Review of the day

No joy this afternoon and I think we paid the penalty for me getting a couple of borderline calls wrong…

I toyed with the idea of putting up Maller Tree as a saver for Vasco D’Ycy, at Fakenham - but decided against.

Needless to say, I was made to rue that decision, as it soon became apparent that having shared the lead from flag fall, Maller Tree was going a lot easier than Vasco D’Ycy.

Sure enough, he powered on from the third last hurdle, leaving Vasco – and the rest of the field – floundering in his wake…

Irritating !!

The other result that irked me a little (though less so !) was the victory of Double Ross…

I knew he was the one to beat in the handicap chase at Cheltenham – I just thought that a top form Carrickboy could give him a race.
Well, Carrickboy wasn’t in top form and he didn’t give him a race (nor really, did any of the others).

Earlier on the Cheltenham card, Bendant had run OK in the distance chase – but it did look a grade to far for him.

The race was won in most taking fashion by Mendip Express. He certainly looks a horse with a future…

In the handicap hurdle, The Giant Bolster was taken on for the lead by Quartz De Thaix and that probably did for his chances (assuming that they hadn’t already been done for by the very heavy ground).

The final tip to run was the appropriately named, Torrential Rain, at Fakenham. The huge market support for him gave me a fair amount of confidence, but he ran into one in no uncertain terms, with The Young Master looking as if he could have won with another stone on his back…

I wouldn’t give up on Torrential Rain just yet though…

There was no joy for either of the Top Picks, with Ballyalton going off at a ridiculous 5 (4/1) on Betfair (presumably on account of the ground) – and proving that lack of market support to be spot on.

Hop In was also disappointing at Fairyhouse – though the market didn’t foretell his poor run and it wasn’t so easy to explain away, either…

Back at Cheltenham, both Oscar Whiskey and Annie Power were successful, which was something - but neither Upsilon Bleu nor Ifandbutwhynot could collect at Musselburgh (though the latter did run well to finish second).

Finally, neither Unoccupied nor Love Rory were good enough to collect in the handicap chase at Fairyhouse.

All in all then, a pretty poor day…

There are only 2 meetings scheduled for tomorrow - and both will need to pass early morning inspections.

As the weather closes in, it’s likely to be a similar situation at Musselburgh, which is scheduled to host Fridays only planed NH meeting.

In short then, with me away over the weekend, it could be a quiet few days coming up…

I’ll keep you all updated with an email in the morning, but don’t get your hopes up for much action before next Tuesday…

TVB.