Perth 16/8/25 - When The Sun Goes Down

We start, not at Perth, but at Ripon where Simon had his best ever solo day with us. Massive congratulations, especially as this is our first year with pitches at 5 courses in Yorkshire and it's still very much a learning experience. Brilliant effort.

7 rounds of golf in 5 days and some generous evening hospitality with Steve, our mate Fish from Cider country and bookmaking legend Pinno meant that preparation for this meeting wasn't ideal. Stiff limbs and sore heads abounded in the betting ring, and the surprisingly hot weather at pitch up time foretold a long and arduous day ahead. Though it did allow Arctic Monkeys to make their CairnBet headline debut so not all bad, and Steve was the new, temporary, owner of the solid (plastic) gold Claret Jug.

1) Couldn't get the jolly in and not for want of trying. Drifted alarmingly which sucked the value out of the book and was running for us for an amount that was far too big for our liking. Oh Janey and Dingwall the inevitable, and potential "done on a name" bogeys - it was just a case of whether Janes outnumbered coach parties from "up norf" - they did, just about. Chichester a less predictable loser- all beaten by 2nd favourite Break Point but the inability to get the favourite in meant we started with a draw, and our mood was further blackened when jackpot Scriabin looked the winner for a long time.

2) Another onside jolly, this time more predictably as odds on. 2 losers out of 5 in a patented CairnBet book and it looked like we were in for a loss when Garde Des Champs went very short in running but a Herculean effort got King Roly home and gave us a solid but unspectacular win. Perhaps aptly in a weekend when we lost a voice of my childhood, Ray Brooks who voiced King Rollo along with Mr Benn. Someone (me) popped the forecast on the board. We laid one bet. We laid one winner.

3) Finally got the top of the market in. Top 2 in fact as Broughshane and Power of Words were losers, along with Spit Spot for Mary Poppins fans, which meant a slew of absolute jackpots on the bottom 7 in the market. Another score draw on smashed up Moonbow (12s into 11/2) and another dose of seconditis on Summergrounds which was an even bigger jackpot than Scriabin in the first. Black looks, black moods. 3 races in on the busiest meeting of the year and we were still short of expenses.

4) What do you call a Mancunian filing system? "Sorted". What do you call a Mancunian filing system in alphabetical order? "Well sorted". I've always liked that gag and continue to do so as tenuously linked favourite Happy Index was never in the running and we had a stress free closing few furlongs as the likely winners were all much of a muchness which, like race 2, were again solid, if not spectacular. Expenses covered and a small profit now eked as Broken Ice was another smashed up winner.

5) No hedging required as everything fell within liability. Vocito and Ravenscraig Castle modest losers, Rock On Pedro a score draw, Here Comes Georgie and FiveOneFive modest winners and Evaluation the absolute jackpot - finished 2nd. Obviously. Places were exceptionally kind though and we were pleasantly ahead without feeling the urge to strip off and jump into a fountain, despite the weather.

6) The sun started going down which led to half the fences being omitted (another undesirable consequence of Premierisation) but also meant an element of comfort for the first time. I'd gone through 2 litres and was casting around the joint for further sources of hydration but there were none to be found. We did finally find a jackpot though as we got royally stuck into favourite Raby Mere and added 3rd in, Am Still Here, for good measure. 2nd fav McGregors Charge giving us a big leap forward.

7) I Am Simba for fans of lions and/or, err, overpriced mattresses and Ms Cindy Kate for fans of, err, 2nd tier Barbie dolls were the definite bogeys, Coutach a small bogey whilst favourite TenThousandReasons a small winner until a late, and relatively chunky, bet on the jolly flipped the top two in the market on their heads liability wise for which we were eternally grateful as Coutach prevailed. For the 3rd time today, though, jackpot was second and, for the 3rd time today, it had hit odds on in running.

A good winning day for us made up of steady wins, avoiding the liabilities and hitting one jackpot. The extreme dose of seconditis left us with that nagging feeling of what might have been though.

Hamilton for us on Friday next up. Until then...