Yes, yes, yes. I know, I know, I know. I have absolutely used this Cure lyrical reference before and will no doubt use it again but
a) it's a great song
b) it's apt
c) I wasn't home until midnight and the wife's first question this morning was "how did Pinno get on?"
d) there's a delightfully hidden reference to a lyric from Perfect Circle (back in the day when REM were edgy and still knew how to write a ballad) buried away below so I feel I have some latitude for repetition.
I use the same gag at every single race meeting early on. Last night was no different- saw a few lads out of the corner of my eye with Welsh flags on their T shirts. I dutifully waited until they were passing our joint and declared "win or each way on the first, special offer for Welshies". Turns out they were on Matt's stag do and were from the Rhondda valley and lent us their custom all night. Great blokes as well- absolute pleasure to deal with.
It must be said, the gag doesn't always work out. NFL references being particularly tricky. The number of Tampa Bay Buccaneers caps I've seen where I've verbally proffered a special offer for Tom Brady fans only to be met with a blank stare is too numerous to recount. Turns out they probably just like a jaunty looking pirate on their hat. Though the Seahawks fan who I referenced Russell Wilson to still bets with us to this day. Footy is equally tricky- I once threw out a Baggies reference to a portly chap in a skin tight West Brom top only to lose the group of Wolves fans following him in. Que sera and all that.
Before we delve into the nether regions of last night's books it was also a great pleasure to have a chat with Allan, one of our Twitter and blog followers. I'd met him a couple of times before but never had chance to have a proper conversation with him. Cracking guy and also pleased to report that he had the winner in the last with us.
1) Pretty team set up on the grass and Pro team went down by the tunnel. One bookie was mystified how I made the pretty team. I suggested he looked at my opposition for the title. Top 2 in the market duly laid, no surprise that we had Lucinda's Cuban Cigar for the max and also Graces Quest for much the same. Blinder of a result for us with virtual skinner Point of Honour leading all and we were off to a start we hadn't seen since Ascot.
2) Couldn't get the eventual jolly in (B Associates) despite every effort at both pitches. Our colleagues had similar issues. It was running for us for plenty and we felt the metaphorical scowls of bookies over our shoulder. Next 3 in the market were losers though with plenty of decent winners thereafter. Castan, half way down the betting, won after a shocking start and gave us another boost. Two on the run but our poor form in July made us wary of an early celebration.
3) For 99% of the betting we had Lets Go Hugo, Little Betty and Artemis Flyer as big losers. Similar to the previous race we couldn't get the fav, Miss Brazen in. We went a rather competitive price to try to get a couple of hundred on it only to lay a bigger one to turn the book completely upside down. When it hit 1.2 in running I was regretting my fractional largesse but Mereside Diva snagged it and another cracking win was chalked up. Would've been even better if a group of lads up from Liverpool could read properly having backed what they thought was "Merseyside Diva". Can't complain however- even though I just did. July pessimism still lurked in the deep recesses though.
4) The Gay Blade and Regal World the losers here. Monaadhil backed into favouritism but that support wasn't matched on track and another good winner for us as it finished strongly to pass a couple of rivals late on. The guy on a night out with his better half had a cheeky each way on One Last Hug (as he was a self declared old romantic) which looked the winner before fading. He was mildly crestfallen when he picked up his place money but his romantic credentials with his wife remained intact. We, however, could hardly believe our luck.
5) Call Me Ginger was the obvious lay and even more obvious gag of the night and we didn't disappoint on either count with it being a loser in the book and up to double digits on the gag count. Literally the only time you can call someone Ginger without offence being caused. Streamline, The Thin Blue Line and Ready Freddie being the other losers and the latter giving me excuse to belt out the line from Crazy Little Thing Called Love at every opportunity. And I'm not even a fan of Queen. Next door despaired at every mangled note but spirits were high with the pretty team and our luck held when Only Spoofing gave us another move forward.
6) Couldn't get the jolly, Sixcor, in and, finally it was our downfall. There was plenty of love for Sugar Baby on course and we stood it for the max. The jolly was anonymous but we thought we'd sneaked another win when Global Humor hit the front only to hit a metaphorical wall and Sugar Baby got back up to give us our first loser of the night and a monster payout queue at going home time. 10 minutes and a diminishing cash balance later, winners paid and the trek home made. The wife still more worried about Pinno though.
It's a well worn line but this job really is a roller coaster. We'd flogged through July making coppers at best (with one modest exception) and losing at worst and you sometimes wonder if it'll be like that forever, but a much needed 5-1 win last night and easily our best result since Ascot restored our (slightly) flagging spirits. Though not quite enough to do a 6 hour round trip to Carlisle on Monday. Musselburgh again next for us next Friday. Until then...
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