Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
Let’s start today with another tale about a bookmaker that wasn’t going to pay up but changed its mind. A punter, I’ll call him Jack, approached me recently because he’d was in dispute with the online firm Netbet, having achieved a nice little win of £763.
It was then, according to Jack, that Netbet became obstructive. They pointed out that in fact he had two accounts with the firm, in breach of their terms and conditions, and they were therefore going to cancel his bets placed through the recently opened second account and refund his deposits.
Jack’s position was that he’d forgotten about the first account he’d opened with Netbet, which he described as an “old account”. When he opened the second one, he used the same name, address and bank details as for the first account; he plainly wasn’t attempting to disguise his identity.
When I approached Netbet to ask about Jack’s case, they refused to engage with me on the grounds of data protection laws. They even declined to have a discussion about their rules. They didn’t ask Jack if he was content for them to discuss his situation with me. They just threw up a wall.
But lo and behold, Jack tells me he has now been paid. He reports that Netbet now accept he was not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. All’s well that ends well.
But let the moral be that you should never simply accept a ‘no’ from a bookmaker in a case where you believe they are acting unfairly. Netbet’s terms and conditions, which are doubtless replicated by other firms, do indeed say you cannot have multiple accounts but only give them the power to cancel transactions if they have “reasonable grounds to believe that the Player has committed or attempted to commit any fraud”.
Brian Chappell of Justice For Punters told me: “In cases like this, where there is no suggestion of any attempt to defraud, there is simply no justification for a bookmaker withholding payment, particularly if they have been happy to take the punter’s money and only object when he starts winning.”
Winning opportunities today are rather thin on the ground, the cold weather having forced the cancellation of the scheduled jump-racing cards at Plumpton and Leicester.
For various reasons, the action at Lingfield does not attract me, with the exception of 13-2 about Malaysian Boleh (4.20) in the closing handicap. This veteran, three times a winner at the track over the years, possibly lacks the speed for five furlongs but there should be a fair pace and he’ll finish strongly.
The addition of Adam Kirby is what caught my eye. The last time he rode this one was four years ago, when Malaysian was two stones higher in the ratings. Grace McEntee has been riding him lately and, with all due respect to the trainer’s daughter, Kirby might be able to get a better tune out of the nine-year-old.
At Wolverhampton this evening, there is 5-1 about Falls Creek (6.15), a half-sister to a couple of decent performers in the US. The penny seemed to drop with her at a late stage of a classified stakes at Kempton a fortnight ago, when she stayed on past beaten horses, and now she takes another step up in distance. She’ll need to be sharper this time but that seems likely and she comes from the in-form Andrew Balding yard.
Lingfield 1.50 Global Wonder 2.20 Dawn Crusade 2.50 Happy Escape 3.20 Speed Skater 3.50 With Caution 4.20 Malaysian Boleh
Wolverhampton 4.45 Traveller 5.15 Markhan 5.45 Hussar Ballad 6.15 Falls Creek 6.45 Brockey Rise 7.15 Classy Cailin 7.45 Shovel It On 8.15 Counting Sheep
Leicester Cancelled (frozen track)
Plumpton Cancelled (frozen track)
Tips by Chris Cook