Review of the day

As I’ve mentioned before, one of the frustrations of tipping in a fixed window, is that you have to take whatever price is available at that time…

I could see that Freckle Face was weak in the betting this morning – but how long could I resonantly ask you all to wait, before I tipped him..?

It was after 9:30 when I issued the tip – but he just kept on drifting and drifting…

The best price he reached with a conventional bookmaker was 9/2 – though I managed to secure a bit of 5/1 on Betdaq.

He even opened up on course at 4/1 – before being backed into 10/3 at the off…

Anything above 5/2 was a silly price IMO.

As I said this morning, I really couldn’t see anything to beat him – and it’s not as if anything else in the race was spectacularly well backed.

Unless the horse had lost a leg, 4/1+ was a crazy price…

Anyway, it’s obviously a lot easier being wise after the event J.

Hopefully you all took BOG and secured the 10/3, which was still a very good price…

In the race itself, Freckle Face cruised out the back – as he does: cruised through to join the leaders at the second last – as he does: cantered into the lead approaching the second last - as he does; and then coasted home – as he doesn’t always do ! (particularly if he is racing over too long a trip !)

He really did win with any amount in hand – and I don’t think that the result would have been any different, if his closest purser hadn’t taken a crashing fall at the second last.

Obviously I should have been more aggressive with the staking this morning – but you all know why I wasn’t and hopefully some of you kept the faith and adjusted your own stakes…

It would have been nice if Il Fenomeno had been able to make it a day to remember – but unfortunately he wasn’t quite up to the task.

He actually ran very well to finish fifth – but I thought that if he was on a going day and got round OK, he would do better than that…

In fairness, he was the first Gigginstown horse home –and the first from the Noel Made stable – so I guess I might just have to accept that he’s not quite as good as I thought he was…

The mentions also had a slightly better day than has been the case recently, with Tidy Zag a comfortable winner at 8/1…

I maybe missed a trick by not tipping him (though ofcourse, I would say that !). I did fancy his chances, but was slightly put off by the lack of market confidence (I expected him to be a fair bit shorter).

The rest of the mentions didn’t do quite so well – and generally looked ones that I did well to pass on.

The exception to that was Hidden Horizons, who ran a very nice race in a decent novice chase.

If she gets a mark of around 100 and runs over 3 miles, expect to see her name in your inbox next time out !!

As for the Top Pick, It’s a Doddle…

I was unable to back Smart Money pre-race as he never went above 4/1…

Similarly, I didn’t back It’s a Doodle in running, because he didn’t get above 3 until the final few strides…

That was when rank outsider Twoways powered past him, in the shadows of the post.
All a bit frustrating really…

There will be no tips tomorrow as there is no NH racing !!

The sole meeting, scheduled for Bangor, has been abandoned, so I get a day off.

Maybe it will give me the opportunity to produce the rationale for those ante-post tips that all still outstanding..!

TVB.