THE week got off to an okay start for us. Business was more or less the same as last year and we were happy enough to break even on a rollercoaster opening day.

We lost the first race and the second was a disaster – my printer broke down and Shake The Bucket, a 20/1 shot, won it so that probably cost me a few pounds. Dermot Weld’s 5/4 favourite Right Honourable won the third race and that was a bad result, as was the fourth. Spruce Meadows was well-backed from 7s through to 5s and I lost a couple of hundred in that one.

Swamp Fox (16/1) was a good result in the Connacht Hotel Handicap and that brought me back to level pegging. But, in the next race, Joseph O’Brien had Motherland and that was a complete disaster. There was a €1,000 bet on him at 9/4, he was our biggest loser of the day.

The last race was the best result of the day for us as Henry de Bromhead’s Sizing Knockeen was sent off the 9/4 favourite and didn’t finish. We had another €1,000 bet on him so that one made sure we broke even for the day.The official bookmaker figure was over €1 million, but it certainly didn’t feel like that in the ring. I would normally expect to do 1,200 tickets on the first day but I only did 946 tickets. Now, of course, I lost out on the second too when my printer died.

Apart from the two €1,000 bets, €18 was the average bet, they are definitely getting smaller every year, but overall turnover was more or less the same as last year.

Looking forward for the week, we are fearing Dermot Weld and Willie Mullins runners the most, as we always do in Galway.