AFTER two days we are down our expenses, which is not too bad but in Cheltenham the expenses are high!

Six Irish winners on Thursday made no real difference to me. I am a traditional bookmaker. I don’t listen to opinions or whispers. I’m here to make a book and take on all the favourites.

Shattered Love was a small loser for us in the JLT. There was money for everything in this race. It was 3/1 the field. I prefer races with even-money or 6/4 shots.

You won’t believe me but I’ve never seen better turnover than here this week. There’s a lot of money around but the results haven’t gone our way yet. By the way, we lodge all our cash in a bank here so don’t bother mugging me at Dublin Airport – that happened one year!

The Pertemps was not the busiest betting race and Delta Work (6/1) was actually a good result for us. I didn’t realise there had been a big gamble on him – we must have been ahead of the market on that one. If the photo-finish had gone the way of Glenloe (9/2) it would have been bad for us.

Getting Un De Sceaux beaten was the best result of the week. He was a solid 4/5 and 8/11 shot – the money for him was strong all the time, euro and sterling. It was a one-horse book – there wasn’t a penny for Cue Card. Balko Des Flos did us a big favour.

We had two big losers in the Stayers’ Hurdle – Sam Spinner and Supasundae. There was nothing much for Yanworth or the winner, Penhill. I don’t know Joe Colliver, rider of Sam Spinner, but I felt sorry for him trying to judge the pace from the front against more experienced jockeys. It was the same for Ciaran Gethings on Maria’s Benefit in the mares’ novice hurdle later in the day.

The Plate was an open race. We had three or four losers in our book and The Storyteller was one of them. We probably lost £3,000 or £4,000 on that race.

If Un De Sceaux had won, I think Laurina would have been the best backed horse of the week in the mares’ novice hurdle. As it turned out she was not that well backed. She was still a loser for us and, to make matters worse, we laid a few each-way bets on the third-placed Champayne Lady at 100/1.

We had to get the two Irish horses, Mall Dini and Squouateur, beaten in the Kim Muir and we managed that. Mall Dini was particularly well backed with me.

My nephew Stephen Hughes is my clerk and he knows Noel McParlan, the jockey who rode the winner, Missed Approach. Stephen is a son of Franco Hughes, my brother who bets at all the point-to-points. Noel is from around Downpatrick and is a very popular fellow. I live in Warrenpoint and I don’t know him at all but I am a big fan of his now!

Friday’s card looks tricky for bookmakers. There are a lot of handicaps and open-looking races where there will be a spread of money. The only short-priced favourite is Apple’s Shakira – we need her to be beaten.