Dundalk (Ireland), All Weather Heaven

Now I have managed to recover enough brain cells, I’ll post my exploits from my trip to the emerald isle.

Taking advantage of cheap Ryan Air tickets and a fantastic punters package
Mr X (the spread bettor) and I took a trip to Dundalk racecourse. The aim of the visit was to see if I could add Dundalk to my All Weather course punting list.

In summary Dundalk sets the standard as far as I’m concerned. If all courses treated punters in the same manner as this venue then racing in the UK would have a bright future.

Ok, Dundalk is a new venue benefiting from significant investment; the key word though is investment. Our powers that be seem to think that you can improve racing without putting hands in pockets to stump up the cash for all their racing “initiatives”.

If anyone from the British Horse Racing board reads this blog, take a trip to Dundalk to see what can be done when you stop tinkering at the margins and get to grip with the basics!

Dundalk Stadium is located to the north of Dundalk in County Louth between Dublin and Belfast. As you can see from the photos the views are picturesque (Mr X is in the foreground)

The facilities are excellent, proving unobstructed views of the course for diners and ground floor punters alike.

Similar to Wexford the proximity of the parade ring and layout of the betting ring is designed for the benefit of punters. You can see the horses in the parade ring, watch the bookmaker’s prices and watch the horses going to post all with the turn of your head.

Dundalk have also eliminated the stupid policy of ripping off punters  sorry, … …  charging for different locations of the course,  so “all” punters are offered fantastic bar, screen and tote betting facilities. The al a cart restaurant offers fantastic value and large portions to boot.

For a punting perspective, my observations are that Dundalk is a front runner’s track over the majority of distances (especially 5,6 furlongs) and fortunately for me I stuck to may pace angle in the handicaps to land 8/1 and 11/1 winners to set me up for nocturnal activities.

So, once you’ve experienced horse racing what happens next?

Well, not only does Dundalk offer All weather events, once races conclude, they offer an 8 race greyhound card on the inner track.

Typically I avoid the dogs after an uninspiring visit to Swindon a number of years ago. However on this occasion when observing the tight nature of the track I decided to apply my technique for chaos horse races and keyed blind traps 1, 2 and 3 (assuming they had the advantage of the inside draw) in value exacta bets over the other traps.

Result, extremely successful to the point that I added further profit to my earlier horse bets. Beginners luck caused me to pop into Boylesports the next morning before the train departed to win a bit more on the dogs betting chaos exacta’s.

I will definitely add Greyhound Racing to my betting portfolio once I rehash my spreadsheet to accurately reflect the BAGS computer forecast calculation which factors trap numbers in the calculation of the forecast payout.

There is also potential to add spread betting too after picking Mr X’s brains all weekend. Maybe the activities in downtown Dundalk got the better of my judgment at 3am in the morning. It definitely got the better of my body, I am still knackered as I write this blog entry.

Related Posts

• Dundalk Redux
• Dundalk … Again!