The agony of backing horses was rarely more evident than for blog followers today.

The advised Daily Yankee was hitting the big time after a fallow fortnight, firstly when hurdle newcomer Sporting John (11/4) found his stride late on to surge ahead.

Shortly after, Janika (7/2 early, 5/2 SP) landed our second leg by taking the feature race Haldon Gold Cup under topweight.

Things got truly exciting when third leg Orchardstown Cross (5/1) delivered on his progressive profile with a smooth win in the staying chase.

All eyes on nap pick and last leg Sandy Boy in the last. After a ding-dong battle up the long straight he finally got on top under a strong Richard Johnson drive on the run-in. Fifty yards from the line, with blog followers doing some joyful mental arithmetic, he saw the exit to the stables, slowed and veered away, throwing the race, and our bumper dividend away in the shadow of the post.

After screaming a lengthy exploration of Anglo-Saxon invective, we went through the totting up exercise.

On the plus side, and a good plus, the yankee delivered around a 14/1 payout on total staked.

On the negative side, Sandy Boy’s antics cost us a total payout that would have exceeded 60 times total staked.

Only punting can give you 14 times your money and a kick in the teeth at the same time…..