And they're off and running ...

Well we certainly are off and running! It's been fairly quiet in terms of the I/R horse racing but I've managed to keep myself really busy. Here's my scribblings from the last few days:

• as promised I've been getting into the office well before 10:00. This has given me plenty of time to study the AW cards and get myself sorted. I must admit that I now feel much more prepared for the day ahead. The only downside is that I do sometimes feel tired towards the end of the day. If I feel myself getting tired then I make sure that I skip a few races or play cautiously to help try and avoid any costly mistakes. When we get to the Summer months then I may have to take a late afternoon snooze in the back of the motor!
   
• at the start of racing on 01/01 I did feel quite nervous. It's really strange as one day out of 365 shouldn't really make a great difference to the result. I suppose that I'd got myself so pumped-up that I felt a bit like Linford Christie at the start of the Olympic 100m final .. apart from the fact that I wasn't sitting here in skin tight lycra proudly displaying my meat and 2 veg.
   
• two words that constantly pop up in my little pad are 'patience' and 'concentration'. I feel that I have made big improvements in both of these areas over the last few weeks, and by frequently reminding myself to concentrate and be patient I'm making sure that I stay in control of my emotions and ultimately make better decisions when required.
   
• as mentioned above there are still occasions where I'm not feeling particularly relaxed. Hiring a personal female massage therapist might be the answer, but failing this I'll just have to work on my relaxation and visualisation techniques. If this fails then I'll just stick a few Hoegaardens in the fridge and pull 'em out when required.
   
• the AW study is beginning to pay dividends. I has a good winner on 02/01 and I'm wondering how I ever played the AW without knowing the form in the past. I'll be looking to play more aggressively on the AW in the coming weeks.
   
• the only downside to studying the form is that it is time consuming and gets fucking boring after a while. However, as I build-up my notes on each horse then it should be easier to maintain these notes in the future. As we move into the Summer and have more flat racing then I'll probably only be focusing on the form of the top 2 or 3 in each race. I want to be in a position so that form wise I know more than anyone else who I am playing against, so when I think this way then I don't mind being bored. The more bored I get the more money I'll make!
   
• I've been avoiding small field NH races on SIS as you're pretty much on a hiding to nothing trying to play behind the track players. I'l let them fight amongst themselves and wait for better opportunities to arrive.
   
• I did have to remind myself at one point to 'smile and have fun'. I think that you can sometimes get bogged down in the seriousness and stress of it all and you forget all of the good things that this lifestyle can bring, like having no twat of a boss to report to, not having to wear a suit (my personal favourite), being able to take days off and going out on the piss whenever you want, staying in bed if you feel like it, the feeling of winning more in a day than what some people earn in a week and more importantly doing something that you enjoy. So smile, be happy, and enjoy the ride!
  
   
• I'm going to video myself trading at some point in the next week as it will be interesting to see what sort of body language I present during races. It should be entertaining. Will I look and operate in a calm and relaxed manner or will I look like a nervous wreck. Should be fun, but don't expect me to post up any videos unless I look like a right Pro.
   

• just got hit by last weeks premium charge and it's like getting kicked in the nuts by a skinhead wearing steel toe capped Dr Martins.

• This is only going to spur me on to win more and maybe risk taking the odd hit in order to negate the PC. Watch this space ...
   

Well Kempton AW this evening and I've had a good study so onwards and upwards. I'm gonna smash it!!!

Cheers - Dave.