Newcastle 18/4/25 - There and Back

A quick trot through today's betting as we've barely got home and got through our Chinese and have Musselburgh tomorrow so we're having something of a preamble bypass.

Strange one, this fixture, it's All Weather Finals Day yet the set up and crowd is more akin to a Family Fun Day. Average bet size as low as the pre betting paragraph count.

1) Struggled to get Bowmark in, actually struggled to get any bets in at all. Ran for us small and we stood Glittering Legend (max) and outsider Nordic Norm (a bit). I sincerely hope that is was named after a displaced middle aged, middle manager, from Milton Keynes to Oslo or Stavanger but fear it relates to something bog standard in Stockholm. Either way Glittering Legend gave us the worst possible start in terms of cash and, bizarrely, in terms of singing "Glittering Prize" in my head over and over again.

2) The biggest highlight of our year. Forget the 100/1 skinner at Cheltenham or Maximus getting nabbed in the National. This race was the highlight of our year. Not the result (another max loss on Berkshire Whisper) but we did have a delightful lady ask about each way. Simon started to explain when the lady said "oh, doesn't it mean that it has to run there and back then?". Genuinely speechless.

3) Not sure what I make of this one. We had Heavenly Heather for more than the max. I was tempted to leave it, Simon opined we should bet it back, I told him we were wasting a quid (it was more of a moral argument than a financial one). Obviously it won. We won small in the win and gave it all back in the place. We should be winning fortunes apparently. We'll bear that in mind when it happens again in 2029. Anyway, we were still a long way behind and not taking enough to get out.

4) Bingo book. We won modestly on a favourite and topped up with places that were almost skinned and got a bit back but still in something of a hole.

5) Best result of the day on We Never Stop and we got back in front in one fell swoop. Something of a miracle given the level of take.

6) Then they all went home. And the ones that didn't were huddling inside as it got Baltic. Or possibly Nordic - it was becoming the norm. The ones that did come out were treated with our observation that the 4 horse couldn't lose as it had 8 legs. Look it up. Simon tried to explain the gag to a lady in here 80s who was as deaf as a post. Didn't take much but skinned the winner and barely paid out a place either. Obviously. We get a skinner when we take 300 quid. Ta very much.

7) And, in the last, we took even less, stood most of the bottom 8 in the market and got a small win (big wins were logistically impossible) on Wonder Legend. Somebody tried it on with a losing bet on "Wonder" but Simon is a pro (when not picking pitches) and our erstwhile grifter went off with tail between legs.

Off to bed to prepare for Musselburgh tomorrow. Until then...