In a new feature I’m going to take a look at the winners and losers from last week.
KING OF THE CASTLE
Henry Cecil, Tom Queally, Twice Over and me!
It wasn’t a vintage renewal and there were only 5 runners but it was still a Group 1 and they don’t just give them away. Twice Over was only 1 of two previous Group 1 winners in the field and with Tom Queally adopting new and very affective front running tactics he showed his class by grinding them into the ground. I love this horse nearly as much as those at Warren Place and after his unlucky Ascot defeat he certainly deserved this win. It was Cecil’s first Eclipse winner since the late 70’s and the crowd gave him a raptuous reception. All that’s missing now is that long overdue knighthood. Arise Sir Henry.
Oh, and £200 at 11/4 completed my fightback from the horrors of Ascot. Vegas is now 50/50 for my birthday which is a lot better than the 95/5 it was after the Queen Alexandra Stakes three Saturday’s ago…
ON THE UP
Dick Turpin
He’s been the model of consistency all season and run some fine races in defeat when competing at the highest level. After 3 seconds in 3 Group 1’s no one can argue that he didn’t deserve his win yesterday when storming home in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat at Chantilly. He’s reversed form with both his Newmarket 2000 Guineas conqueror Makfi and the French 2000 Guineas winner Loup De Vega in his last two races and he’ll now be gunning for his stablemate Canford Cliffs. Given the manner of his win yesterday and the way he went down fighting at Ascot in the St. James Palace I don’t think the owners will be afraid of taking him on again and given softish ground they must fancy their chances of revenge. It should make for an interesting Sussex Stakes later on in the month….
ON THE SLIDE
Kempton Racecourse
Fresh from the ’success’ of their race to music earlier in the year the Kempton racecourse came up with yet another publicity stunt designed to bring in the crowds. This time they thought it would be a good idea to pitch Olympic Silver Medalist Jamie Baulch against a horse (62 rated Peopleton Brook from the Brendan Powell yard) in a 100 metre sprint. Baulch got a 20 metre headstart and a flyer but was passed before halfway and would have struggled to win even with a 60 metre advantage. The horse never came out of a canter and won going away in the biggest mismatch since England vs Germany. Watch it here… http://www.racingpost.com/media/media_centre.sd?view=rp&media_id=18148
The mind boggles as to what Kempton will come up with next….
ROCK BOTTOM
Sam Twiston-Davies
Riding Hermoso for his dad at Perth last Thursday the young 5lb apprentice became the latest in a long line of jockeys to make an ‘error of judgement’. For some unknown reason he decided to ride the finish on the 13/2 third favourite a circuit too soon and then pull him up as if his job was done. Idiot! I’m guessing maths wasn’t his favourite subject at school but even my son has been able to count to 2 since he was able to walk and it doesn’t take a genius to work out how many times you’ve gone past the winning line. He’s not the first and he probably won’t be the last but that’s no consolation to anyone who backed him. And if you think calling him an idiot is a bit strong, have you ever seen a professional runner sprint for the finish after one circuit in an 800 metres athletics race? Thought not….
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Summer Special
We had another couple of winners over the weekend including Eclipse winner Twice Over who was highlighted in our Trends Guide as both the top rated and likeliest trends winner. Genki and King Of Reason also won from our Horses To Follow list with just Berling letting the side down for a complete sweep. I’ve only myself to blame for that one as I specifically stated in my write-up on him that I’d only be interested in him when he was running right handed. Silly me, I forgot that Haydock is a left handed track….lesson learned #3078.
It’s still not too late to sign up for the Summer Special and I’ll be replacing the Eclipse Trends Guide with this Saturday’s John Smiths Handicap Trends Guide which should be out on Thursday.
Just £27 for all 8 guides (with a £7 refund for any existing trends subscribers)..
http://www.trainertrackstats.com/member/signup.php
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BBB
In all the excitement of Ascot and compiling the Summer Special guides I completely forgot about this months Bonus Ball Bet meaning the prizefund remained at £20. The draw last Wednesday saw number 31 as the Bonus Ball and we had 3 readers who guessed correctly.
The 3 winners have been notified and as soon as I have their addresses will receive a cheque for £6.67 each.
I’ll start afresh from today and try and get a half decent amount into the prize fund for this month.
Guesses are invited for the National Lottery Draw on Saturday 31st July. Send your number (1-49) to bonusball@nag-nag-nag.co.uk
Full details and results can be found on the BBB tab on the top menu bar. All last months entries have now been erased.
Good luck,
Gavin.