Musselburgh 12/9/26 - Roll With It
It was Oktoberfest at Musselburgh; we were prepared for an evening of cheesy oompah and our initial expectations were hardly tempered by The Birdy Song being played in suitably Bavarian style. It all went a bit strange after that with everything from Come On Eileen to Sit Down but very little evidence of a tuba.
Lederhosen dominated the evening but not on the CairnBet stand despite much imploring from our punters. Some things the public are simply not ready for and we were trying to attract business, not send it scurrying for the hills.
It was truly fantastic to see Tom, who I'd lost touch with over the years, and it was brilliant to catch up. He'd barely changed except, perhaps, for a little salt and pepper replacing the ginger. We gave him prices but, sadly, couldn't find him too many winners. Matthew didn't remember Tom and Tom couldn't accept that the collosus taking bets was little Matthew. I'd like to point out I recognised them both!
1) Bet sizes were plentiful but bet sizes were, as you'd expect by the picnic lawn, modest. Three losers, King Sharja who was bet by a sizeable group of American lads, Book of Life and the inevitable Our Nicola who's appeal was rather split down the middle depending on your political persuasion. Big drift on Sharja, massive price in running and we thought we were off to a flyer. We weren't and a max loss was chalked up. Tough start.
2) Apparently the horse doesn't know the price but the drift on Extragalactic from 4/9 to 4/5 and the subsequent dreadful run seemed to make a mockery of the old saying. Similarly Vegasmile (4/1 into 5/2) also appeared to be aware of the application of cash to hose up. You may say we are a bit bitter and, given we were left with a chunky profit on the drifting favourite and a half max loss on 3 of them, including the winner, you'd probably be right.
3) Bitterness gave way to misery as the stands erupted. Another max loss on another well backed horse near the top of the market. We even managed to lay the forecast. Regular readers know we like The Sound of Silence and all we got was a lot of bang from the crowd and a lot of (self) blame looking at the book. We were being cast adrift profit wise and we needed a turn around. And fast.
4) Rumours of a big lump (each way) on Minaun View down at the Rails kept us on our toes but the cash didn't filter down to the benches so it was comfortably onside. Max losses on Motawaared, Yermanthere and Good Morning Alex. When Motawaared hit 1.05 in running I told Matthew we were off home. Utterly dispiriting. It appeared that the industrial scale "crying it in" worked it's magic and SunriseOnTheBoyne rallied to win for a reasonable profit which was topped up by another 50% in a spectacular place result. We were still behind but parity was no longer over the horizon but was nearer the 5f start than the finish line. As for the massive on course gamble on Minaun View? It was nowhere to be seen. You're welcome.
5) This one was stress free as Masaban dominated and gave us a cracking win. For completeness the bogeys were Carlos Magnus (a well held 2nd), Monhammer (a well held 3rd), Elizabetty & Pickersgill (felt out the back of the screen). We were ahead in the book but still a touch behind getting expenses.
6) Odds on and shortish 2nd favourite plus another 5 runners and you won't be surprised to know 4 of those other 5 were our bogeys and we wanted one of the top two in the market (Boxing Great and Fast Fred). A moment of concern a couple of furlongs out but the favourite reasserted and we were 3 wins on the run.
7) The start of race 7 and I was in demand. All I could hear were cries of "Andy" from next door. Turns out they ran out of till roll mid (big) bet and the punter was as concerned as they were to get the bet on. We were happy to oblige after digging through the day bag. Couldn't stop them lumping on the top 2 in the market and we took full advantage with the best result of the night on Fear and Fast who, to make it a touch sweeter, beat the aformenetioned top two who made it another place result dream. We even got our till roll reimbursed!
Great end after it all looked rather hopeless halfway through.
Finally, just for embarrassment purposes, Matthew got himself another admirer. A young lady who resolutely refused to bet with me and waited for Matthew in every race. In race 6 she told him she couldn't find her slip, Matthew said not to worry and to come back if it wins, she gazed up at him and said, rather breathlessly, "you won't forget my face will you". Honestly, it was like Pride and Prejudice... he continues to be an asset to the firm.
Next up will likely be Ayr Gold Cup Saturday - we don't have a great pick there so it will be a weather dependent later in the week. (Probably) until then....
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