Review of the day

Obviously I wasn’t around all afternoon, so didn’t see any of todays races live – but I’ve now caught up on things, and it looked like a reasonable day…

Anyone who backed all of the mentions would have made a small profit on the day (larger if they took an early price): as would anyone who just backed the strong mentions (assuming you correctly figured out which ones they were !).

Most of the profit was down to the fortunate victory of Carrigmorna King, at Wincanton.

He looked booked for second place, when the leader Foxclub crashed through the final flight and presented him with the race.

I can absolutely promise you, that if he’d been a tip (and he was the nearest I got to one), that simply wouldn’t have happened…

In the previous race at Wincanton, Old Tricks ran no kind of race.

He may theoretically be well handicapped over fences but if you can’t jump, it’s not much good (and he can’t jump).

He’ll be back over hurdles next time out, I’m pretty sure of that…

At Market Rasen, Talkin Thomsa had similar issues negotiating the fences – which was a bit of a surprise.

He made numerous mistakes and was soon trailing the field.

It will be interesting to see whether connections persevere with him over fences or if he too reverts to hurdles.

In the same race, The Magic Bishop was never given much of a chance and could only run on late to take third spot.

In the handicap hurdle, Act of Kalaniso ran a good race, but was absolutely no match for the Venetia Williams trained Free To Dream, who won like a horse with plenty in hand…

At Chepstow, Missionaire was in the process of running a very good race when he fell at the second last fence.
Whether he would have been able to reel in the leader (and eventual winner), Riddleofthesands, is a mute point, however…

The 2:50 race saw a hard fought victory for Umberto D’Olivate.

However it could have been a different story in Todareistodo had not made a shuddering mistake at the third last. In the circumstance, he did well to finish within 3 lengths of the winner and can be considered a slightly unfortunate loser.

Kings Apollo was a non runner in the last – but Just Lucky seemed to find the heavy ground too much to handle.

He is likely to find life tough off his new mark…

Over at Thurles, Trifolium was an impressive winner of the novice chase.

Provided he keeps sound, he has the ability to take high rank amongst this seasons novice chasers…

And the Space Centre…

It was fine – as were the kids. I could even recommend a visit, if you are ever in the area (though not necessarily with a gang of 8 years old in tow !!)

 TVB.