No.11 – Market Rasen

Saturday 26th September 2015
Market Rasen, Lincolnshire
Distance travelled: 137.4 miles
Attendance: 5,220

I deliberately took the route via Hull for this one solely in order to register a first time out over the ever impressive Humber bridge, which at £1.50 a crossing is a bargain level of fear inducement compared to most funfair rides.
Whenever I do any sort of trip I put the bare minimum of planning into getting from A to B, reassuring myself that road signs and sense of direction will lead the way and that “it’ll be alright”. That and sat nav… The latter was doing a fine job right up until I was deep in the Lincolnshire jungle about 10 miles from Market Rasen, at which point it decided it’d be amusing to abandon me. It also coincided with a complete dearth of road signs and the realisation that I don’t actually have a sense of direction. A game of country road roulette ensued before I eventually found my way onto one of those proper roads with green signs and everything, thankfully leading the way to Market Rasen with no further dramas.

When I decided to blog about all this, I gave a lot of thought to just how honest I should be. After all, there’s so many variables when it comes to what constitutes a good or bad day at the races and many of them aren’t necessarily the fault of the course. Even if they are, poor bar service or a lacklustre card is unlikely to live long in the memory if you end the day with a wad of notes big enough to be classed as an offensive weapon.
York for example is my local course and I love the place, i’ve had far too many enjoyable days there to count (Less tricky counting the profitable ones…). But if my first ever visit had been on John Smiths Cup day then there’s a solid chance my next visit would only ever have occurred against my will via a straight jacket, wheeled in Hannibal Lecter style.

So being honest, I wasn’t really a fan of Market Rasen. It’s not a bad course by any means, it just didn’t do it for me. There was a decent crowd in, nice weather, decent racing for the time of year and a very pleasant forest back drop. In fact, i’m struggling to think of anything it does particularly wrong, it’s another with a terrace on the 2nd tier which is usually enough to make me happy on its own!
Overall I just found it to be a bit of a shoulder shrug of a course. The stands are basic with one in particular looking like the sort of housing blocks they rush to pull down these days in the name of ‘regeneration’, the parade ring is pretty much featureless although a decent size, everything just does a job. Basically it’s a Wetherspoons, it does what you expect of it but it’s not the sort of place that springs to mind when thinking of where to take the girl of your dreams on a first date.

Channel 4’s Gina Harding interviewing trainer Malcolm Jefferson. Photo taken on a phone I bought from a time traveller visiting from 1998.

 

Terrible analogies aside, the day was largely one to forget from a betting point of view. I managed to talk myself out of backing Leoncavallo who obviously went on to a very impressive win which saw him become the first horse of the season to be inducted into my imaginary Cheltenham notebook. I quickly redeemed myself in the second race with Cloonacool at 11/2, or whatever price I got him for after a rare visit to the tote, but most of the rest of the day saw selections I deserve to be shot for.

Highlight of the day: The weather
Lowlight: Not much to shout about

Selections:
1:40 – Pinkie Brown (2nd of 7)
2:15 – Cloonacool (1/9) at 11/2
2:50 – Edgardo Sol (8/10)
3:25 – The Society Man (7/8)
4:00 – Double W’s (3/6)
4:35 – Ben Cee Pee M (3/10)
5:10 – Point The Way (3/6)