As the saying goes “Give me Goodwood on a Summers day and you can forget the rest of the world.”
Well, we had five days of full summer with sweltering temperatures, and a roller coaster of emotions and results.
That’s the thing with festival bookmaking, it’s like all the emotions of life are rolled up and spat out at you over a short period of a few days in supersonic speed.
There’s weddings (the good results,) funerals (the bad ones,) new friends you’ll make and a few of the old ones you might temporarily fall out with too. Making a book at any racing festival takes stamina, staying power and a belief that it’ll all work out in the end.
This year we operated from a brand new number three pitch in tatts, as part of our desire to increase dragonbet.co.uk racecourse presence it was high on the list of wants.
I’ve personally got lots of special and dear memories of working the festival alongside my brother from a back line pitch with my late father.
That was over 18 years ago now but it seems not that much has changed… The first two days were quiet as they always were (we never used to turn up until the Thursday.) The results can be ‘Goodwood’ like (that’s hard from a bookies point of view) and the bookmaker over rounds (our profit margin) can be tight. It expensive to bet there and there’s additional costs in terms of accommodation and keeping the staff fed and watered.
But what a place and what a meeting! The views are breath taking, the atmosphere meanders from gentile to pulsating and so did the bookmaking.
Tuesday saw us face a small defeat, the biggest bet fielded was £1,300 @ 8/13 on Kyprios and the worst result was the Andrew balding trained Jouncey in the maiden.
Wednesday saw an increase in stakes although the number of tickets was still underwhelming. The first decent bet struck was in the first race, £650 each way Atilla the Honey. We managed to get that one ironed out but still lost on the race.
My play of the day was to take on the Sussex Stakes fav Henry Longfellow. An early bet of £2,000 @ 5/4, along with and £800 @ 11/10 meant I had him where I wanted in terms of liability. Unfortunately a late bet of £600 on the winner Notable Speech @ 10/3 meant that the reward for being right wasn’t what I thought I deserved and I started to get the feeling the day was not going as I’d hoped.
Well I was right about that as well, despite laying Coto De Caza well at 6/4 and 7/4, the 9/4 returned winner cost me over £5,000 and despite my best efforts that was pretty much the day over with.
Thursday at the Sussex venue is traditionally when the meeting really gets going in terms of crowds and this year didn’t disappoint, it was our best day in terms of ticket count and the results were favourable.
By the time Friday came the constant heat was making operating difficult as was poor internet coverage causing the card machine to keep dropping out. Remember people cash is king at the races!! Big Evs holding on was a kick in the nuts but getting my Prospero beat was welcome relief. We’d nicely hit the front and were ready to go again on Saturday.
The final day was busy enough to even making the moaning bookmakers happy. The biggest bet struck was £1,000 each way Dark Trooper in the stewards cup and we finished on a high with Paradias winning the lucky last.
In terms of meeting reflections I was happy enough, bookmaking when you’re winning is a pleasure and the people you meet along the way are a treasure. There’s no where else other than the race course where lords and ladies stand shoulder to shoulder with cooks and crooks.
As bookmakers it’s easy to moan, our expenses keep going up and there’s a general downward trend in attendance. But, sometimes we’ve got to look inward and ask what we ourselves, can do to stimulate trade.
I’m told I was the only bookmaker in tatterstalls to bet 1/4 the odds four places on the 16 runner handicaps, it’s a loss leader but there’s seldom few businesses these days that don’t have the odd one of them now and again.
I also think the betting ring is severely lacking innovation, since I’ve been going the people betting on the away meetings have disappeared, the books betting without the fav have gone, you rarely seen any offering a ‘daily double.’
The economics of racecourse bookmaking are tough and there’s display issues. But, I for one am looking at ways of offering a few more markets when I’m standing and I hope that some other forward looking books will be too.
As a profession we have a habit of standing still and letting the fast moving world of betting go past us while moaning the ‘games gone’ I don’t think it is. But, I’d rather not give it anymore of a head start.
Thanks for reading, and thank you if you had a bet with me online or in person over the Glorious week. Hopefully I’ll catch you on track soon and pob lwc with your punting whoever you’re doing it with.
