After the first of his 3 victories at Sandown this
afternoon, Aiden Coleman explained to the RUK presenter, that Saroque was much
better suited to todays heavy ground, than he had been to the ground at Plumpton
last time out - which was…. heavy !
He realised what he was saying as he said it – and then
started to go on about soil types and the like – but I think he’s right – and he
managed to hit the nail on the head, with regard to why it is so difficult to
read races at this time of the year…
There is heavy ground; then there is heavy ground – and ofcourse there is heavy
ground – all sound very similar, yet can actually be quite different
!
Anyway, enough of the excuses – todays horses simply
weren’t quick enough or weren’t able to jump well enough. That was the only
thing that stopped them from winning !
The first tip of the day, Gandalfe, probably suffered
from both afflictions – though he would need to have jumped a little better, for
us to know for sure…
It was impossible to say whether Filbert was quick
enough, because his jumping was so poor he never gave himself a chance.
The fact that he managed to briefly get into a
threatening position at the Pond fence, suggested that maybe he could have been
good enough. But the game is called ‘the jumps’ for a reason…
The jumping of Smoking Aces was actually significantly
better than it had been last time out – but ultimately, it still wasn’t good
enough.
He ballooned a few fences – most notably the third last -
and in that kind of ground, you can’t give away distance and
momentum…
Maller Tree was probably the biggest disappointment of
the day, as he ran no sort of race.
He just didn’t seem to act on the heavy ground – even
though he should have had no issue with it. I guess it must have been the wrong
variety of ‘heavy’…
Needless to say his disappointing run was compounded by
victory for Poole Master – the horse I considered putting up as a saver in the
race.
Finally, Soll ran a fair enough race to finish fourth –
but the race just didn’t pan out in a way that would have suited him.
He battled all the way to the line – but just couldn’t
find the reserves to mount a challenge.
It was a disappointing end to a disappointing day –
though I guess it could have been worse (if On Trend had won !!).
I suppose I can take some consolation from the fact that
I knew what we were taking on this morning – and I staked
accordingly.
It will never be good to lose on a day – but at least
loses were at a manageable level.
Hopefully the weather will improve sooner rather than
later – and I can stop trying to interpret the shade of heavy ground that the
horses are having to compete on.
It would make life a lot simpler, that's for
sure...
TVB.
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