Clear, concise, comprehensive horseracing analysis and insight from Paul Jones, former author of the Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide, concentrating on jump racing in addition to the best of the Flat and leading Sports events.
  • Ante Post Focus uploaded - Andy Richmond’s Beating The Bias & Grand National Trends uploaded - General Sports uploaded - Weekend Race Previews uploaded

Royal Ascot and Beyond

6/6/16

No good in the Derby and a 14/1 runner-up in the Oaks but hopefully I persuaded many of you to back Smuggler’s Moon at 16/1 in the Surrey Stakes whose chance I made it clear I was sweet on. I was at Epsom but missed a trick in not realising it was also Greyhound Derby night until it was too late so next year I’ll have to consider the double if they are on the same day again.

Smuggler’s Moon was certainly the highlight of the Derby Meeting for me and, as such, I’ll soon add my pre-race comments regarding his chance in the ‘Example Copy’ section on the now-finalised right-hand menu alongside Carl Redden’s reasoning for tipping up Garbine Muguruza for the French Open at 16/1 back in December in his Three to Follow feature. Carl will next return for Wimbledon fortnight.

The roadshow moves onto Royal Ascot next week when I’ll be covering all 30 races as part of the All-Inclusive Service. This might surprise some of you but it’s my favourite meeting of the year even ahead of the Cheltenham Festival. Results have been pretty good too in the last few years so fingers crossed that will continue.

I’ve completed all 30 races from a pure trends perspective for Attheraces and their Royal Ascot website should be going live soon if you want to view that. Expect some of my ATR trends to be incorporated into my daily copy next week which will appear in the ‘Royal Ascot’ section rather than in ‘Race Previews.’ The next instalment of the Royal Ascot Ante Post service will be uploaded at 7.00 p.m. tonight. There is no obvious big race in between Epsom and Royal Ascot so there is no ‘Ante Post Focus’ this Wednesday.

Once Royal Ascot is out of the way I’ll be heading off to the Costa Blanca for the last three weeks of the European Football Championships which starts on Friday. I have everything I need out there to cover the event as if I was in my office at home so why the hell not? As such I am going to leave the family at home and watch wall-to-wall football, the first week of Wimbledon and cover the Newmarket July Meeting whilst out there. Rob Brydon can keep his cruises.

I have already covered the Outright betting and Leading Goalscorer markets for Euro 2016 last week and will upload my thoughts on the Group Betting tomorrow. I will then cover the first rubber of group matches in one hit on Friday before France play Romania in the opening game. I will then cover the second rubber of group matches in another hit and so on including throughout the knockout stages rather than posting daily copy. I am throwing myself into what should be a cracking feast of football so expect plenty of recommendations!

Before I head to Spain I have the US Open Golf to cover from Oakmont which starts a week on Thursday – the same day as England v Wales and the Ascot Gold Cup. There are worse sporting days in the year. The last time it was played there Angel Cabrera won it with a final score of +5. By all accounts it’s already playing brutally hard so it should be fun to watch.

Once these dreadful cricketers from Sri Lanka have left our shores, Paul Smith will be concentrating on some proper test match cricket when Pakistan visit. It’s little wonder so many records get broken these days. The best players in days gone by weren’t offered (a) as much test match cricket and (b) didn’t have the likes of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe to beat up.

Jumps Season Service

An approximate 6 months' service running between October 27th 2023 until the end of the British Jumps Season focussing on weekend previews, major festivals and Cheltenham Festival columns. Join Paul for weekly previews of the weekend racing during the meat of the jumps season concentrating on approximately 12 races per weekend every Friday and his Cheltenham Festival columns on Tuesdays at 7.00 p.m. which is showing a 132 level stakes profit since that service was launched back in 2008. Also gain access to his Ante Post Focus columns every Wednesday at 1.00 p.m. and his Big Race Trends throughout the season plus Andy Richmond's Beating The Bias column. 

Membership £595.


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All-Inclusive Service

A 12 months’ service that can be ordered at any time featuring ALL the content encompassed within the Jumps Season Service in addition to Flat racing and Sports analysis. Membership: £895.


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