Steve unavailable for this one so Bryson stepped into the breach to help us out. It meant I made one of my rare outings doing the book. No pressure then...
A really nice guy popped over to see me at the start. He was also, clearly, a discerning chap as he told me he loved the blog. There was bound to be one out there somewhere. He mentioned that he would love to get involved as an on course bookmaker- if you're reading this, please drop me a message via Twitter and I'll send you a load of information.
It made me think back 18 months or so when Simon got in touch with a similar aim and he is now working with us on a semi regular basis and has ran the book at York a couple of times as well. It is not the easiest thing in the world and certainly not the gravy train many think it is but it can be done and we wish our new chap every success with his venture.
So we may have 2 new starts in a year. I'm beginning to feel like Yoda. Or, more likely, the teacher bloke off The Breakfast Club.
1 ) Cracking book. Laid Jorge Alvares which drifted obligingly. Largely avoided Mr Fantastic in the early betting which was smashed up late on into around 11/10 from 2s and, as is so often the case when you have a ton of value, we had no chance with a couple of furlongs to go. Fortunately our 0-0 draw, Ziggy's Ariel, hung on from our chunky loser (the aforementioned Jorge) and we took neither a move forwards or backwards.
2) The first couple of races in evening meetings are generally quiet and the trend was repeated here. A couple of half maxes on the top 2 in the market (Military Girl and Educating Rita) and steady wins on the other 5. Rita was comfortably educated and we were comfortably behind. A little salt in the newly opened wound.
3) Jordan Electrics the inevitable Hamilton lay. Awful book as it collapsed from 15/2 to 5s to go off co favourite. It won for the 250th time, or maybe it just feels like that, despite looking beaten more than once. A max prised the wound open a little more and applied lemon juice to go with the salt. Turnover continued to be modest and we were already looking at an unlikely combo of increased turnover and a few results to give us half a chance of wages.
4) You're expecting me to have 4 losers and one winner in a hot(ish) pot but, sadly for us, we had one loser and 4 winners as the odds on favourite, Kalpana, was popular enough to get us a liability. Bryson opined that we could get it beat before adding "or it'll gag up". It was the latter and I could see the vinegar being prepared with no sign of antiseptic, or even a couple of paracetamol. Yeah, we laid the forecast as well.
5) Got stuck into Moon Flight and Love Wars. The jackpots were not in evidence but the sticking plaster of welcome relief came when 2nd favourite Digital gave us at least a move forward but we were still behind in the book and covering expenses wasn't in the computations.
6) Sometimes there are no words. Got everything right in the book. Got stuck into the 2 massive drifters, Spanish Hustle and TwoForTheGutter and had the live ones onside. Gutter was kerbed early but we were done for as a steady procession of rejoicing Scotland fans sided with Spain and our fast finishing monster jackpot gave us hope but late heartbreak. Sound familiar? The plaster fell off, various and sundry folk had a rummage around our metaphorical innards and a litre of lime juice was tipped in. We had no hope of wages and needed a miracle to cover the book loss let alone costs.
7) Horrible book. Just horrible. Penelope's Sister shortened after an alarming amount of early support, though a small late drift at least meant we were dealing with a nil value book rather than a minus a million one. Still horrible though. Maxes on Penelope, for the 2nd week running, and Crystal Guard and we looked in further trouble as the jolly cruised along side and hit around 1/3 in running before finding no more. ElForLeather looked the easy winner with a furlong to go which gave us a bit back but still left us well behind before fast finishing, big drifting outsider, Bristol Hill came from nowhere to get up on the line. Savlon applied, stitches sewn and, though we'll still have a small scar, the gushing blood had been stemmed with a jackpot to end and the book finally limped into a tiny profit. Expenses not covered but no significant damage done either which looked highly unlikely after 6.99 races.
Tough night but a get out for us in The Get Out Stakes was a welcome relief.
Newcastle Ladies Day next for us. Always an interesting one. Until then...
Commentaires