Friday September 29th 2023

Nicely done, but I assume you got better odds, as I thought it was skinny at 4/1!

Sadly no, I reckoned last night it would drift as the oppos eg Haggas German Guineas winner would shorten. Got 4s like you.

I read jack charltons book its really HISTORY of struggle for years outside toilet no hot water etc

My buddys son got a soccer scholarship in TEXAS with brazilians etc

His father drove around ireland training and playing.

He got kicked out of the UNIVERSITY for ALKHOL ABUSE and on building site in NEW York.

Pep was very upset he had to get the coach back to Manchester from Newcastle this week. What, no plane? Heads must roll!

Luke, neither of us jinxed Minnetonka yesterday. Blame for the defeat lays squarely on the shoulders of Sam 'Psycho' Hitchcott. Surely one of the rides of the season...but for all of the very wrong reasons.

Oh well, the market was not looking good beforehand...

Guess I'll just have to nap the winner of the Cambridgeshire tomorrow - should be easy :P

Must be the bingo and roulette virtuals no dogs or horses..

I would say it is highly variable and the Physical Shops are probably acting as Loss Leaders.

2 of the 6 Bookmakers in Cork I used to frequent are gone but I visit the other 4 that are bang in the City Centre with high rents and are buzzing.

I am struck by the cultural diversity.

People from backgrounds totally different to people reared in these Islands where Horse Racing is a normal part of our culture.

I am guessing the Bookmakers need this Physical Space as a gateway drug entry route for new migrants to Cork who will not find Horse Racing otherwise without communal disgust about certain rides and a friend who shreds his docket at the same time.

I have learnt lots of swear words in foreign languages.

The Blair/Brown governments saw an explosion of betting shops on the high street and the associated advent of those casino machines. The shops were sleekly furnished, well lit, smoke free and provided with multiple screens and hot drinks machines. That famous Catholic convert Tony "Super Casino" Blair in particular was a fervent believer that the new religion for the masses was to be communal gambling, with the national coffers being swelled by the huge tax take (until the big players all went offshore and Gordon "Son of the Manse" Brown decided to scrap plans for Las Vegas type establishments in Blackpool, Manchester, Greenwich and other places). So for a while the only growth in the retail sector in poorer communities was the proliferation of bookies and pawnshops. Then eventually council planners woke up to the harm being done and restricted the number of betting shops within a certain area. (Pawnshops however still thrived.) Perhaps we will be revisiting all our yesterdays and doing cash betting when our online accounts have been closed - anecdotal evidence says that big pro punters are heading back to the racecourse and betting on the rails again to circumvent account restricyions and affordability checks. But will that much-missed seedy, friendly, shabby atmosphere ever be replicated?

Uggy went one better 😉