There was a healthy crowd for late January but no massive lumps reported on course, apart from one race, the third on the card, The Herring Mares' Maiden Hurdle which came alive. A punter had a single £4167 - £5000 bet on Paul Nicholls' Florencethemachine whilst another with a differing opinion backed Nicky Henderson's Lady D'Arbanville to the tune of £700 - £400. The bookmakers never really had much of a hope. The backed horses finished first and second under Harry Cobden and James Bowen respectively in price and size of bet order. Richard 'Tall Boy' Watson trading as Tim Watson told me that business was good for the type of day it was. I told him that there wasn't much point doing a blog. He asked me to write a paragraph highlighting that bookmakers are still here for the midweek meetings and don't stand at the races and take £10,000 bets all day long. He hastened to add that if you do want a decent bet, they'll happily take it. Come racing if you want it on.
There'll be a lot more action on these pages on Saturday and Sunday where I'll be reporting from the Dublin Racing Festival direct from the AK Bets pitches at Leopardstown. If you are going, please come and find the AK guys, I'll be lurking near by!
Simon Nott