DragonBet on-course bookmaker James Lovell gives the inside track on Welsh sport – what’s hot, what’s not, and who’s the talk of the betting ring.

Bookmaking is a strange business and sometimes you’re happy when you lose.

We’ve all heard the saying, “You never see a bookie on a bike.”

But, believe me, I’ve known a few that have had to sell theirs and I’ve certainly experienced some hard losses myself.

But what I’m talking about here is more than money.

Last week, I’d tipped Kitty’s Light to win the Scottish National. I’d backed the little Welsh horse myself and was confident of a big run.

https://twitter.com/itvracing/status/1649788586005241861?s=20

However, far from Scotland I was stood making a book in a wet point-to-point field in West Wales.

For those who don’t know, the winning trainer, Christian Williams, and the jockey, Jack Tudor, had both blooded themselves on that very field and others around the Welsh point-to-point circuit.

As a result, many of the crowd know them personally, or at least have followed their careers as I have.

We’ve seen them develop from racing infancy to the dizzy heights they’ve now reached.

So, perhaps in hindsight it wasn’t a wonderful idea for me to offer odds on that race.

https://twitter.com/itvracing/status/1650455913516367872?s=20

I had what you’d call a “one horse book.” That is to say, I was laying one horse and one horse only (you can guess which one.)

They might have heard the Pembrokeshire roar all the way up in Ayrshire when the tannoy announced the battling victory.

I’d had a bit of a disaster, lost all the money I’d won and a sizable amount more.

But this story had more to it with the news that the Williams family had found out their young daughter had been diagnosed with leukemia.

The jockey announced how the victory was ‘for Betsy’ and the trainer’s wife tweeted how, in amongst the sadness, there’s sometimes light.

It was a reminder that racing can lift you up and, I believe, in this case it has.

Also, that winning or losing a few quid really doesn’t matter in the grander scheme of things.

https://twitter.com/Sandownpark/status/1650775764843876352?s=20

Kitty’s is likely to run again on Saturday in the 2.15 at Sandown. Usually, I’d be looking to take on a horse like this. Having had two tough races and not a big gap between runs, he’d appear like an obvious lay.

However, there’s nothing usual about this unusual horse. He was bred for the flat, so shouldn’t stay the trip, and is tiny in terms of jumps horses.

He doesn’t fence well but that doesn’t seem to stop him.

Robbed of victory when he was second to a subsequently disqualified winner in this race last year, I’ll be backing him again.

This time, I’ll try not to lay him as well and I’ll be hoping he can do it for the Williams family, and, of course, for Betsy.

Pob Lwc, whatever your backing.