Simon Nott tracks the Grand National bookies each side of the Irish Sea for his Tales from the Ring.
I do love travelling over to Ireland to work in the betting ring. The only thing not so great is days like the Irish National meeting where I’m in and out in one day.
Catching the early flight from Bristol to Dublin involved a 3.30am alarm call to catch a 7am flight on April 1. Still, once I was up and on the road, the anticipation of a first trip to Fairyhouse for their biggest meeting off the year shrugged off any tiredness.
Surprisingly, unlike most other flights to Dublin when there’s a big meeting, I only recognised one other racing person on the flight, which was packed. Fairyhouse isn’t a bad jaunt from the airport, which is just as well as the plan was a quick getaway to get back their straight after the last.
‘No problem’ according to my local hosts. I was told that the course would be heaving, but not with punters, but students, who might have a punt, it was the same every year.
There were plenty of bookmakers turned out, many with their card machines at the ready, the young ‘uns do love to wield their plastic when having it on. What they don’t appear to do is have any inkling of what clobber to wear to the races when it promises to be cold and wet, blimey this lot were dressed for a summer ball, underdressed in the case of some of the young ladies in evidence.
Many of them were betting though so good to see.
The first heat went to the punters, Willie Mullins and Paul Townend landed the spoils with the 9/2 second favourite Implicit which just got the better of 14/1 chance Ossie’s Lodge in a desperate photo. Needless to say, the runner-up literally a nod back in second would have been a better result for most of the books. Business hadn’t been great though, the combination of the cold and drizzle was’t an incitement to come out of the warm to have a punt. The betting shop under the stands was backed.
The second favourite Bottler’secret, this time 4/1, won the second heat of the day, not too much damage was done to the betting ring. That’s because there wasn’t much betting on the race, which isn’t a good thing but not so bad when a short one wins.
Things picked up for the handicap hurdle, there were some decent punters about at last, I heard of a few grand bets for the jolly O’Moore Park at 13/8 and 7/4 as well as each-way support for Western Fold. Luckily I didn’t hear of any significant support for Whatcouldhavebeen which won at 14/1 trouncing the 13/8 favourite O’Moore Park. That was an excellent result for most of the betting ring, especially as it’s the race where the punters finally came out to play.
Just four went to post in the next, but the betting was interesting, I heard of one bookmaker that laid a bet of £5,000 – £300 the outsider of four Maxxum. It’s doubtful he was doing to because someone in the betting shop told him to always back the outsider of four, but you never know of course. Money like that on course has to be respected. It wasn’t long before that 16/1 was almost half that price.
There was also a bit of money about for the jolly Zarak The Brave, when I say a bit, I’m talking about monkeys rather than lumps. The bookie that laid Maxxum at the top price must have been feeling a bit jittery during the race, that’s assuming he’d not been able to bet out of it so had a liability. The gamble was still going well when he fell two out, so we’ll never know if he’d have hung on, but the money was evidently lively. Brewin’upastorm won the race at 5/1 and would have been another good result for the books.
There was just steady betting on the still drizzle plagued next where Saint Sam opened at even money but failed to attract significant support. There appeared to be just modest support for plenty of horses. 4/1 chance Journey With Me won the race, which would have probably not been a great result as the favourite was hard to lay.
The Irish Grand National was busy as you’d expect, with plenty of horses backed. The was decent money for Yeah Man at 8/1 and 9/1, Good Time Johnny at 11/1 and Where’s Frankie at 12/1. Intense Raffles won the race at 13/2 from 14/1 chance Any Second Now. The winner wasn’t a great result for the ring, although the well-backed 6/1 into 4/1 favourite Nick Rockett was unplaced, winning on the race for the layers was probably a case of how much of a stand they’d taken against the jolly and just the luck of the draw which horses the punters bet with them.
Sadly, as often happens at the big meetings after the feature race, business dried up for the last two races, which was a minus, as did the rain, which was a plus. Macdermott winning the penultimate at 5/1 would have been an OK result.
Redemption Day the 2/1 joint favourite landing the concluding bumper probably wasn’t, but the saving grace for the ring was, if you can’t take much you can’t lose much. To be honest, I didn’t even see the last race but heard it as I ran for my lift to the airport. I made that, the flight was only a little late, so I was home and hosed back in Devon by 11pm, knackered but happy I’d done it.
There were no early rising heroics for me to attend The Grand National at Aintree 12 days later.
I’d already been on course for the first two days of the meeting and was staying locally. I been embedded with top layers Star Sports who had managed to lose £25,000 over Thursday and Friday and well as getting clobbered in their office and shops so were hoping for a comeback.
