Markets Live is off the races!
On Thursday, FT Alphaville’s daily markets chat will come live from the Cheltenham festival — the most prestigious event in jump racing’s calendar.
To mark the occasion (and celebrate St Patrick’s day) we have secured an interview with Stephen Morana, Betfair’s chief financial officer who has kindly agreed to answer to your questions (and allow AV editor Neil Hume to take up residence in the Betfair tent for the day).
So if you have any questions about Betfair’s post flotation performance , the decision to operate under a Gibraltar licence and its fledgling financial betting business LMAX, now is your chance.
You can either leave your questions in the comment below below or email us at alphaville@ft.com.
So please join us at 11.00am on Thursday — and pop by the Betfair tent if you are at Cheltenham. The editor is buying.
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And to make things a bit more interesting, we have set to challenge for Mr Morana. He’s agreed to take on FT Alphaville’s resident horse racing expert ‘The Shrewdette’ in a battle of the tipsters…
Stephen Morana’s tips for the Cheltenham Festival, Thursday 17th March:
(The following tips have been provided by Stephen Morana for the race card at the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday 17th March. All tips are of course subject to changes in the ground and horses being withdrawn and Stephen will be able to provide further tips and advice during Markets Live on the day).
1.30 - THE JEWSON NOVICES STEEPLE CHASE
This is a race for novices over chase fences (i.e. for horses that hadn’t won a chase before the start of this season). LOOSEN MY LOAD (9/1) has been running against quality horses, has been prepared for this race and is trained in Ireland by the very shrewd Henry De Bromhead who has had Cheltenham Festival winners before.
2.05 – THE PERTEMPS FINAL
If you are willing to ignore the fact that LUSH LIFE (15/1) forgot to start the race last time, he appears to offer a great chance at a decent price. This is a tricky race though and it may be advisable to wait until the morning to see where the shrewd money is going before you have a big bet.
2.40 – THE RYANAIR STEEPLE CHASE
POQUELIN (11/4) is nailed on to run a very big race, having produced a career best performance to come second in this race last year. He will most likely stay favourite but that is for a good reason; he holds outstanding claims. KALAHARI KING (5/1) has a good Cheltenham record, but is getting on a bit, and I will be laying him in both the win and place market.
3.20 – THE LADBROKES WORLD HURDLE
This is the big race of the day and will provide a classic match-up – the unbeaten champion Big Bucks against the young pretender GRANDS CRUS (11/4). I always like to believe the next wonder horse is out there and if you are good enough, you are experienced enough. Many believe Grands Crus would like the ground to be soft so again it will be advisable to wait until the day to really see the conditions. He travels really smoothly through his races, whereas Big Bucks sometimes runs in snatches. It may be sensible therefore to seek to save your stake by offering to lay Grands Crus at a very low price on Betfair’s in-running market. If it is soft, I will be having a huge bet on him and we could all be celebrating the arrival of a new saint on St Patrick’s Day!
4.00 – THE BYRNE GROUP PLATE
and
4.40 – THE FULKE WALWYN KIM MUIR CHALLENGE CUP HANDICAP STEEPLE CHASE
The last two races are both handicap, and the runners are still uncertain, with many horses still entered for several races. I will be backing QUANTATIVEEASING in whatever race he runs in at Cheltenham (it’s a licence to print money…) and, if he isn’t in either if these races, I’ll be looking to back JUNIOR (8/1) in the 4.40
Updated tips from the Shrewdette:
21:26, March 16th.
Some Non-Runners in my original so here are my revised selections …
1:30 Original selection Jessie’s Dream NR (ran today) so am going for NOBLE PRINCE 9/2 a close second last outing in Grade One in Leopardstown, and hopefully a winner for AP.
2:05 Original first selection remains RIVAGE D’OR 10/1 but second selection a non runner so am going for ALFIE SPINNER at 16/1 for added interest in this big field.
2:40 No change : TARTAK (now shortened to 12s though 25/1 still to be had at Boylesports) to pip POQUELIN 5/2
3:20 No change : GRAND CRUS 5/2
4:00 No change : QUARTZ DE THAIX (shortened fro 10s to 7/1 though) and my outside EW flutter TATENEN 20/1. But Quantitativeeasing doesn’t run so Neil’s Alphavillers’ dosh will have to go elsewhere – I suggest BEAUTIFUL SOUND (my original pick for the next race who runs here instead) some value at 10/1 and owned by Murphy’s mate Michael O’Leary!!
5:15 Beautiful Sound a non-runner here. So I’m going for lady jock Nina Carberry and GALANT NUIT 7/1 – third in this last year and hopefully will improve on that.
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Stephen’s biog:
Chief Financial Officer Stephen Morana is the Company’s Chief Financial Officer. He joined the Betfair Group in 2002, becoming Finance Director in July 2005 and Chief Financial Officer in September 2006. Prior to joining Betfair, he headed the UK finance team at Sapient, the NASDAQ-listed business innovator. He has been a director of Betfair since September 2006.
Company blurb:
Betfair is the world’s biggest betting community and one of the world’s leading online betting and gaming operators. At the heart of Betfair is its pioneering Betting Exchange, where customers come together in order to bet at odds set by themselves or offered by other customers, instead of with a traditional bookmaker.
The Betting Exchange provides customers with better pricing and more choice and flexibility than competing products, which has resulted in Betfair’s customers showing greater levels of loyalty than its competitors with significantly higher customer satisfaction rates.
Betfair additionally offers a range of other sports betting products, casino games and poker. Betfair has more than 3 million registered customers worldwide and processes, on average, more than 6 million transactions per day on the Betting Exchange, more than all European Stock Exchanges combined.
Betfair also owns Betfair US, which comprises TVG (a licensed US horse racing wagering and television broadcasting business) and a development office in California, and a majority stake in LMAX, which operates an exchange platform for online retail financial trading which has evolved from Betfair’s exchange platform technology. In addition, Betfair has a 50% holding in Betfair Australia, a joint venture which operates a licensed betting exchange business in Australia.