We began our 836 mile round tour with Perth last Thursday for their Ladies Day fixture. The sun was shining and there was a huge crowd but unfortunately for us not much in the way of betting activity.
Unlike the previous fixture, decent wagers were few and far between and the most exciting part of the afternoon were the best dressed ladies, men’s and hats competitions.
Onto the racing and we lost on four out of the first five with three jollies and a second best. Statuario at 12/1 ridden by the brilliant Sean Bowen got us back on track with three to go.
Singapore Trip at 8/1 and Imperial Rule at 18/1 got us nicely in front going into the finale but there was a sting in the tail and our two bogeys came home hand in hand in the bumper to spoil the party a bit. A winning day nevertheless and fair play to the track for attracting a good crowd.
On Friday, we opted for Aintree over York and we went on the scenic route around by Parbold and Ormskirk as there was a lorry crash on the M58. We still arrived with plenty of time to spare.
Paul quite liked the card and we were flying high when we won on the first five races. He had discussed the runners as usual with SD and settled on making a book around the Dan Hague owned Miami Magic in the bumper.
Our Southern colleague Tucker Noyce had flagged it up prior to its win at Charm Park. It ran a stormer but unfortunately got done on the line by the jolly Bear Market, backed in from 10-1 to 10/3 not long before the off.
Nevertheless, another winning night and we went into Saturday on a high. Three choices faced us but we went for Thirsk in the silver ring as there was no football and the sun was once again shining.
Looby was back on the team and on arrival at the track we were amazed at the improvements in the facilities in the family enclosure – they are a credit to the track.
We had a busy shift and made it three wins on the bounce – the first time we have achieved this in a very long time.
On arriving back in Penrith we discovered Pinno was staying in town on his way back from the point at Hexham so we arranged to meet him for supper and a couple of beers 🍻
A day off on Sunday and back to action on Monday at Carlisle for the first flat fixture. The tide turned in the wrong direction and our euphoria from the weekend soon disappeared.
It was a six race card and we cannot recall there being such a poor crowd at our local track since just before the Covid lockdown began in March 2020.
A combination of Mondayness in the evening after a sunny weekend just before another bank holiday meant it really didn’t have much appeal to many. Poor turnover and terrible results meant a losing night and a shift we’d probably all rather just forget.
There was another evening fixture at Hexham last night and neither of us were in love with the eight race card.
The writing was on the wall when the two divisions of the conditional jockeys handicap produced two winning jollies (both of which looked beat) and this turned out to be the difference of the evening.
The biggest priced winner was Well Educated at 6-1 and this meant back to back losing meetings for us going into the Bank Holiday.
A couple of well needed days off for us now before another spell of five days out of six for us over the weekend and into next week. Blog to follow. Watch this space.
Paul Garritty Bookmakers 