Covid (my son, not me) meant that the A team (Steve and Kev) went to Carlisle and Cartmel in the week. In summary- Carlisle was dead- we covered expenses but didn't make a copper. Cartmel was moderate- we were losing most of the day but got enough for minimum wage on the last when we liked the winning favourite and opted not to get stuck in.
The A team were travelling up from digs near Cartmel and I travelled down from the frozen north safe in the knowledge that my lateral flow had one fewer lines on it than my lad's. Stopped off near Berwick last night to avoid the 4:30am alarm call this morning and ran into a lovely couple at dinner who were from Ponte Carlo and shared my love of obscure indie lyrics. James being their favourite band so I said I'd keep them updated today with what we'd Laid. You're ever so, ever so welcome.
The opportunity to go 1 and 2 in Tatts for the first, and probably only, time in our lives was too much to pass up even though we felt the old silver ring was a great shout with limited pitch numbers and facing out to the picnic lawn rather than into the crumbling wreck of the Stand of Condemnation.
1) Every year at this meeting we sit down over breakfast and look at the lovely field sizes and apparently wide open betting heats and think we have a great chance. Every year we get cut down to size before 1:30 when the smashed up favourite wins the first and we lose our max. Today didn't disappoint in that regard though, of course, the 4 figure hole we were in (including expenses) before civilised folk had even sat down for lunch was intensely disappointing. Business. As, Usual.
Away watch- lost small at Newmarket.
2) Got stuck into Strike Red and Tommy De Vito. The idiot on the pretty team (me) laid a decent bet on the off on the winner Raatea to turn it from a nice green into a small red. It should be noted that the pretty team consisted of only one member today. Places ok which covered the win loss but still digging.
Away watch - reasonable win at Chester.
3) Oh come on. Really? Two absolute, get you money back in one go and a bit more, jackpots were toe to toe and the winner looked inevitable to come from one or the other. The jolly, Sense of Duty had other ideas and we won teeny rather than huge after getting stuck into Glen Shiel which never figured. Fav Watch - fav, 2nd fav, fav. So much for results.
4) At this point I should really let you know that, after laying outsiders all week at Ascot, we usually lay favourites on Plate Day, especially when stood in front of the exit to the bar. Steve suggested we should've tended to the picnickers and we might not be selling the car after racing. We duly took plenty on Evaluation which was a max loser along with 50% jobs on Tiger Jet, Ravens Ark and Annandale. Incidentally I have exceptionally fond memories of Annandale Water Service Station as the approximate halfway point between me and my now wife when we were courting 20 years ago and I'm glad that memory wasn't sullied by losing on it. Zoffee was our worst winner but a winner nonetheless. My first pay out (£212) was to a rather flushed chap who told me he only bet it cos it sounded a bit like "Coffee". 2nd payout (another £212) to a guy who's wife insisted he bet it cos it had a funny name and 10 was her lucky number. I'm genuinely pleased for you folks but sharing wasn't caring in this regard and I'd rather have remained blissfully ignorant of the reason for our 400 quid underperformance. Still in hole but more Southport Beach with a plastic spade rather than Japanese horror flick, The Ring.
5) Trueshan was a max loser along with Summers Knight and Onesmothoperator. Trueshan was beaten pretty early and drifted to 30 odd in running as most of the field were still in Newcastle whilst the jolly was paddling in Hartlepool along with our other bogeys and we looked to see which one was our biggest winner. Always fatal. Trueshan showed its class carrying about 3 times the weight of anything else and came from the nether regions of Gosforth Park to somehow win and somehow get the CairnBet spade out again. Noise everywhere. 6) 6 runner hot pot and the only surprise was that we only had 2 losers (Harry Brown and How Exciting) instead of the expected 5. Non event of a race in truth with short priced fav, Clearpoint, winning like a short priced fav. Obvious forecast laid which made a dent but forward progress.
7) Another fav laid to max (Boosala) along with Biggles and a late run on Zip which made it a taker. Rhythm Master a decent winner but we really wanted the fast finishing The Attorney. 7 hours after making our way onto track we finally weren't losing. We weren't winning either but let's not split hairs.
Away Watch - battered on a drifter at Windsor. Grr
8) Spirit Dancer and Dubai Souq the maxes here and we got our best result of the day when Vulcan streaked clear and ensured that the Mixed Meat Fried Rice was genuinely affordable from the day's take.
Not a stunning few days for us and Carlisle scrubbed for next year but we ended on a high which gave us a platform for the rest of the month, if not a payday.
Cartmel tomorrow. Not seen moisture for weeks but it's the Lake District for a reason. Why does it always rain on me? Until then...
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