Honestly, I love student days. We need them for the future and they are (in my experience at least) absolutely lovely. Never an argument. Always a thank you. Utter delight at a tenner win.
Yes 80% of your bets in the first race are on cards. Yes, 80% of your bets in the last race are whatever change they have in their pocket (£1.47 being a particular favourite today- we rounded it up to £1.50 cos we're nice like that.). Yes, it's like a tweed convention, hosted by Cheryl Tweedy, at a tweed mill in Harris on Tweed Appreciation Day but, bless em, they've all seen Peaky Blinders haven't they?
My favourite moment today was a well spoken, lovely young lady who had had a win bet on something at £1.50 that finished second. She came back for her winnings. I politely pointed out it was a win bet. She said she had wanted a "returns" bet (no, me neither) but we eventually worked out it was each way she wanted. Leaving aside the fact that I probably would've drawn the line at laying 75p each way and that the price was about 3s when she bet it, I gave her the £1.50 back which, of course, was more than her "winning" bet would've given her anyway. I've never seen such happiness at a 30 bob refund. It was heartwarming. I love them.
In the 2nd race I had another delightful young lady ask me what I thought would win (she was proffering 2 pound coins). I told her the jolly. She then quizzed me, in a frankly charming, nay disarming, way on how I would've wanted her to lose so I would keep her bet and how could she trust what I'd say? I reassured her that I wouldn't put her away for 2 quid. She bet it and, of course, it won. Credibility restored at the bargain price of £2.50.
Just one teeny, tiny piece of advice if any of our lovely punters are reading this today. Once you've had your bet, please don't talk for 20 minutes 6 inches in front of our joint, there are acres of lovely green spaces a mere 20 yards away and we can keep betting. Ta...
1) As the rain came down, I was on my own on the lawn whilst Steve and Simon were in the main ring. I had a few technical issues that required a restart so I had no idea how the book looked but I knew I hadn't laid the favourite, Liari (well you wouldn't on a lawn at around evens) so when I heard the commentary I thought we'd had a cozy little start. Imagine my surprise when I'd rebooted and seen it as a loser. My mood was like the weather, cold, wet and dank. There was even a shiver in my bones. 80% of race one bets were on a card. The shape of things to come whether we rage against the machine or not.
2) Bollingerandkrug the most inevitable bogey of the day along with Mint Gold whilst Dreams of Home was popular with my student contingent with accents heralding from further afield of Livingston (or even Liverpool). This time we got a win, modest though it was, on the jolly Beau Balko to repair the damage in the first.
3) Race 1 in reverse, I kept laying Panjari on the lawn for quids and 2 quids whilst my erstwhile colleagues were getting stuck into Hypotenus in front of Harry's Bar. The weight of the bar money outweighed my copper bets (for which I was grateful) as we had another winner in the modest range. I still had a payout queue of fivers to get through though.
4) And then we got a real, genuine, bona fide skinner in the next. Not a single bet, win or place, on Curley Finger. You don't take loads on these types of days so it wasn't a crazy amount but it's probably been a year since the last one so I took a moment to revel in it. Places were kind as well and we were well over the race 1 hump.
5) We couldn't win turning in. Outlaw Peter and Tommy's Oscar for the loss or Thunder Rock for the 0-0 draw. But our luck was in again and Corrigeen Rock got up in unexpected fashion and we added another "p" to the p&l.
6) Welsh Charger brought us to a rather abrupt halt though. We wanted the 2nd Lihyan which was cruising but it's hard to get past on the dead flat fields of East Lothian and we chalked up a loss.
7) Tough race to watch given what happened in the final strides. Our condolences to connections- it's really desperately sad when you see this happen.
Overall a solid day for us with a "nice wages" type day rather than yesterday's jackpot but winter, and particularly January/February, isn't the easiest time of the year for our industry and we were delighted with our result over the weekend.
In all likelihood it'll be The Eider at Newcastle next up for us where we are hoping to be joined by Simon again, if he's not been totally put off by an 80% card bet ratio and my darling daughter telling him he couldn't wear his Manchester United top in our house last night. Bless her. Until then...