New horse, Betfair place betting

Morning all.

Looking forward to tomorrow. I've bought a (modest!) share in a horse named Vicky Miller via Winning Ways and she has an entry at Downpatrick (Friday) in the 5.55:

http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/racecards/10-05-2013/downpatrick/racecard/559941/irish-stallion-farms-european-breeders-fund-mares-maiden-hurdle

As some of you know, we bought a horse some years back but it didn't turn out too good as he kept picking up injuries and every time we planned a race for him, something would go wrong. That's the way it goes sometimes so hopefully we have a bit more luck with this one. The difference here though, is that we are leasing her. It's a great way to do it as you get the benefits of prizemoney if she wins but there's a simple upfront monthly fee. It's less complicated than when we went to Goffs and bought a horse ourselves.

She's raced in four bumpers so far, the best of which was when she was beaten by a head at Clonmel. This is her first race over hurdles so being honest, we don't really know how it will go but the bookmakers have chalked her up at 8/1 early doors.

She's in training with Gordon Elliott and we hope to have some good days out over the summer.

On the betting front, I've had a fairly good week. As you can see, most of the money was made from the place markets:

Having spent many years losing money in the place markets, I finally feel I'm getting somewhere and have been trying different things out in the past few weeks backing, laying and trading. I'm not getting too ahead of myself though, it could be just a lucky run. But I'd love to crack these markets as they have been a source of frustration over the years.

On the financial trading, the rally on the S&P 500 continues. I'm still just jobbing away on it, buying the dips but I've been staying away from selling as the market just keeps on pushing higher. It has to end some time but I'll take a few points here and there while it's going.

It was interesting to see Manchester United's shares stay relatively stable over the past few days and they currently sit just under 18.50:

I wondered if the price would fall with the news of Alex Ferguson leaving but prices actually rose over the past few days and then dropped slightly. I guess the news was already built into the price and the market knew he couldn't hang around for ever. I often moan about football but he's been absolutely incredible. The amount of years he gave to the club is amazing - especially in this day and age where people are disposable if they don't produce instant results.

Sir Alex Ferguson, back in the day: