It's been a long day sorting stuff out so this will be a quick one. And a small homage to a lovely couple we met who read the blog, I knew there'd be someone, somewhere! And they are big Bruce Springsteen fans.
One in the Colonel Porter section, one in the main ring. Simon joined us as Kevin headed North. Sadly we were all driving so Guava was off the menu.
1) Stood From The Clouds and Visual Impact for modest sums and had modest winners everywhere else. Unlike Cheltenham it's hard to get the short ones in naturally and we don't lay on Betfair if we don't get it in the ring. I heard sage voices telling me I should've when the jolly, Young Jack, never ran a race and From The Clouds defied the name to win from the front. They were all behind chasin' wild horses. Not my most subtle but at least I do requests. Interestingly the SP was 4/6 and we were 5/6 after a lateish drift. Not seen the Betfair exchange price on the off, so we may have stuck out, but another reason why taking SP away to the off course means not great at the top of the market for punters. The published overround tends to include a lot of rags which are bigger off course than on, simply from a cash management point of view on course. If I was a punter I'd want competition for prices at the section of the market 99% of people bet into, rather than getting 500/1 off course v 80/1 on course on something that'll win once a decade that's attract less than 0.5% of the turnover.
2) Yeah, we lost on this as well. Though, perhaps, not in the way you'd expect. Had smallish liabilities on 3 of the 5 (traditional books look away now) and had the jackpot on the massive drifter Chase A Fortune. All we did was chase another loss. Though neither were terminal and we were still in it but needed a turnaround.
3) Stood Slugger and Horn Cape for plenty and got full reward when Brentford Hope won well. A good friend of ours told us we were cheating winning on that. But there was a glint in his eye when he did. He also told us we should've laid El Fabiolo on the machine on Wednesday as well. There was a glint in his eye then as well. He's a top bloke and I love it when Whats App pops up with a message from him when we've lost on a rag. It's what it all should be about.
4) And our "cheating" continued when we had a great result on another shortish jolly Cruz Control after standing Jet Legs and Up Helly AA King. The late drift had us worried and the in running price didn't bode well but we were now well ahead. In other news our lovely Springsteen couple told us they couldn't believe they missed the outsider, East Street. It's still running now so I think The Boss will forgive them.
5) And we got the treble. Another evens favourite we'd have been max loss on at Cheltenham but was a lovely winner at Newcastle. Again we stood the 2nd and 3rd in the market and our bingo book came up full house again. I'll try to avoid the comments section and the replies on this one.
6) The Weak Pun Stakes next. And we had a normal book so traditional books can tune back in. Top two in the market stood. We lost of course. But at least we could roll out the gags. So every single bet on Call Me Jack was followed by a "Good Luck Jack". Though regular readers would be disappointed if that was the extent of our punnage. And it wasn't. Every bet on LIBOR Lad was followed by "well, you've got to have an interest". Every. Single. One. I was disgustingly proud of myself. One of the punters even got it. Rob Roy MacGregor gave further pun options, even if we did mash him up with William Wallace, and Gentleman plus Les' Legacy were easy targets too. Still nicely ahead but big finish please.
7) And we got one. Mountain Molly and Red Cadillac for the max and two of our best winners went to the line. Thomas Rainwater was marginally the better for us but we didn't complain when Gasmani nabbed it on the line as the bookie next door had a tidy bet on it and his difference was about 20 times bigger than ours.
All in all a lovely winning day for us at the end of a tiring week and there definitely was a feeling of being de-mob happy after the roller coaster that is Cheltenham.
I think it's Good Friday for us next at Newcastle. Until then...
Thank you very much.
It's not easy, as you say, and the biggest myth in racing is that we always win.
Turnover continues to be a problem which seems to have been exacerbated by the cost of living issues. We generally do around 60 meetings a year.
Great story about your Dad and the other owner- laying 33s the leader doesn't seem to be the perfect model for success so I'm not surprised your Dad packed it in!
Racing has a lot of issues to address but, unfortunately, the first priority is towards the off course behemoths which is often at odds with what is best for the live event. Even Cheltenham are seeing the consequences of diluting the product…
Very interesting posts. Keep em' up.
My long dead father was an on course bookie for six years from 1953 to 1959, and then packed it in when I was born in 1960. Mostly because he could not make it pay enough!
He actually had 1/3rd share of a book for those six years but the joint owner was mad keen on taking bets in-running and had a bad habit of losing a day's winnings for the pitch with an ill-advised shout of 'I'll lay 33/1 the one in front' .
A number of on course professionals would often take him up on an offer and he couldn't lose face in front of a stunned ring by refusing the bet!…