SO, WHAT DID GO WRONG? and HOW CAN WE GET IT RIGHT THIS SEASON?

Although it would be the easy option, unfortunately I can't blame the coronavirus pandemic for the results we suffered over the four days. Instead I've had to go through what I thought looked a very strong ante-post portfolio pre-Cheltenham to see where it all went wrong and make the following painful conclusions;

Wrong picks: Well, duh! Yes, obviously I picked the wrong horses from the 66 Race Trials featured in the Route 66 service but, in my defence, there were a lot of long standing trends that were broken at this year's Festival and there were a few horses I noted but didn't back for one reason or another. A horse that fell last time out winning a novice chase, a horse that last ran at Huntingdon winning a Festival race, horses defying massive breaks since their last run and a 10yo winning a Graded Novice Chase were all winners breaking long standing trends.  All of them ran in a Route 66 race at some stage last season but all were overlooked by me because they didn't fit the profile. A small consolation is at least we know that we are focusing on the right races, I just need to do a better job of selecting the right horses this year. From now on, form will override trends for this particular service. My biggest regret from the whole meeting though was not backing Lisnagar Oscar after noting his excellent effort on Cheltenham Trials Day. He was the one that got away in 2020 and my leg was sore well into April as a result of me kicking myself repeatedly! He wasn't the only one though with Min, Simply The Betts and Dame De Compagne also slipping through the net after positive post race comments.

The Irish: I'll hold my hands up, I have always preferred to back British trained horses at the Festival. I always have. It has served me well in the past but obviously with the two Irish powerhouse stables of Mullins and Elliott dominating the meeting over the last 5 or so years that is now a foolish concept and it makes no sense to continue to focus more on the home challenge than the Irish raiders. So this Season I will be incorporating more Irish trials, looking at the Dublin Racing Festival more thoroughly and I am in the process of producing a comprehensive Guide to the Irish challengers over the last 5 years with specific focus on the handicaps. Hopefully this will help in trying to work out patterns and the routes the Mullins and Elliott horses are taking on their way to the Festival.

Gordon Elliot: Which leads me on to the top Irish trainer and his handicap runners. Quite simply the man is re-writing the book when it comes to winning handicaps at the Festival. He's hiding the true ability of his horses throughout the Season with the sole intention of having them well handicapped and primed to strike for that one week in March. Whether that's by getting over lenient marks from the handicapper, by running his horses in races above their ability, over the wrong distance, over the wrong obstacles or simply schooling them in public running them 'quietly' to get them qualified for specific races (see Pertemps result 2020) it's been very difficult to get certain handicaps right with our ante-post bets. So this Season I will only be making our bets for the handicaps at the 48 hour declaration stage (except the Pertemps Hurdle).

And as a final gesture of goodwill, all subscribers can have the FULL Festival Trends Cheltenham Festival 2021 Service thrown in as well. That's all the stats guides, all the trends and all the tips and ratings included (usual RRP £20)

Special 1/2 price offer for 2020

All 66+ races, full post race analysis and the ante-post selections

PLUS

The Festival Trends Cheltenham 2021 Service

JUST £33