Musselburgh 14/9/25 - Suddenly I See

Oktoberfest brought out the lederhosen as surely as the best Saturday in September (for us at least) in Scotland brought out the wind and rain. Not New Year's Day levels but unpleasant for large parts.

We stood facing out towards the lawns in the hope that it would be more sunshine than showers but, in truth, it was almost an even split. The reserved picnic areas were largely abandoned and the curious playlist the oompah band were serving up along with the steins of, presumably, Pilsner was the main draw. And it was curious. Just when we were getting used to 80s cheese with Karma Chameleon, Gold and Time Warp being rocked on the tuba, along came, out of nowhere, American Idiot to save the day. Always believe in your soul.

As you know we don't often do figures but I'll dip my once a year toe in the water to give you an idea of what an average to busy Saturday for average on course bookmakers looks like. And we are average at best!

Usual caveat that this is not a criticism of the big boys who lay colossal bets for colossal liabilities but merely to provide the other side of the coin that the majority of us are small independent blokes who suffer the slings and arrows of misfortune directly into our wallets.

Over the day we took just under 100 bets a race at around £10 per bet average so a skinner would be around £900, whilst maximum liability would be in the region of £400-£500 on the 50% of what you take rule we run. Expenses for the day £240 plus petrol and, possibly, a new pair of kecks after the deluge.

1) Max liability on On The Bubble which opened favourite and drifted a little to give us a decent book value wise. Half max on Zebra Star and a tiddler on Martin's Brig. Golden Valour gave us a good start beating two of our bogeys;

• Win book +£419, place book +£45

• Running total +£464

2) Half-ish max on Suddenly I See, Breeze Star (plus an awful each way payout) and Lyrical Song and we were never in with a squeak as Edinburgh/Dundee's finest songsmith gave the punters plenty to cheer about. Bookmakers like the sound of silence at the end of races, this was more full on KT Tunstall than Simon and Garfunkel

• Win book -£178, place book -£31 as, though we avoided Breeze Star, Panthere Noir was the 2nd worse payout place wise.

• Running total +£255

3) In the Pun Extravaganza Nursery Handicap we were close to max liability on Blazing (it's on fire, that one) with half on U Turn (no going back now) and BrimfulOfAttitude (on the 45) and we had another solid win on a favourite Arduis Invicta but gave a wee bit back on places, particularly on Havin A Flyer (got wings, that one)

• Win book +£310, place book -£36

• Running total +£529

4) Inevitability that the odds on jolly would be onside but, as it turned out, only modestly so. Liabilities on the next 3 in the market, Falaise Blanc (free cheque book and pen with every winning bet), Sidney Stratton and Bebside. Book very short on value as the jolly drifted, though defied the drift with a win in a strangely run race.

• Win book +£135, place book +£4, forecast +£5

• Running total +£673

5) Yes we lost on a rag. Shortened up a lot on the off and led all. Bigger liabilities on Paper Doll, Simple Star and Perseus Way but a loss chalked up in the book, nonetheless, mainly to a lovely group of ladies who all had fivers on it before the first race at 66/1.

• Win book -£70, place book +£33

• Running total +£636

6) Five liabilities out of 11 (Ziggy's Condor, Rock Melody, In A Hurry, Invincible Ruby and Judgment Call) We'd have been particularly disappointed to lose on an Americanism rag but we got the win, albeit the worst winner in the book, on Janna's Journey and avoided the place bogeys to pick up a nice place result.

• Win book +£119, place book +£83

• Running total +£838

7) Four liabilities out of 11 to finish up, inevitably on Jim Goldie's CrackInThunder, plus Sixcor, Shatin Venture and John Kirkup and we ended the day as we started, with a good win on the favourite Sanbona.

• Win book +£359, place book +£31

• Running total £1228

For completeness we lost 9 quid at Doncaster

Overall a decent wages day for us, but the possibility of a jackpot day disappeared on the wind, the rain and the chap on the tuba sneaking in Green Day at the most unlikely point.

I hope you enjoyed the financial insight into the everyday workings of what we do. Happy to take DMs if anyone wants any further information.

More wind and rain and a smaller crowd has meant that we won't be attending on the Sunday. The next fixture for us may very well be the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle in late November, though given I'll be watching Big Country the night before, I can't vouch for my performance. We may be at Perth at the end of September but currently that's filed under "crowd and weather dependent". Until then...