Racetrack Wiseguy

 One of the horses recommended below was a non-runner but the other four all passed the post first. Sadly in the big race, we had parted company with our jockey at the first fence and taken the wrong course and  the draconian rules of the Jockey Club don't regard that as winning. We have to get by in the face of such mindless adherence to petty details but we still do. 

It was a pay day. Pay days are never quite as big pay days as they might have been had we done it slightly differently but doing it the way we do it is our safeguard against disaster and it is only money after all.

In my first move into ownership I have my first runner tomorrow. Which only means I finally found the right place to click to join the Coral Racing Club. The fraction I own of Annie Mc in the 2.00 at Carlisle must be microscopic and I'm not backing it.

But one doesn't stop when it's going okay. Soaring Glory (Carlisle 1.00), American Mike (Navan 1.20) and Marble Sands (Leicester 2.10) can't be made worthwhile for careful money unless it's in a treble but if they all go in, that's a new high point for the year and if any let me down then we're still doing fine. The end of year account should surely now be only a matter of whether there can be some further profit-taking or if the account balance needs to be all carried forward as ammunition for next year.

 

The reason why pay days are never quite as big pay days as they might have been is because one bears in mind where one would be if nothing comes back. It is 'batting like Boycott', adding two more wickets to the score and so batting as if it is 50 for 2 when it's actually 50 for no wicket. It's not pretty, it's not exciting but it's pragmatic and it can be made to work. I didn't bat like that myself but the workhouse wasn't waiting to take me in if I got out cheaply. Would that it had been. It would have concentrated the mind.