Things didn’t start well for the Brighton based firm. The first race was a small staking affair, despite betting on a prime pitch on the rails. Their book only held around £2,000 before a punter waded in with £10,000 – £2000 Gwennie May Boy which went on to win and a was real metaphorical kick in the nuts in the opening race.
The next race came alive, ‘Lofty’, Star’s erstwhile clerk was kept busy tapping the bets in, those bets included £11,000 – £4,000 Ile Atlantique, £5,000 – £4,000 Brighterdaysahead. The public came out to bet too so everyone was kept busy. They were kept busy paying out too, the favourite won, the firm lost £2,000 so things went from bad to worse. It’s not great when things go from bad to worse as the team, Lofty in particular get a cob on.
Business really picked up for the Handicap Chase, the public really started to get stuck in, they appeared keen on the race despite the fact the books bet 4/1 the field. Incidentally, Star’s neighbour to their right was Peter Eastwood, a real gentleman from Belfast, his father Barney was a very well-known bookmaker in Northern Ireland. He and his team were heading home via ferry on Saturday evening, sailing overnight and arriving just in time for Down Royal on Sunday, true professionals. Back to the betting and business was very brisk but modest, that is until a punter had £14,000 – £4,000 King Of Ryhope which knocked the book into a very dangerous listing position, just how Star Sports like those figures. But most of the bookies I worked for back in the day would be spinning in their graves. Still, who dares wins, and win they did. The 9/1 winner of the race Cruz Control was a virtual skinner, which was pure luck, quite often when a middle pin wins and skins it means Lofty has had a lean up. There was no roar from the big man this time so I’m guessing the punters just left the firm out. Whatever the reason, it was a welcome first cop on the day for the firm.
The next race was even busier with punters piling in front of the rails to get on. It was good to see so many people still betting in cash and with the bookmakers. It’s not so frequent that the bigger punters bet in readies these days, they’ll often do their business via cards or direct bank transfers, the days of a carrier bag full of used notes are mostly long gone. That was just as well because had the punter wanted to draw cash after he bet £20,000 – £6,000 Flooring Porter they’d have not had enough cash to pay him. Luckily, the bet was on the card – even luckier, he didn’t win. 8/1 chance Strong Leader won the race and copped £10,000 in the book, which is a cracking result in anyone’s language. All of a sudden the mood in the Star Sports camp had changed from morose to quite chirpy in the matter of a couple races – or rather races which resulted in wins in the book.
Next up was the race that everyone had been waiting for The Grand National. Bets came in thick and fast, are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin, they rails pitch took £11,000 – £1,000 Panda Boy, £12,000 – £1,000 Vanillier, £18,000 – £2,000 Limerick Lace, £35,000 – £2,500 Kitty’s Light, £28,000 – £2,000 Mahler Mission, £32,000 – £4,000 and £4,000 – £500 each-way Corach Rambler in noted bets only,with punters coming in thick and fast with smaller amounts, the team were under the cosh and loving it. Well, what can you say, we all now know that the 7/1 joint favourite I Am Maximus won the race for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend, but you may not have guessed that Star Sports won £12,500 on it. That’s what happens if the big punters leave you out of the winner.
They didn’t leave the firm out in the next, business had thinned out a fair bit after the big one, the hour gap between the Grand National and the penultimate seemed a little too long. It was OK because a punter wanting £7,000 on the favourite Found A Fifty found the firm, but not OK that they couldn’t take much more out of the race let alone bet anywhere near up to it. Found A Fifty had to battle for it but won the race after a tumultuous tussle with Master Chewy. To make losing £13,000 on the race worse, it did look as if Master Chewy had the battle won yards from the post only for the jolly to get back up. It was a £21,000 turnaround, it’s a cruel game at times.
There was no coming back on the week but there was still a chance of winning on the day with a couple of big punters still lurking. That despite much of the general public appearing to have decided to give the lucky last the swerve. One punter didn’t, he had £6,750 to come from bets over the afternoon and decided to spin it all up on the 15/8 favourite Mister Meggit. That’s the way punters, open your shoulder when you bet at the races, always responsibly of course. I’ll not keep people that don’t read the results or the formbook on tenterhooks, the favourite didn’t win, it finished 14th behind Fergal O’Brien’s 14/1 chance Horaces Pearl, the firm got £7,288 on the race. It had been a lot of hard work for the Nick, Steve and Lofty on the pitch, but at least they’d won on the day and made a dent in that £25,000 they were losing before the first. Next up, for this column, we’ll probably be on the Flat and hopefully not getting cold and wet. Still, cold and wet working at the races is still better than a proper job isn’t it? RA
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