We had big problems after pitching in today. The pretty team went in an area which had been turned to face the other way in order to service a large picnic area. About 45 minutes after pitch in the racecourse decided to gate the area we were servicing off and we were left with virtually no punters. I could go on about it but it won't get us our lost revenue back. Ascot appear to have accepted their mistake and make some recompense, though it'll be nowhere near what we lost- by our calculations we took about 30% of what we would expect. Tough gig when you have paid good money for a pitch and plenty more cash to the racecourse for the pleasure of being able to bet there. Even tougher when you've come from Scotland for the week to work. Very unsatisfactory. We do have another pitch which formed the majority of today's take and so we move on to the blog.
We tweeted last night what we expected to lay today based on the name being popular on Ladies Day. Our friend "Mike With The Orange Pens" wanted to know how good we were so each race will contain our expected lays and how we got on.
1) Predicted lays Pillow Talk and Crispy Cat. We were massively in liability on Pillow Talk and a 0-0 draw on Crispy. Solid Start. Sadly not a solid start in the book as we also laid the winner "The Ridler" and kicked off with a nasty loss on a rag whilst our colleagues were bouncing. We know it's going to happen and we're usually phlegmatic losing on outsiders but loaded on top of our punters being jailed in their picket and iron fenced prison it would've tested the patience of a saint and I'm not a saint. Joint kicked and toes stress fractured. Onwards.
2) Our predicted max liabilities were max liabilities (Mr Alan and Berkshire Rebel) and our punt on Flying Dolphin also came in as that was also in red figures. Only Surrey Mist was a winner. In the race 2nd favourite Secret State was a small winner and beat our jackpot Deauville Legend. It's a good job I don't do karma or I'd have given up then.
3) Only one selection predicted "Life of Dreams" and it was max. I was wishing we were as good at bookmaking as we were at predicting Ladies Day liabilities. We also had a max loss on Mystic Wells and a half on History leaving the other 3 winners for similar amounts. Magical Lagoon pipped Sea Silk Road and we had another winner in the "ok" range but we were still short of even covering the week's expenses let alone thinking about a wage.
4) A swing and a miss on the prediction front though Princess Zoe was only a small winner. Maximums on EarloftheCotswolds and Bubble Smart. Couldn't lay Kyprios and I allowed myself a small celebratory punch as we chalked up a good win. Envious glances still cast towards the good ladies of Ascot in their self imposed picnic table jail though.
5) Epic prediction fail (Power of Beauty and Spinaround) and I'm not sure how I missed Blenheim Boy which was a big loser along with Great Max, Jimi Hendrix (should've got that as well) Bolthole, I'm a Gambler, Lawful Command, Claim The Crown, Atrium an Malex. We steered the lot and had a great win on Thesis- thank goodness it wasn't student night...
6) Took more on Reach For The Moon than I expected but it was never going to be a liability at the price- we had another winner (Maksud) which was one more than we expected but we hit a small loss on 2nd favourite Claymore compensated by a win in the forecast.
7) Bang on the predictions with Snazzy Jazzy and Mum's Tipple who were both full bore losers along with 5 others dotted around the book. Less successful with Oo de Lally and River Nymph who were mid range winners. Lovely result with Inver Park to end the day- would've been a loser at Perth or Musselburgh though! What we didn't expect was a request for £2.50 each way on Frosty Gusset. There was a lot of runners so I was scrolling around to find it- or anything Frosty. Or Gussety. Nowt. Turned out to be Ropey Guest. I preferred our lady's interpretation.
We don't do requests. But I will today. Jumbo sausage and chips. You're welcome.
We had a nice day after an awful, awful start. Enough said about the debacle- we'll see what tomorrow brings. Until then...
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