We start on Monday morning. Awaiting me was a nice leisurely drive down to Southport for a walk along the prom, maybe an ice cream and possibly a beer watching the footy before an early bedtime in preparation for 18 holes at the magnificent Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club with my best man, Hitchy, Steve and Pinno first thing Tuesday morning. Then the What's App pinged. It was Steve apologising for the late notice but he was feeling a bit stupid. And contagious. Estimates range from Covid to Bubonic Plague but it was clear we needed to draft in a replacement for the golf and, less importantly, for the racing at Chester as well.
Kevin stepped, admirably, into the breach- possibly more golf than work inspired- and the CairnBet cabinet reshuffle was complete without a Googled tractor in sight. Accommodation secured and till rolls packed, Kev set out late Monday night. Chester- Here comes your man. The A team (Kev) was now to be on the front taking bets and the pretty one (me) was now to be round the back making a mess of the book.
Golf wise I drew Pinno and Kev played with Hitchy. Followers of the Tash will already know that we knocked it round in about 64 better ball (net) and lost 3 & 2. Carnage.
Checked on Tuesday morning and it appeared that 200 tickets had been sold for the Dee Stand for today. I bought a book. A long one. As it turned out I needed it.
Firstly, as CairnBet aficionados (is that a thing?) know we look to stand for about half what we take with a maximum of £750 - £1000 liability. If we'd stood them today for half of what we took we'd have been standing them for about 25 quid... ended up compromising and standing them for what we took which was about 100 quid which made for a desperately tedious day and, consequently, a desperately tedious read. We'll have a go though.
1) We took 8 bets. EIGHT. And 2 of them were free bets to my aunty and uncle who were giving me free digs. We won exactly £0.00. Me and Swanny next door had a "value of book" competition to relieve the boredom. He won this one. Bookie Pete won 19 quid a few pitches down. This would become a theme.
2) We took 7 bets. SEVEN. We won 6 quid. Bookie Pete won £18.90. We gave him 10p in the interests of uniformity.
3) 13 bets. Whoop, whoop. We stood Night Battle and Hello Jumeira for more than we took. The winner was a tiny loser and we were a pint of Chester beer behind. Bookie Pete won 19 quid.
4) 14 bets on the race. New London a small winner, rest losers. We lost on the race but laid our biggest bet of the day on obvious fav/2nd fav forecast so overall a winning race. Small. Obviously.
5) Goodness. Fav smashed up from something big into 11/8 ish. Uncontested lead. Nothing came close. Stood Auditor and Buckshaw Village. Won tiny.
6) 18 bets. Non event of a book. Needed a quid back on the 5 horse to get within liability which almost hurt. Won 19 quid. Bookie Pete was crushed we'd muscled in on his 19 quid monopoly.
7) 22 bets. Busiest race of the lot. Stood Gobi Sunset, Roman Dynasty and Gabrial The Wire for today's max. Big Narstie and Gometra Ginty for half. Didn't lay top 3 in market and ended up keeping what we took. Which wasn't much at all. Less than 3 figures...
Overall as quiet a day as we've had in living memory. We won enough for expenses and pizza (everything counts and all that) and we move on tomorrow which looks a more workable day. It was as dull as it sounds.
Thanks to everyone who told us how much we'd have won at Kelso. Much appreciated. Though, of course, we might not have done because we never know.
3 lyrics to search for if you're so minded to do so though who could blame you for closing your browser in disgust/tedium. Until tomorrow...
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