Crikey, is it Friday already, dear reader? And not just any old Friday, but Friday before a Bank Holiday! Woohoo!
Now lest you are concerned about the forecast (those readers in Australia and NZ need not fret, nor need you gloat!!), let me assure you that the Met Office is predicting broadly sunny weather for the weekend. And of course, the Met Office are known for their infallibility… Ahem… Well, at least it gives us hope! 
Now then, I know we’ve only just finished York’s Juddmonte meeting and - as I’ve mentioned - we are not yet even at the August Bank Holiday.
But I need to remind you that darker times are ahead…
Yes, racing fans, the evening racing will draw to a close next week (although there will be plenty of floodlit action from Wolves, Kempton and the new Dundalk - not to mention Great Leighs if it ever opens!), and the jumping action starts to ramp up from the beginning of September.
In my piece yesterday, apart from blowing out on the placepot at York (though Mine ran a great race in 4th at 16/1, and I did tip the 2yo to win the Nunthorpe! Amazing training performance from a brilliant up and coming trainer. Look out for John Best), I managed to bag the forecast at Chester (the third horse mentioned in the exacta was a non-runner).
Incidentally, the third home in that race was the only other horse with experience and was the fourth best drawn horse in the race. Shocking then that his odds were 80/1!!!
My tip in the sprint, Calypso King, was a non-runner.
But what I really want to mention - again - is the amazing power of backing trainers at tracks. Although Jonjo’s chaser was disappointing at Stratford, the boys at Fontwell did me proud.
Here is the full tale of the tape for the trainers flagged up yesterday:
5.25 1st 25/1, 2nd 33/1, 4th 8/1, 6th 25/1, 11th 16/1, PU 10/1
5.55 6th 4/1, UR 16/1
6.25 1st 11/2, 3rd 14/1
6.55 No runners
7.25 5th 14/1
7.55 4th 25/1
Brendan Powell and Alan King, described by me yesterday as legends, underlined their status on this card.
Powell slammed in the forecast in the first (paid £621.27!) with 25/1 and 33/1 shots; King snaffled the third with an 11/2 shot (Powell only managing 3rd at 14/1).
The other lesser trainers had some huge priced beasties run close but without any danger of rolled tobacco.
A unit on each of the runners last night would have returned a very tidy profit.
As a further teaser for you, I’ve put the candidate trainer stats up on a page… but with the trainers names missing! And, in case you think you can compare the table with the Racing Post charts or some such, I’ve got some bad news for you. I only look at the record from September to April, and I only look at horses priced 14/1 or shorter. I know, I’m a sneaky blighter.
Anyway, if you’d like to see what’s going on, have a look at my TrainerTrackStats preview page.
Bear in mind that, unless stated otherwise, the ‘fine tuning’ has yet to be done. That is, the records are for all of a trainer’s runners in the defined time and price parameters. But you’ll get the idea, for sure.
Like I said, I’m excited about this season, because there are so many strong trends. The problem is going to be whittling them down. I think what I’ll do this season is nominate the top two or three a la TrainerFlatStats, and mention the others as worthy of a second glance (though for subscribers they’ll not feature in the emails). That said, this is not yet caste in stone.
I don’t really fancy much today, but draw bias at Thirsk (high numbers in sprints on good to firm) leads me to take a close look at Call For Liberty in the 1.30 (best form, best draw). His chief rivals, in the betting at least, are drawn 2 and 3 (i.e. almost the worst draws possible).
In the 4.45, a 5f sprint, its interesting that the top four in the market are all badly drawn. Racing Post informs us that 7/10 5f sprints this season have gone to the top three stalls. Perm them in exactas and CSF’s (half stake on each). That’s Yorke’s Folly, Smiddy Hill, and Miacarla. It may also be worth chucking in Princess Cleo (drawn 10) for a great chance to collect.
That’s it from me. Back later with Friday fun, though please note there may be little of interest on the blog this weekend, as I will be researching Trainer Track Stats and may try to get away for a day or two as well.
Finally, just a quick line to say thank you to those people who were kind enough to comment on my little story the other day. I know it didn’t really belong here, but I just wanted to give a virtual voice to some of my thoughts. Thanks again.
Until later, pip pip!
Matt