Review of the day

‘Deserved better’ that’s what it said in a text I received moments after the runners had crossed the line in the Champion Chase…

It was ofcourse referring to Sizing Europe, who ran his heart out, only to lose third place, on the run to the line – but, once again, it could have been referring to a number of todays tips…

Unlike yesterday however, it is quite easy to identify todays ‘unluckiest’ loser…

Get me out of Here had the race won 10 yards from the line – and then somehow, Whisper got back up to beat him.

Well that’s how it looked from where I was watching – but maybe the camera angle was playing tricks.

Whatever, Get Me Out of Here went down by a short head in a driving finish – and we had AP on top as well L

Today was always going to be about three races: the Champion Chase, the Coral Cup and the RSA chase.

Sizing Europe ran a cracker in the Champion – but just missed out on a place: Get me Out of Here ran a cracker in the Coral Cup – but just missed out on winning; and Morning Assembly ran a cracker in the RSA chase – but just couldn’t get reel back O’Faolains Boy and Smad Place.

I know I’m biased, but I still think that Morning Assembly will turn out to be the best horse that ran in the RSA chase.

He just couldn’t find the gears when the pace quickened rounding the home turn and by the time he got going, the first two had flown.

He lost little in defeat – even if we lost our stake money on him !

Outside the 3 big races, there wasn’t as much to get excited about…

Cole Harden ran really well in the opener – but just wasn't able to kick on round the home turn.

It was a similar story in the Cross Country chase, where A Stray Shot ran a commendable race to finish sixth – without ever looking likely to reach the places.

Orgilgo Bay reached the places in the Fred Winter – and when he was still swinging on the bridle jumping the second last, I briefly thought he might change our luck.

But in truth, he had been a bit too free throughout the race and whilst he jumped the last in the lead, he was a sitting duck.

It was good to see Brian Hughes, the rider of the winner, take the outside route this time – he had clearly learnt his lesson after yesterdays ride on Ataglance ;)

Finally, the bumper was dominated by the Irish, who were responsible for the first six home. Not such good news, when we were on three UK trained runners !

So, two days down; two to go.

Things really haven’t gone according to plan – but we’re not out of the game just yet.

By anybody’s standards, we’ve experienced some poor luck over the past couple of days – but at least we’ve been in the position where the poor luck mattered.

All I can do is try and put us in the same position tomorrow and Friday – and then hope that Lady Luck decides that the time has come to smile on us…

TVB.