along with three winners at 12s.
Middleton Racing had also made a quiet start to the year, but March saw a return to top form for this selective service. Selections may sometimes be as rare as hen’s teeth, but when the money’s down, the results are invariably impressive. March’s four tips produced two Cheltenham winners, Un De Sceaux (11/4 advice, 16th March) and Defi Du Seuil (5/2 advice, 17th March). The other two selections finished second, resulting in a March profit of 24.5 points
A profitable Cheltenham also contributed to a 9.7-point March yield for Those2oppose. Regular followers will know from old how this service is a festival gold-mine, and 2017 was no exception. Willoughby Court, the winner of the Neptune Investment Novices’ Hurdle on day two was advised at 16/1, while three placed selections (15/2, 8/1 and 9/1) boosted the profits even more.
Personal Info’s Saturday-Only service also enjoyed March, with six selections producing four winners a second and a third. 11/4 advice Thunder Snow (Meydan, 25 March) was the pick of the winners. The outcome was a 3.9-point monthly yield.
It was a similar story with Personal Info’s main service, which posted a 3.1-point March profit. Twenty of the month’s 26 selections finished in the first three with 12 obliging (46% strike-rate) including Apple Jade, winner of the Mares’ Hurdle on the opening day of Cheltenham (14th March).
Eight winners and a further nine selections finishing either second or third translated into a 1.7-point March gain for Steve Jones’ Probets. The winners included three at 7/2 and one at 4s, Codeshare (Newcastle, 2nd March).
Although First Favourite’s March profit was slight (1.3 points), it was enough to ensure that this ever-reliable supplier of winners moved to the top of the 2017 table. Four winning bets from seven selections secured a 61% return on investment and a 57% strike-rate. It was, incidentally, a sixth straight month of profit. Remember 2015, when First Favourite achieved the near-impossible – twelve monthly profits out of twelve?
Time moves on, and April sees the Flat turf season get fully into its stride. There’s also the Grand National and Aintree’s other various delights. Last year, Isiris were in imperious form at the Liverpool meeting. Not only was the National winner, Rule The World, advised at a huge 50/1, but Native River (8/1) and Gods Own (16/1) were also advised. What will this year bring?