Chepstow Placepot (24 Nov 2004)

I must admit to a love affair with the Tote Placepot. For those of you who are unaware of this bet, the objective is to name a horse (or horses) that will finish 'in the frame' in each of the first six races at any one meeting.

I love the fact that for a relatively small outlay, at a meeting you can retain an interest in every race. It also means that if I don't fancy a punt on any of the runners then I can sit back (or more importantly go to the bar) and watch events unfold.

Some of my biggest wins have been from the Tote placepot. Unfortunately, I have had some spectacular near misses that have eaten into my cash reserves. Therefore, as a rule, I limit Placepots to meetings that I'm attending, festival/principle meetings where there will be a substantial Placepot pool up for grabs i.e. Cheltenham Festival Week, Glorious Goodwood, Ascot etc and(or) meetings where there are extremes of going i.e. Heavy/Soft as these condition can cause upsets and swell the Placepot win pool.

My strategy for the Placepot is the same as that advocated by Malcolm Boyle the Toteplacepot guru. The basic approach (where possible) is to leave the favourite out of your selections given that most punters include the favourites in their Placepot perms.

Fortunately, favourites do lose from time to time and If 'out of the frame' all perms/lines that include the favourite crash and burn. If this happens a couple of times during the meeting there should be a substantial Placepot dividend available. If however, the favourite get 'placed' then the win pool will be low and sometimes not worth winning.

In preparing for the Placepot I apply the same selection methods as detailed my in section on 'Selection Methodology' however, instead of whittling my shortlist down to one, the Placepot allows me to perm my selections to cover all eventualities.

As mentioned earlier a friend is off to Chepstow and wishes to compare notes so here are my Placepot selections. (Horse race number in brackets)

Race 1 - Were in Touch(8), Bubba Boy(1)
Race 2 - Icy Blast (4), Zimbabwe(9)
Race 3 - Dramatic Quest (3), Devote(2)
Race 4 - Dhaudeloup(1), Flower Of Pitcur(2), She´s Our Native(3), Amadeus(4)
Race 5 - Jonanaud(1), Janbre(7)
Race 6 - Hiers De Brouage(2), Hazeljack(5)