Tales from the Paddock – Haydock and Pontefract: On-course bookmakers are back. Sort of.
And with it, so are my Tales From The Rails, although they will be far more sporadic this summer than they were when last seen a couple of years ago. Whilst the books are back, there are far less of them under the new Covid restrictions, with each course having its own rules.
For the majority of Jockey Club racecourses, they are operating under a 1:150 ratio. This means one bookmaker allowed on course for every 150 tickets they have sold. As customers can’t yet turn up on the day, this allows them to know 48 hours in advance exactly how many customers they are likely to have, and then the relevant number of bookmakers on the list can opt-in to work.
As you can imagine, this causes its own frustrations for the books. Those with good pitches will work a lot more than those with lesser pitches. In fact, for some bookmakers, this is going to mean another quiet summer, with few opportunities to work.
ARC racecourses are adopting a slightly different approach, and again it varies from course to course, but they are allowing bookmakers to stand in one line, with a gap between each pitch, to any amount until it is filled. This allows more books to stand – for example, a line with 40 pitches allows 20 bookmakers to work, but of course many of those books could simply find themselves in an unworkable position, away from the crowd. At least this way, you find a level that can be workable fairly quickly, and books with poor position then stay away.
The likes of Leicester are applying little in the way of restrictions to bookmakers and are allowing things to simply find their level. At the last meeting six bookmakers worked the ring, and another three on the rail, and all seemed happy with the level of business they were taking.
It’s a late Saturday in May, then, as we (that’s MT Racing) travel up to Haydock for their Bank Holiday meeting. We were here last week too, but it is obvious as we set up that it’s a very different crowd. Last week was all youngsters in smart suits out for the day but they have gone to Chester today, and this is a much-more family orientated crowd.
We have two of the four books in the silver ring area, although there is no actual silver ring, with the gate between the silver and Tatts areas open to create one large enclosure. Tables are everywhere, as if you want to have an alcoholic drink on course you have to be sat down, but there is table service and the system of ordering your drinks on an app, paying for them by card and then having them delivered to your (numbered) table appears to be working well.
It also means there’s a good spread of business, as each pitch effectively plays to a number of tables. What’s also good news for on-course punters is that, with the majority of the SP decided by the online firms, is you’ll frequently get a better price about those towards the front of the market now. Whilst the online firms are still loose with the outsiders, they’re tight at the front, and an online 13-8 chance is almost sure to be a 7-4 poke in the ring.
Come racing indeed.
Business, as ever, is slow for the first race – people are more concerned about finding a table and getting a round in – but all the same, the jolly old favourite, Quickthorn, goes in and it’s a bad result for the books.
The second is a big-field sprint handicap and this is what the punters like. Bielsa attracts plenty of £40/£50 bets and is a loser in our book, as are Hyperfocus and as much as we keep trimming it, we can’t keep them off old Brian The Snail either. However, he drifts like a barge near the off and we are able to cover him off.
It’s a good result – just, only just – as Punchbowl Flyer makes all and holds off the fast-finishing Bielsa by a nose. A huge swing in our favour and one that ought to set us up for a good afternoon.
Being a family crowd, some patience is required with the novices, and I do my best to help the first-timers. Even in this day and age, many haven’t placed a bet before. It’s easy to get testy and fob them off, but that’s not my way and I explain the difference between win and each-way, and even try and point them in the direction of a winner. Valentina, for that’s her name, has never bet before and after I give her King’s Lynn in the next (it wins) she’s a rather happy punter when picking up her twenty quid. She backs La Lune in the next as well, and suddenly it’s a very easy game for this novice.
I explain that you always win first time, that’s how we get you to keep coming back…
King’s Lynn is a bad result for us overall though, and La Lune is little better, so the Punchbowl winnings are taking a big dent. We need a result, but it’s Frankie time on Kinross and this Bank Holiday crowd know a good thing when they see one. We can’t keep them off it – the tenners, twenties, an £80 and a £100 bet at 11-2 come in late – and when Frankie goes clear at the two pole, it’s game over.
Another losing race.
After each race, one bloke keeps giving me all the bets he’s had for the previous race for me to check, knowing full well they are losers. He’s hoping we’ve made a mistake and that somehow, he’ll get paid. I personally hate that. I always play fair – one bloke gave me £100 for an £80 bet on Bielsa earlier, and I shouted him back to give him his score back, for which he was very grateful.
The new twenties stick together terribly, especially when wet, and you have to be so careful.
Mo Celita has four 1s next to her name, including a win here the week before, so the book for the next is one-way traffic. Worries about her reaching her handicap ceiling are of no concern to this crowd, awash with cash after the last three results, and they pile in.
The previous tenners are now scores, the twenties now forty, and a £140 win in the hole late seals our fate. Mo Celita makes all, the result in no doubt from a long way out, and worse still, the place bogey Sir Benedict gets third. Barring a miracle result in the last, this is now damage limitation.
When the 18-1 chance Street Kid trades odds-on late in the piece, we look like we might get out. But no, here’s William Buick with a big hammer to nail shut the coffin and Il Bandito, the 11-4 joint favourite, comes with a wet sail to get up in the final 100 yards.
It’s when we are packing the gear away at the end of the day that I suddenly remember that winning margin for Punchbowl Flyer in the sprint – a nose.
If Bielsa had got up, it would have 7-0 to the punters today.
We’ve been saved from a whitewash by a nose.
Such fine margins in racing.
Next stop Newmarket….