Mug's game
IT ONLY takes a few hours for bookmakers to kick the smugness out of you. Like many punters I enjoyed a fruitful opening day at the festival - when you’re as inherently cocky as me, you start to refer to Cheltenham as ‘The Festival’ - and was expecting a similar reward going into round two.
Unfortunately Cheltenham has transpired to be a bit like Ireland over the past few years in microcosm. The fun was going to last forever.
I snaked another score off the sports editor to try and beat the bookies. Skipping over the first race (‘amateur riders? Can’t take those kind of risks’), I held fire until the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle, and after the success of Ruby Tuesday, I opted for my first €5 win bet on So Young at 2/1, partnered by the bold Walsh.
Ruby was third. Rock on Ruby was second and First Lieutenant, trained by Mouse Morris, squeaked home to take the spoils.
Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary owns First Lieutentant. No wonder he won; I’d wager jockey Davy Russell wasn’t allowed to carry the cup on board without a penalty.
A bad start but it would take more than that to knock the stuffing out of this hungry turkey. It was time for a hero to stop forward. Time for Rupert, at 9/4, in the RSA Chase. It wasn’t to be. Bostons Angel was too strong, Rupert nowhere to be seen, to leave me oh for two. Ouch.
Sizing up my options, I felt Big Zeb, at 11/4, would be triumphant in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. But Sizing Europe followed on from the success of Sizing Australia on Tuesday.
Bumper Wednesday was quickly turning into Black Wednesday. That’s when I decided to Call The Police at 5/1, with the last of my €20 mug money riding on it. And that’s when Carlito Brigante came back to haunt me. Named after Al Pacino’s character in the movie Carlito’s Way, Carlito Brigante stormed home at 16/1. The last of my sponds gone south on a miserable second day for this mug at Cheltenham.
After the joy of Ruby Tuesday, I pass the reins onto tomorrow’s rusty mug after suffering a pummelling at the hands of the bookmakers. Back to the minor leagues for me.
