Settling Nightmare

Good morning all,

Had a good old tidy up yesterday and found a couple of bits that reminded me of my time with Stanley Racing. That was some while ago! A story to tell on this morning's main piece then, plus a selection from Lingfield.

No stone was left unturned during the course, every bet you might encounter was explained in great detail, both horses football and everything else in between. You've not lived until you try settling a Dundee Shuffle on a calculator, let me tell you.

Anyway, course completed, I started relief managing shops around the Midlands on managers days off and their holidays. Most shops were quite busy but the one in Burton-On-Trent was very quiet. It was run by an old boy, Bob, who liked a bit of a sleep in the afternoon (his cashier told me). Most of the business was Lucky 15s and the like in the morning, and you'd barely see anyone in the afternoon.

But there was one punter who kept things lively. I say lively, in truth he was a pain as his bets became more and more complicated and convoluted. Turns out he was the manager of the local Ladbrokes, and he and Bob didn't really see eye to eye. So he'd place difficult bets to settle just to wind Bob up, and Bob would do likewise. All very childish.

Anyway, I copped for one of his bets on one of Bob's days off. Imagine a 4×4 grid, like noughts and crosses, only a bit bigger. He'd backed 16 dogs and placed them in each box in the grid. The bet was – any line, across, down and diagonally, 10p perm patents and a 10p Lucky 15. Great fun to settle as you've got to make sure you've missed nothing. In fact, I had to ring another shop to check the bet returns and I remember the manageress, on hearing she had to draw a 4×4 grid for the bet, saying “It's that tw*t again isn't it?”. How we laughed.

To be fair, I then did the same bet some time later in a shop that had wound me up, for one reason or another. I was told not to bother coming back….

On to today. The jump racing makes little appeal and the only bet I've had at the moment is Fiery Breath in the 2.40 at Lingfield. He looks win or blow out material, so don't bother with the e/w, but he was backed into favouritism last time out before blowing out yet again. However, he gets a hood now, and has pace to chase around him – he's drawn 3, and stalls 1,2 and 4 all like to get on with it to varying degrees. Perhaps this is the set up he needs. Well enough handicapped if so.

Good luck with all your bets today,

David.