Tramore Betting: It's festival time in Ireland - again!

005 Irish Racing / Wayne Bailey / 14 August 2008 / Leave a Comment

Wayne Bailey's profit pointers as the annual festival resumes in County Waterford...

It's August, and that means it's time for one of my favourite festivals - the quirky, character filled, and unpretentious event that is Tramore.

It looks like the festival may be on the move once again, (the racing used to be held on the nearby Black Strand up until 1911 but the weather regularly interrupted matters) and work is already underway on a new venue in Lisselan; just a mile away.

I'm not sure what it is that makes this little festival great, but it has a certain charm that I sincerely hope will be maintained when the new track is complete. Indeed, it was the only track in Europe to offer racing on the first day of the new millennium! The festival crowd is a motley crew usually made up of friendly locals, Dubliners and Corkonians taking a couple of days' break - and the odd smattering of bewildered Spanish and French tourists that always seem to find their way to the track, but seem to know what's going on.

The Irish tourist board call Waterford, the 'sunny south-east' but put simply, they are a bunch of lying feckers. It's been bucketing down in Tramore this week, and hopefully the rain won't mean any cancellations.

If you're going to have a bet, here are a couple of pointers...

Horses for courses

It's an old phrase, but particularly apt here. Timeform describe Tramore as
'A right-handed, undulating, round track that is about seven and a half furlongs in length. Many of the turns are sharp and it is a track that many horses patently fail to act around. The straight is a little over a furlong in length and is on an incline'.
Indeed, course clerk Paddy Graffan once stated that 'if you can keep a horse balanced round here, Epsom's easy!'

A good starting point when trying to find that all-important winner; is course and distance form. If a horse has managed his way round here in the past, he's accomplished something. Indeed, blindly backing horses that are course and distance winners, and are also proven on the ground almost breaks even to level stakes.

Favourites

Tramore is about halfway down the table for courses with the most winning favourites. On the flat, favourites show a strike rate of 39% in non-handicaps, and 28% in handicaps, with the latter breaking even to level stakes. Over obstacles, the favourite wins 31% of non-handicaps, and 26.5% in handicaps.

The Trainers

Joanna Morgan has a cracking strike rate of 31% at this course, and had you stuck a tenner on each of her horses in the past five years, you'd be more than £200 in the black right now. Dermot Weld is also one to watch, and after his recent successes at Galway, his horses are sure to be fired up and ready.

The Jockeys

It takes skill to ride this course, and with a 38% win rate here, you wont go too far wrong backing Fran Berry who shows a very good profit to boot. Over the jumps, Ruby Wash and Nina Carberry are worth keeping on side, with both performing well here to date.

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