Another week, another Ladies Day. We chose to stand in the middle by the picnic marquee, the pitch was near the bar and, probably more importantly, by the toilets. Not the most salubrious, you might think, but it's the one area where you know pretty much everybody has to visit. We were tucked around the corner so I was dispatched to spread the word. The lady from the Tote gave me a knowing look, but we're a 2 man business and they're a multi million pound outfit so the quid each ways mean a bit more to us.
As it turned out there were no quid each way bets as we had the "fiver cash, tenner on a card" signs out which very quickly turned into "fiver cash only" signs. We rely on mobile signal for our card machine and there was no 5G, no 4G and no 3G, if that's even a thing any more. Frankly the only G we came across all day was of the Gina variety. And even that was just a little bit. And, yes I did make that gag with every request for a card bet and, no I didn't even get as much as a smile. And I'd even been to The Fringe earlier in the week to brush up on my comic timing to no avail.
By mid afternoon we were begging for the auburn haired Aussie songstress (and Great Britain Eurovision Song Contest entrant) as we were "treated" to about 200 repetitions of Saturday Night by Whigfield. But just the one line. Over and over and over again. Nobody knew why. Nobody. But everybody in the tent wanted to kill whoever was responsible. Everybody.
The Ladies Day non runner Gods meant that we were likely to have more balanced books than initially expected as World of Darcy, SugarPieHoneyBunch and MoreGinPlease all didn't go. All would've been bet relentlessly on name.
1) Expected to have 4 losers and the odds on shot the only winner. A relatively late lump flipped the book and the jolly, Evening Saigon, turned out to be the only loser. Fell out of the stalls, never had a significant in running price and we fancied we had a chance. King of Light was a great result and we were off to a cracking start. Nabbed a few quid on the forecast as well. Steve sighed.
2) Our Absent Friends and Wee Fat Mac the bogeys- Fat Mac the only leg standing in the inevitable liability foursome. Our bogey wasn't absent, not by a long way, but was eventually seen off by Protest Rally which was a small win but we doubled that in the place market by getting stuck into, and subsequently avoiding the aforementioned Mac.
3) They like a bit of Crystal in the party tents and Crystal Guard was the max. I was pleasantly surprised when I stuck my head in the book as Rory the Cat surged clear to see it was a lovely winner for us. Not as lovely as the 2nd placed Purple Gown which was the jackpot but there couldn't have been many wearing lilac, lavender or mauve. Hold that thought.
4) Judgment Call and Dain Ma Nut In the two to avoid here. Steve called the result early and, fortunately, he was right as we hit a monster with the barely laid Media Shooter. Places were delicious as well as we stood the above two plus Ugo Gregory and they all failed to trouble the each way scorers. We were absolutely flying.
5) And then we ran through a bit of treacle as Lincoln Rockstar was a small loser and the places were a slightly better winner than the amount we lost on the winner.
6) Remember the purple thing? Yeah. They weren't absent in the last. It was a lilac frenzy and ensured we ended up with a small loser after counting up the places.
Overall a great Ladies Day for us after the disappointment of its counterpart last week in Hamilton but, of course, we're never happy and the last couple of races of treading water left us mildly tinged with disappointment. But only mildly.
Perth next Saturday next up for us where we get to try out our shiny new centre course pitch. Until then...
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