Kelso 16 Jan 2022 - the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully not a train

As Scotland emerges from hibernation, blinking in the sunlight we were at, hopefully, the final restricted meeting for, well, ever. Before we start, quick update on our quest for support for lost business over Christmas and New Year. Had a lovely phone call from local MSP's office admitting that we (those businesses without rateable premises) fell through the cracks of the support/grant system and Kate Forbes (or a bloke close to Kate Forbes called Ivan) would be contacted forthwith to see if there are any fivers to be found down the back of the Holyrood couches. All the Scottish bookmaking federations are signed up and we await the Scot Gov response. I appreciate that the travails of the bookmaking fraternity may not be high on most people's priority list, however, so let's get stuck into the day's events.

As my Cairn Bet colleagues were unavailable we got the Trevino team in on a short term loan. Nice for us to see how the professionals do it. Well, nice for me, at least. Thanks to John for helping out. We'd make it a permanent signing but we couldn't afford the transfer fee. Or the wages.

A 6 race card in mid January with a few hundred folk and a particularly nasty looking each way race in the middle didn't set the pulse racing so expectations were set at a level of modesty Mary Whitehouse would've been proud of.

In the first Pitempton Power (the original favourite) was the popular selection with the good folk of Kelso and the worse result for us. We were delighted to see the late drift and armed with a lovely looking book, our best result was the smashed up new favourite Into Overdrive who we couldn't give away. Well bet (on track at least) drifters do win with alarming regularity at Kelso and when PP went odds on in running we feared the worst, but it quickly faded, sadly along with our big winning results. A couple of small wins in the book battled it out to much excitement on track and much apathy on the Cairn Bet stand. Small win with Scottish Accent, similar small win in the places. No damage done

In the 2nd we had a force fed dose of seconditis. We had a stack of nice looking winners all between the 7/1 - 12/1 range and just the one that wasn't a winner and, as so often seems the case, the winner was the one that had been backed. Though that's probably our inate pessimism kicking in. Baraboy was the jackpot beaten by a neck by the similarly priced Evita Du Mesnil to much gnashing of teeth. The groans from our colleagues suggested they didn't avoid laying the winner either. Opportunity lost as double figure priced winners are as rare as hen's teeth in the bleak midwinter.

The 3rd was a stinker of an each way race and, like a similar betting heat back in December, we didn't play hard. Soft Risk at 2/5 was comfortable throughout and gave us a few quid. Believe Jack not placing was a kick in the teeth and meant that the places resulted in a few quid given back.

In the 4th the racecard suggested it was a 6 runner affair. The betting only featured 2 as every bet laid seemed to be for Stainsby Girl or Word Has It. In a moment of pure fortune the book had Word Has It as our worst result so bullet was dodged and we were hanging on with a small profit overall. Just as it looked like our January signing was going to be the only one going home with wages our luck turned late on. Surprisingly we eked out a reasonable win in the 5th. Despite it only being 4 runners it had the look of a competitive enough event but pulses weren't racing amongst the chosen 500 that made up the crowd. What few bets we did lay though were mainly for Mister Whitaker (5/2 jf) and Saint Xavier and, surprisingly, a profit was made on Big River, the other joint favourite. Usually popular at Kelso with the crowd it wasn't this time. Only one winning bet in the forecast market and, in the context of a quiet day, we did ok.

We saved our bingo book for the last. Worst results was Lastofthecosmics, with honourable mentions for Skyhill and Eveque. Nakadam was nibbled at from 40/1 down to 25/1 (went off 28/1) and was untouched in the Cairn Bet book and went into a handy lead. As the price in running continued to shorten it looked like it may lead all but fell when still going ok 3 out. Groans upon groans. Cosmics made nice progress and looked the winner with a couple of furlongs to travel. Wasn't good for us and was worse next door judging by the sighs. Between us we managed to cry it out though and To The Limit cruised past and was always winning to bring up our best result of the day.

Overall it was great to get on track and, even though the restricted crowd meant a modest turnover, we had an enjoyable day and came away with a few quid. Battle will be rejoined at Kelso on 3 February then the roller coaster begins for us on 5 February at Musselburgh. The eagle eyed of you may have worked out by now where we are in profit hedging over the last 7 years and, therefore, are not sticking our neck out too far there. Answers on a postcard to "Yes, It Is Kelso Competition" etc, etc.

Until then, may all your bets be winners, but not necessarily with us!