SUN SHINES ON THE BOOKIES
Simon Nott spends time at Newton Abbott and the Epsom Derby meeting
NEWTON ABBOT
There are fewer nicer places for a racing fan to be on an early summer’s evening than Newton Abbot and tonight was no exception.The sun was out, the ice cream seller doing a roaring trade and the bookies in great spirits, what more could you ask for?
A great story from one of the bookmakers that’s what. LeadingWestcountry layer Andrew Smith who bets under Festival Racing has been in the racing game all of his life working with his bookmaker father and other firms from an early age.We got talking about some of the now dearlydeparted characters of the betting ring. Eddie Baxter’s name popped up. Eddie used to bet as Avalon and was known to be the layer the floormen would congregate around at SouthWest courses as he would invariably be the first to price up a race. Back then betting was generally a frenetic ten minutes before-the-off affair. The prices would go up and the money would soon do the talking, not like these days when by the time the layers go up on course the market has been left to soak for hours on the exchanges.
Andy told me that he and his mate Ash (who later went on to work with the legendary Stephen Little) were with Eddie Baxter for one of the summer festival meetings. As was the norm in those days the staff were looked after by the boss and were staying in a hotel.The story has two parts.The first being that the young Andy and Ash were enjoying a post-racing pint in the hotel lobby when then saw Eddie come through the entrance looking very hot and bothered with a rather large Bible tucked under his arm. The lads both looked at each other in some disbelief, neither had Eddie down as a particularly religious man. One of them called out to him and asked where he was going on with the Bible under his arm.It turned out that the explanation was more practical than ecclesiastic.
The hotel, although rather nice, wasn’t equipped with air-conditioning which would have been handy on a hot afternoon. It transpired that Eddie had used the bible to prop open his room window then was horrified to see it plummet to the ground below when he tried to open it further. Ash and Andy had just witnessed the retrieval of the holy book after its several floors tumble.
The next time Andy and Ash saw Eddie they were stumbling back to their digs after a night on the tiles, just as their wellrested boss was coming down for breakfast. Andy remembered that their boss didn’t need to say anything, his face said it all.The lads realised they had some amends to make, so once on course they got really to work, one in Tatts and one in the Silver Ring, diligently tic-tacking and earning from as many bets as they could as was Eddie’s wish.
Admittedly still emboldened by the drink imbibed the night before, they played a blinder, some great books combined with some bookie-friendly results meant that by the end of the day Eddie had won a ‘nice few quid’. Andy and Ash were both very pleased with themselves and expected all to be forgiven and maybe even some honours forthcoming. Their confidence was such that one of them ventured to Eddie, that their night out hadn’t affected their working performance. With that, Eddie pierced the duo with a look of cold steel and quashed any ideas of being out of the doghouse and of financial reward with a stern reply of,‘Just think how much we’d have won if you hadn’t got pissed’.
My old mate and racecourse regular Armaloft Alex was at Newton Abbot and was kind enough to usher me into the Owners & Trainers bar for a quick cup of coffee and slice of cake prior to racing. The racecourse certainly know how to look after those who fund the combatants. The bookmakers had no complaints either after the first three races, getting the short ones beaten in each.
The fourth heat was the SherwellValley School Handicap Hurdle and boasted 15 runners. I’d had my card marked that Jeremy Scott’s Seeanythingyoulike was fancied and should be backed accordingly. The market suggested that was the case with the gelding going off the 9/2 favourite. Obviously I have no idea if the connections were on. You have to guess that they were so you’d also have to guess that they’d have been none too pleased with the ride Matt Griffiths gave it. He yielded the rear to nobody until making headway with just three to jump.
Commentator Mark Johnson did pick up that the jolly was making headway but the beast would have had to have been Pegasus to win from there. He redeemed himself slightly by persevering, eventually scraping into third behind the Chris Down trained 11/1 winner Ladies Dancing. It could have been worse though, a
breathless Armaloft came wheezing up to me just after the race and panted, ‘I couldn’t find you before the race, out of all of them in the paddock that’s the one I wanted to lay’. ‘The jolly?’ I ventured, ‘No’ he replied, ‘the winner!’ Small mercies.
THE OAKS EPSOM
I was working on the Star Sports pitch at Epsom, so given the prestige of the meeting will relate a race by race account of the meeting. Oaks day started well when I saw Tony Styles aka Bob Stock back on his number 1 pitch in Tattersalls. Tony is a true gentleman of the turf who has been poorly recently so great to see him so looking fit and well and back on the racecourse again.
We just took what the punters threw at us in the Investec Woodcote Stakes. They wanted Zap early at 5/1 but by the off we had both Cardsharp and the impressive winner De Bruyne Horse losers.The latter was the best of the two but joy of ducking one was tempered with news the office laid £8,000 the winner in the morning.
