Musselburgh Student Day Sunday 1/2/26 - The Road To Damascus

My annual student day assessment and the synopsis is that we still like them. I know these days get a lot of stick from folk, and I understand that, but the reality we repeatedly find is that we haven't seen the horror stories quoted on social media. We've always found students to be unfailingly polite and genuinely interested in how everything works. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but, believe me, these days are a breeze compared to certain other days when the inebriated blue suit, no sock brigade are waving their tenner at evens wins in your face yelling "wages" and doubting your parentage. I still idly wonder if they do that to the cashiers on 10% off at Lidl day Yes, we go through our own body weight in voided slips.

Yes, we do 300 card transactions for a total of 1500 quid. Some wouldn't bet back in cash they'd won as they were so excited to be holding on to some as they'd not seen actual fivers this term.

Yes, you still get the same folk asking for a fiver each way in race 7 and proffering a fiver like they've done in races 1-6

Yes, they ask for the names, not the numbers. All day.

But there's so much delight as well. I never see so much joy at a twenty quid win anywhere else. And in cash.

And you'd have to be a special level of heartless not to take delight in the cheering from the stand when their horse "wins" only to discover that there's another circuit left. Occasionally two. And it happens in every single race. This year was elevated yet further when a flush faced, highly excited chap sprinted over and waved his "winning" ticket high in the air and came to collect and it felt slightly like we were raining on his parade when we pointed out that they still had another circuit to go. Possibly two... Even worse when his selection was snagged on the line when it actually mattered. His level of amusing self mockery, however, opened up the possibility of future employment with Cairn Bet.

Much, much busier than Saturday and we had 2 on the lawn again - this time we had no real choice and we didn't suffer buyer's regret either.

The new boys, Jack and Matthew, performed like seasoned veterans on what isn't the most straightforward of days, politely moving punters to one side (but not losing their place!) to continue serving the queue when they

a) still hadn't decided what they wanted to back

b) desperately needed to know what Jess (who was half way back to the bar) had backed before making their selection

c) were transferring a fiver from their Monzo to their Lloyds account before realising it should've been the other way

d) the realisation that they had a fiver in their purse/wallet anyway when c) didn't work

e) they'd just seen James/Lucy who they simply hadn't seen in ages and couldn't possibly put a bet on until they'd gone through a ritual mwah/mwah and describing in minute detail how utterly fabulous they looked. In tweed. Natch

I was eternally proud of both of them.

1) A quiet start as the 1st race/hot pot combo is never a good one. We'd normally have 3 losers out of 4 here but the weight of betting on Captain Hugo meant the winner OnlyForFrankie was more or less a draw rather than a big loser and, whilst the rest of the ring twirled, we knew that, within our system, we'd got away with one if not taken a step forward. Our cursory dip of the toe into forecasts and doubles lasted a mere one race when we spent most of our time explaining what a double and a forecast was without laying a bet on either.

2) Student Day. Go West. Only saved by Queens Gamble being even more popular. It still didn't move us forward but no significant damage either. We still only had 5 races to go over the weekend and at an average bet of 6 quid it was hard to see how we could re-enter the game. Business picked up markedly and we were optimistic of turnover, if not results.

3) Aero's Luck. The selection of our ticket waving student hero in the preamble. And the worst result in the book. Snagged on the line by Pure Carbon and finally we had a move in the right direction for almost the first time since race 2 yesterday. Not earth shattering but Aero getting beat certainly broke our losing bubble. You're welcome.

4) They wanted G Wizard. Off course they did - not hard to spot... They also wanted Summergrounds. Fortunately they didn't want Speiriuil though one small bet we did take asked how it was pronounced. I replied E-L-E-V-E-N. Finally a genuinely good result with a place market cherry on the cake.

5) You can usually work out why some names are popular on these types of days. Anything with a name for instance. The G Wizard for the Finbarr Saunders faction, Go West for the retro disco crew. Grozni and Inis Oirr we simply couldn't fathom. But, no matter, they did and we eternally grateful as Transmission gave us the best result of the day and Rock My Way placing gave us the sort of dream place return only 7 runner races where the top 2 in the market come in can. We were close to getting out over the weekend which seemed simply impossible only an hour before. Matthew and Jack may have come to the realisation that we weren't completely useless after all. Though, in Matthew's case, being his Dad that seemed the more unlikely of the two.

6) For the 3rd race on the run we had our best result of the day. If that's not an oxymoron. In truth we were slightly disappointed when we saw that Red Risk was the "worst winner" of those in that price range but, literally, only laying one each way winning bet almost doubled the win profit and we were finally getting a wage for the weekend. Fish and chips without the fish but a wage nonetheless. It was around this time that SD popped over to enquire how we were getting on (and, coincidentally to discuss the price of fish) and were we enjoying student day? I told him I sensed a conversion and that he was on The Road to Damascus. He told me he was on The Road to Hell. Touche

7) A rather paddly last race with a small win as, in the battle of the names there were, fortunately, more losing Bens that winning Keiths and Katys combined but not enough losing Lizzies to get us more than a few quid. Whiskey drinkers hit us for a few quid in the place market but the additional "e" whilst running in Scotland was hard to forgive. We needed the fast finishing Reflection Of You for all the beans.

We got out and won a few quid in the end and, no doubt, there will be better and worse times. Good to be back on course after a big break. Delighted to see our young whipper-snappers excel- I hope Matthew continues to enjoy himself and we wish Jack all the very best of luck if he decides to pursue his dream of joining the ranks - it looks a lot more likely that he will today than it did last night! He's a lovely guy and I think he'll be a cracking addition to the ring.

Cheltenham my next on course assignment though Simon is taking up the baton for us in February with a clutch of Newcastle adventures which we may do some live, in play, blogging for.

Until then...