York Review

So I went to bed last night and pondered what to do today, as I had the day off. My friends back home were all working and my best mates in the village were, rather homosexually, playing badminton in the evening (nowt wrong with that per se, but Friday night ffs?! Go and get pissed! Play faggot sports midweek!) So anyway, I had glanced at the RP website before bed and I knew there was racing at York, so I thought "fuck it, let's go".

Got up this morning, bus from the village to Chesterfield (40 minutes); train to York (around an hour, £20 return! Farce!); bus from the station to the course (very respectable £3 return and far more buses than Perth - fair play to YOU York Races).

Got there, HEAVING with totty. I mean overflowing. Plenty of folk properly scrubbed up, but today's meet wasn't that big so I didn't feel too out of place, I opted for the cheapo enclosure which was still heaving with totty. I will leave the shit jokes about fillies to Will. Also worth noting that £4 entrance fee is more than respectable, the views were fine - I stood by the winning post for races, watching the bulk of it on the screens and then enjoying the final furlong up close. £4s worth of awesomeness.

Having never been to York before, I wanted to take a few snaps of the surroundings. The above picture is the main stand, quite early at this point so noone's in it. The one below is much later on, you can see it's a bit more full. I am watching the horses go to post at this point and it's raining, so many of the punters are still indoors. I think it was £12 to get in the cheaper stand and £30ish for the super duper, jacket and tie job - very respectably priced I have to say.

The photo below is my best bet of the day (for York) Total Impact going to post. It was second in the end, beaten a length by a 14/1 shot, Sohraab, Jimmy Quinn's third winner of the meeting.

The photo below is my only winner of the meeting, Smalljohn, going to post. The resolution is low so I could attach it to an SMS. I sent it to Laura saying something along the lines of "this one's going to win". It did :D

Here's some more random scenery. In the enclosure you don't have access to the parade ring, but where I am standing here, you can just about see what's going on by craning. And you can also enjoy the screen. If you're just going for the day out and you're not fussed about looking for clues in the paddock, this is a pretty sweet (and as I keep saying, awesomely priced) area to be in.And finally, here's a short clip of some nags going to post in the 16:00, won by Smalljohn.

As this was an impulse thing, I hadn't really planned what to back. I'd done no studying at all. I got up, took note of GG.com's tips for the meet, similarly ATR's tips and then I bought the RP for the train. I had 2 points on every race, somewhat foolishly.

In the first, I was going to back Viva Ronaldo and then I saw it was favourite and I was a bit annoyed, I was hoping it would be slightly longer. Anyway, I stood about for ages waiting for the price to lengthen and it didn't. For some reason, I went away and re-read the RP and noticed that the trainer has a shit record with 2 year olds at York and the trainer of Every Second had a better record, so I backed Every Second. The odds shortened up and it seems it went off favourite. But it came second, to Viva Ronaldo :D

In the second race, I backed King Of Rhythm at 8/1 e/w, I didn't expect it to win but I didn't expect it to be so pisspoor. Came well back. It was a flip for me between that and Nevada Desert, for opposing the favourite. Nevada Desert placed at 9/1, frustratingly. The bad beat in this race was that Kirsty Milczarek was supposed to have her one and only ride at York on Dado Much but it was withdrawn, so I never got chance to stalk her. Bastard!

I went with Bollin Felix in the third as I didn't fancy the favourite. I was hoping to be "Bollin" all the way to the bank, especially as the price just kept on shortening. It finished third in the end.

My wait for a winner was broken in the fourth race, with Smalljohn comfortably ahead of the favourite by a couple of lengths. Those two were well clear of third. I was pretty confident about this one and was baffled by Heaven Or Hell's price moving from around 9/1 to 7/2 (went off joint favourite in the end) as I was reading that it wouldn't like the ground. It finished 7th, a long way back.

I thought I had turned the corner now, as my best bet for the meeting was to come, followed by my next best. As it happens, Total Impact ran a good race but Jimmy Quinn was a machine today, and he got Sohraab home by a length.

The super sickener was that my next best was a non-runner, I must have missed that announcement. That left me with just 20 minutes to see what I fancied in what was a very trappy race. I plumped for my first deliberate "back the favourite" bet, as I had noted that no favourites had won yet and surely we couldn't leave without one favourite winning? Well we did, Potentiale was third in a great finish. Naughty Thoughts, the nice all weather horse which I had written off purely on that basis, got up by a head from Sporting Gesture, with Potentiale about a length back, though it had been right in the mix. Fair play to the handicapper in this one, there were five in a line a furlong or so out.

So I spent 12 points and recouped 8 of them. That was okay though, because the studying I DID do the night before meant I was on Goodwood Starlight (see right) for 2 points (20:00 Goodwood, on at 3.8 and it scooped). I also had a single point on Stringsofmyheart in the 20:10 at Chepstow (didn't win) and a single point (which never got matched) on Speed Up (love that name!) in the 14:30 at Market Rasen - came second by a head, so I'm glad it wasn't matched!

A good way to spend your day off. Next day off I get I will probably do the same. Hopefully Southwell or Nottingham has a meeting on!