There was professional each way money for Mutarekez at 15/2 in the Investec Click & Invest Mile as well as good support for Remarkable, the worst loser in the book.We were fortunate that the cash punters didn’t really latch on to GK Chesterton so watching the 3/1 favourite win only taking the book was handy as was the clever each-way money left behind.
It was hard to get the jolly Highland Reel into the book on course with betting light in the Investec Coronation Cup, then the office reported they’d laid £25k and £5k at 5/2, then another £8k at 2/1. He looked to be beaten when Hawkbill came to challenge then kicked clear again to win nicely which was an absolute body blow.
The Investec Wealth & Investment Handicap Stakes could have proved a real rub-down of a race title. ‘Could’being the operative word, the money piled in for Fidaawy at 5/1 then one of the off-course firms topped it up at 9/2.At the off we had the gelding for over £8,000.A bit of pluck from Kyle on the stool and some bad luck for backers in running and we clawed some back when Not So Sleepy got the money at 10/1.
The feature of the betting for the Investec Oaks was a punter coming up and having £7,650 on Rhododendron. With that the thunder clapped and the rain started to pour. The office called, they’d laid £90,000 and £24,000 bets at 5/6 the jolly. It was make or break. Enable winning under Frankie Dettori changed the complexion of the whole day, we were back!
In contrast the Investec Savings Surrey Stakes was an anti-climax, the rain had stopped but the punters appeared to have
gone in and stayed in too.Our field money was very small so as a result we didn’t really get our whack on 8/1 winner Solomon’s Bay
After all the earlier race excitement there was just steady betting in the concluding Investec Exchange Handicap.The punters left us with Wahash losing us four low figures. A good day was ensured regardless but Juanito Chico running down the bogey was the cherry on the cake despite retuning 4/1F.
THE DERBY EPSOM
It was glorious on Epsom Downs as we arrived for Derby Day. Listening to the other layers we could consider Oaks Day a job well done, winning as we did.
The Investec Private Banking Handicap was a fairly modest betting heat under a scorching sun.The office laid a £48,000 to £4,000 Masham Star. We weren’t offered anything like that but 11/2 winner Drochaid was the best result in the book for us at a price we could have lost at so a lucky start to the day.The firm spent some of the winnings on sun cream, the purchase proved prudent and the product popular with other layers feeling the heat during the day.
Try as we might we couldn’t get Laugh Aloud in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes despite going evens.We were braced for a lump but one didn’t materialise. That was doubly surprising given the ease at which she won at a wrist-on 4/5. We did lose on the race, the result of combined bets, no single bet bigger than £200.The office fared less well losing ‘five figures’.
People who like to read about bookies losing will be pleased to learn that 4/1 winner Sovereign Debt was by far the worst in a lopsided book in the Investec Diomed Stakes.We’d ridden our luck up until then so couldn’t really complain. Of course we are bookies so we did, just a bit.
The Investec Dash The sprint handicap looked too hard for the punters.Bets were very small and predominantly each-way. We just relied on our margin and luck on what we laid. The 25/1 winner Caspian Prince was one of the ones we got in the book. We did win on it but only enough for a fish supper not dinner at one of boss Ben Keith’s favourite Knightsbridge haunts.
We bet four places each-way in the Derby. Dubai Thunder had been the gamble of the race so no surprise we had him losing £5k at the off. There were no big bets but plenty of modest ones which added up.We needed a good result or our payout queue would stretch to Tattenham Corner.We got one too,Wings Of Eagles swooped late to collar Ryan Moore and Cliffs Of Moher just when the combo looked home. The 40/1 winner was the best result we could have hoped for unless Diore Lia had run and won.It was a cracking result with the first three in the betting filling the places so little to pay there either.
The penultimate the Investec Out Of The Ordinary Stakes was poorly named,at least as far as the betting went. Having said that, Shraaoh was backed from 5/2 into 11/8 but not with us.There was hardly a punter in front of the joint so field money was very poor,which was a shame as 12/1 winner Soldier In Action should have seen a terrific winning race.
The concluding Investec Asset Management Handicap Stakes was another light betting heat and another where we didn’t get our whack when 25/1 shot Reputation won.In hindsight,we were lucky as one shrewd mega-topper donning punter was seen helping himself to 28/1 the winner on the rails.He turned his nose up at our pony and 1/5 odds a place though was informed he could have 1/4 if he rang the office.Fortunately he left them out too, so we were lucky not to do our cobblers which would have taken the shine off an excellent winning two days. Sometimes you just have to get the breaks!