I'm starting to agree with my esteemed colleague Mike regarding the 6 race card situation. It doesn't seem to be making a huge difference to field sizes, after that first one at Cartmel, and it is definitely short changing the punters. First races are generally moderate betting heats and the hope was that a 6 race card may improve the weaker betting races but, so far, it's not been the case in our, admittedly, anecdotal experience.
On course experience continues to appear to be a long way down the priority list. Which is a bloody shame as we had a lovely German family who were on holiday and were betting with us last night. They had never been horse racing before. As most on course bookmakers do, we took time out to explain how the betting worked and they dutifully had £2.50 each way on every race thereafter. They had a winner in the first which was nice. We googled "good luck" in German (it's viel Gluck if you're interested) and mangled the pronunciation with every bet from the 2nd race onwards. Anyway, at the end of the night, they came up to us to say it was one of the best nights they'd had. They wanted a photo with us- I warned we might break their camera even though I'm the pretty one. They said they would love to do it more often, though living in Hamburg may restrict their attendance...
Anyway, they are only one family but there must be thousands and thousands of British families who have never been racing and would love it but there just seems no desire to try to grow the live aspect of racing- quite the opposite in fact. Our German friends loved the whole experience, INCLUDING the betting. Let's stop pretending that it's not an integral part of the experience because it is. And let's encourage newbies- probably not by getting an ex footy player to do something slightly laddish but by local tracks doing local, focussed, marketing and getting the pricing and infrastructure right. The interest is there but, against an awful lot of competition, it needs to be teased out.
Finally, before the fav fest, what was equally complimentary and utterly disheartening in the same breath, was that we had a very good bettor (who won all night!) come up to us at the end for a chat. He owned a couple of horse via a syndicate. He came racing pretty regularly. We discussed on course and off course bookmaking. He doesn't have an off course account without restrictions. We discussed the whole on course racing experience and he said to me that the only decent service he got was from on course bookmakers. I'd still like to bang the drum for what we provide to the average racegoers experience and a day at the races would be infinitely poorer without some fat old blokes like us providing a good service, a bit of banter and the ability to win without getting restricted to 16p a bet. Oh, and in cash because, as our punter pointed out, what's the fun of sticking your debit card in a terminal and getting your winnings 4 days later in your bank account?
1) Stood Point of Honour for the max, well slightly more than the max given the lowish take and won small on Let Her Loose which was well backed late on. Wanted the 2nd horse for a nice win but don't we always?
2) Out of Line for a max as the betting picked up and Bazball for half a max. Top 2 in the market slugged it out and another small winner on the jolly Grey Gray. Bazball went well but declared too early...
3) Surprisingly we had the odds on favourite, Consoling, against us for a small amount along with Lady of Time and Mister Daydream for a bit more. The jolly won despite being blocked more times than a good punter online and it was small consolation (you're welcome) that it beat a worse result (Mister Daydream) into 2nd.
4) Inevitably laid The Gay Blade and Miss Snuggles for the max along with Bonito Cavalo- another favourite against us. Got the jolly beat but couldn't beat the Blade which defied about a 50/1 in running price to snatch what looked a great win for us on either of the placed horses and turned it into a nasty loss. It's done us plenty of favours at Musselburgh, always well bet and often beaten but not here...
5) 5th jolly stood in a row (based on the opening show) and this one looked well beaten as well. But it was Only Spoofing with us (you're welcome again) and came from the clouds to beat another jackpot into 2nd. For completeness we head Ready Freddie Go and Never Dark as our other losers.
6) And a full house as we stood another jolly for the max. Technically we stood 2 for the max actually as we had the original fav Foreseeable Future in along with new fav Borough. Didn't matter either way as they were the only winners a furlong out and another max loss chalked up.
So there you have it. CairnBet stands 6 jollies in a row- didn't help much. As always I'll just have a small myth buster for folk who still think favourites are on side for us. They're not if people bet them and more often than not they're losers for us as they were here.
Our current form is shocking since the wet Cartmel weekend showing PF600. Musselburgh again (next Friday) next up for us- the notes in RP have us "others appeal more, best watched" but we've been running for a mark and are due a 25 length victory. At least that's what we're telling ourselves.
Until then....
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