Tanya Stevenson's Racing UK Blog
	Wednesday 25th June 2014

Those who took the biggest hits at Royal Ascot won’t survive

columnist Tanya Stevenson charts a brutal Royal Ascot for the bookmakers, and looks at the reasons behind it, the impact it might have and some of the heftiest bets of the meeting.

Time and tide waits for no man. In the blink of an eye not only has Royal Ascot passed but it is over a week since it all began! 

With wounds still open and sore, bookmakers who had stood at the Royal meeting have re-lived their woes to colleagues and they didn’t only haemorrhage cash but to some extent pride and self-confidence.

Thirty races across five days produced 11 favourites and three joint-favourites, and emptied plenty of satchels, but not all. 

The traditional rails had a pathetic look to it; generations before it had more charisma and charm than the London Palladium. In those days the likes of Victor Chandler, John Banks, Colin Webster and Pat Whelan all stood firm alongside, Mecca, Heathorns, Ladbrokes and William Hill. 

Slowly that strength has ebbed away for various reasons, but more recently it has been the introduction of new betting areas such as those which line the rails where the horses walk out, by the bandstand, over the paddock, on the fourth floor – the list goes on. Last week there were only 10 to stand where the ghosts of hundreds remain rooted to their spots.

You have to applaud the bravery of Barry Johnson, who had five pitches last week. He was not alone in possessing more than one, which to my mind only weakens the ring further. 

Of course, this is relative, because the ring at Royal Ascot still holds a place in the top three with Aintree on Grand National day and the Cheltenham Festival. 

The position the bookmakers were in before Royal Ascot:

Before we get into the plight of the bookmakers, it must be put into context - there is hardly cause to bring the violins out in sympathy for those High Street firms.

Throughout the Jumps season bookmakers were well served in some of the biggest betting heats of the year. Lord Windermere in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Pineau De Re in the Grand National and for good measure remind me what price was Night Of Thunder in the 2000 Guineas?

Secondly, hardly any of the layers had the presence of mind to show an opinion.  Knowing when a favourite was value to lay at a certain price went many years ago.  It is a harsh comment, but in a way I hope last week was a reality check for some not to be so one-dimensional and at least have a real concept of whether they could get a favourite beaten or who could be wrongly priced. Intuitiveness is almost extinct. 

Lastly, in the boot of my car there are umpteen newspaper cuttings that state the expectation for turnover across the industry for the World Cup in Brazil to be £1 billion with Royal Ascot at £20 million. I know they are probably sensationalised or misjudged figures but the ratios wouldn’t be far out.

How many layers were there and who were they?

It needs to be remembered that the on-course brigade were softened up by Taghrooda’s Oaks win and Australia’s Derby win so punters had plenty to reinvest, and they simply earned interest on their investments. 

In any one year about 500 people sign up to be an on-course bookmaker at Royal Ascot. There are 230 who attend Royal Ascot each year, which gives you an idea of how many have multiple pitches. 

During the five days I paid a visit to some of the unorthodox betting areas and considerably less damage, if any, was done in those areas as the bookmakers were betting with terms far more favourable to themselves than the punters. 

Seamus Mulvaney’s pitch by the bandstand is an excellent place to stand at Ascot. Note Ladbrokes have placed themselves only one pitch along.  Then the walkout has to come a close second with JP Doyle, Big Jim and MansionBet nestled among the 10. In total those 14 pitches have faired best. 

Next those looking over the paddock have the trade of day trippers, those who have come out for a fabulous occasion rather than slave over race replays and stats. Not a bad loss for those four bookmakers either, who bet to favourable terms to them. 

Those who elected to stand in the newly-appointed fourth floor would probably have wanted to jump off. The boxes there may well have contained connections of some of the runners, or at the very least the TVs in the boxes would have displayed the current betting shows. So the fourth floor bookmakers would have had to be competitive, otherwise they wouldn’t have taken a shilling and the £3,000+ expenses to trade there meant winning probably wasn’t much of an option.

Then there is Tattersalls. Glued together by youthful naivety and a dependence on the exchanges is the impenetrable Ben Keith. Justin Carthy is giving Ladbrokes an influential presence again there, and then there is some of the wily old guard. There were a few familiar faces missing, but they chose an opportune time to sell off their pitches before the meeting started. How shrewd do they look now!

So how bad was the regular flow of favourites for the bookmakers at Royal Ascot? 

None of them could expect the onslaught that was to unravel. Firstly Pricewise, Tom Segal of the Racing Post, was on song. 

The happiest bookmakers were those betting at other courses, yet even they must have grimaced when glancing at the big screens at the action at their respective venues. 

The size of the bets at Royal Ascot never ceases to amaze me.

There was £120,000 reportedly laid off-course on The Great War in the Norfolk Stakes at 5-6 – he was fifth.

There were two £30,000 bets laid at 4-6 on Treve in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and then a plethora of £6,000 bets and dominations below all cash on-course. If you’ve forgotten already, she was beaten by The Fugue.

The success stories, though, were legendary. 

There was £100,000 on Leading Light at Evens, then £110,000 at 10-11, before he landed a thrilling Gold Cup.

The bet that earned most of my admiration to bet, and lay, was the £5,000 each-way cash on Domination, who won the Ascot Stakes at 12-1. And then there was the reported bet by Edward Lynam of £500 on the Sole Power and Slade Power double in the King's Stand Stakes and Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

What will this carnage mean for the on-course layers?

At times the betting ring is as vibrant as ever. Indeed such was the turnover and results on day four that it hauled bookmakers back to level, after being seemingly out of contention and 3-0 down after the first three days. 

It was day five, having been recharged with renewed confidence and a false sense that their luck had turned, that the bookmakers went for it with catastrophic results. 

There is this belief that bookmakers when out for the count bounce back, but in this case some who bore the heftiest brunt simply won’t. 

Those who survived with major wounds, will instead set their liability thresholds lower, and some who have two pitches or more may be forced to consider cutting back. Others will just bet elsewhere across the five days. 

Though the majority are devoted to the profession and will have been betting at either Lingfield or Windsor on Monday and are counting down the days to exact revenge on us all in 2015, for now all that beckons is the next day. 

We’ll only know how much in the red the on-course set were across the five days when the application to bet for 2015 goes in, and by then 11 favourites and three joint favourites will be a distant memory.

Such money wounds in these circles, however, are at times worn as a badge of honour.