The jumps come back properly on Friday, which is the best news in the book this month, because October has been the quietest month since last September. Seven points down with a fortnight gone, forty five bets, nineteen won, and two days did most of it. The second, four bets at Wolverhampton and Gowran Park, four losers. The ninth, three at York on the Friday of Champions week, three losers. The rest of the month has been ordinary, which is to say about level, and ordinary doesn't fill a hole like that in a fortnight.
I'm writing this on the Saturday with the book open, and it's the kind of afternoon that sums the whole thing up. A comeback horse won at Limerick at 2.61, half a point, the only one this month. Ombudsman placed at Ascot at 1.68 on Champions Day, which he did in some style. And two fancied horses at Catterick, the course that has been so kind, both got beaten at 3.7 and 4.0. A point down on the day, near enough, after four bets, and the comeback winner was the only reason it wasn't two. That's a Saturday.
On the two bad days I've done what I always do, which is read the bets back. The Wolverhampton four were sound and the ground was slower than advertised, which is the sand in October for you. The York three were sound and York on a big day is a market I should know better than to bet into, for the same reason as Cheltenham. I'll add it to the question list for big meetings, which already says be slower to bet at the Festival and at Aintree.
The jumps come back properly on Friday, with the first meeting at Cheltenham. The winter is where the place bets earn their keep and the fields are small and honest, and November has been a good month in both years of the book. I'm not promising that. I'm noting it. If you've been waiting for the jumps to join, two weeks for £5 gets you every bet from Cheltenham's first meeting.
The bank is a long way clear of anything seven points can touch. The point stays at £150. The stakes don't change because the month has been poor, any more than they changed in August because it was good, and if you've followed since the spring you'll know that's not a slogan, it's the only reason the book is where it is.
Same stakes on Monday. Southwell, probably.
Lee
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More from the notebook: Aintree, and the race I leave alone · Cheltenham, the honest week