Review of the day

Hardly a day that you would be shouting about from the roof tops – but a Saturday that ends in profit has been a rare thing this year, so it was nice to come out of the day in the black, for a change…

And all that was down to O’Faolains Boy and Barry Geraghty – and I do think that Geraghty deserves a fair amount of credit for the ride that he gave the horse…

Content to sit in behind the two market leaders, who seemed keen to take each other on a long way from home, he made his move up the home straight and ultimately won quite convincingly…

Whether the form is up to RSA level, is a different matter – not that we are too bothered about that !!

The Wealerdealer was the first of the days tips to come under orders and as he took up the running entering the home straight, it looked as if he was going to start things off with a bang !

However, he had raced freely throughout and ultimately that stopped him from getting home in the very heavy ground.

A slight drop in trip – or the removal of the blinkers could well se him go one better next time…

He ultimately finished third in his race – the same position that Loch Ba occupied at the end of the Grand National trial at Haydock…

Not that you would have given much for his chances of finishing in the money early in the race, as he made mistake after mistake and was soon under pressure towards the rear of the field.

However, as many of his opponents cried enough, he plugged on up the stright to record an improbable placing…

The first two home in the race were trained by the incomparable Venetia – with the winner returning after nearly a year off the course !

Her ability to produce horses able to run for their lives, week after week, in atrocious conditions, almost beggars belief…

Mind you, her efforts were matched in the following race on the card, when David Pipe produce Top Wood to win after over a year on the side lines !

Such training performances are very impressive – but equally nearly impossible to anticipate (without a lot of guess work)…

The Knoxs was pulled up half way down the back straight in the race, seemingly unable to handle the very heavy ground…

Sergeant Dick was the final tip on the day to run – and he was another that finished third.

Simply, he didn’t look good enough/sufficiently well handicapped to win…

With regard to the mentions, then Seeyouatmidnight put up a near unbelievable performance for a novice, to win the Rendlesham hurdle on only his third outing under rules…

I don’t think I’m getting too carried away, when I say that if a future Gold Cup winner was running today, it was probably him (I wonder what price we could get on him wining the race in 2016 !).

Heath Hunter looked likely to collect the big hurdle race at Ascot when he kicked clear of his pursuers on the turn in to the home straight - but he didn’t manage to get home in the ground.

He would be one to keep an eye on when conditions improve a little.

Whilst Jubilee Year might have gone close at Gowran, if he’d shown some aptitude for jumping a hurdle.

He fell last time out and I assumed that was a one off. However based on his performance today I would have grave reservations about supporting him over hurdles again. His connections would do well to put him over a fence sooner, rather than later…

Finally, The Top Pick, Always Right, ran very disappointingly in the last at Haydock.
He was another who just didn’t appear to handle the ground – though I guess there is always a possibility that age is catching up on him…

Finally, Captain Chris destroyed the fields to win the Ascot Chase in a hack canter.
Needless to say that didn’t make me feel any better about what might have happened on Boxing/Stephens day..!

TVB.