New year new hope

Well, what a wretched punting period this has been for Westcoast. The enforced absence from betting through the snow did nothing to kill off the virus which has been afflicting my betting for ages and with the few measly bets I've had since it's all come back it's clear things are no better.

I must admit though that it's been difficult to get down to some proper study such has been my lack of confidence and lack of enthusiasm for continuing to see all my bookie accounts disappearing down the drain. It's not helped by being regaled regularly by my pal John about how superbly well his punting has been going and today he tried to help me out by emailing over his bet of the day which I didn't even see until after the damn thing had won at Wolverhampton at 5-2.

But are we about to turn a corner? Is the example of That Man Reid and Plymouth Argyle in mounting a superb backs-to-the-wall campaign in the face of a winding up order from the taxman and huge other debts going to inspire a sudden improvement?

At least I'm back studying and this evening have been like a whirling dervish of the form book as I got stuck into the Welsh National. And the excellent news is I have come up with a 20-1 stormer - just the horse to get me back in the game!

The beast in question is Ballyfoy, trained by Jamie Poulton. He has won twice over 3m on heavy and was staying on really well on both occasions but particularly the second time so this trip should be within his reach. His jumping let him down at Newbury on his last chase appearance in March but he was given a nice warm up over the hurdles at Ascot in November.

Yes, this could be the one to get the ball rolling (well, we can all dream...)