Saturday Review

 Yesterday was a terrible day, to put it simply. Many hit the crossbar or were unlucky, but others simply didn’t run any sort of a race. That’s racing. The day started over jumps, in the 1.50 at Haydock. Trackmate was very disappointing, held up throughout and just never running a race. Dolatulo ran well most of the way but failed to make any impression as he faded away towards the end. 3^rd, Firebird Flyer, made the shortlist but wasn’t a selection.

Then it was over to Ascot, where some Godolphin “team tactics” outdid us a bit – Restraint Of Trade set a ridiculous pace which played right into the hands of Al Saham, who beat our selection, Hamelin, by about half a length. Hamelin ran a decent race while our each-way selection came 4^th, narrowly missing out on a place. The winner actually made our shortlist, but putting a horse on your shortlist doesn’t give you profits!

Then in was over to Lingfield for the Oaks Trial – again, we missed out on a place, with our sole each-way selection, Kallisha, finishing 4^th. Then the 2.40 at Ascot – Pethers Moon, again our only bet in the race, was 2^nd by a head. He will have his day this season and ran well yesterday after only seven days off the track. Then it was on to the Lingfield Derby Trial, which was a bit better – our two each-way selections came 2^nd and 3^rd (Sudden Wonder was originally a win selection but drifted to 6/1 and so became each-way, as posted on Twitter before the race).

Of course, these returns weren’t nearly enough to save our day. The winner of the Derby trial ran on well, but the two to take from the race were probably the two O’Brien horses – Mekong River was travelling well when he lost his action, while Blue Hussar showed huge inexperience and probably didn’t handle the track, but still caught the eye as one to watch. Both have entered my notebook.

The Sodexo Fillies Handicap at Ascot was an interesting race – Ribbons seemed to have everything in her favour and was very well supported in the market. In our preview, we said that she “would be nap material if fillies weren’t so unpredictable”. Fillies yesterday lived up to that reputation, as Ribbons ran keenly in the early stages of the race and couldn’t quite catch up with Amulet, who ran a big race and will be one to follow this season on her preferred soft ground. Looking at how well Ribbons ran on in the closing stages of the race, it seems very possible that she will excel over a further trip this season.

Back to Haydock we went for another contest over the jumps – the Swinton Handiap Hurdle. “Brilliant each-way bet” Vibrato Valtat did return place money, while at longer odds, Titus Bolt travelled well before dropping back around the fifth last flight of hurdles. He received some reminders then and tried to go forward but wasn’t up to the challenge in the closing stages. Winner Ballyglasheen was the only horse in the race not covered by the remaining Scoop6 tickets, while 2^nd Barizan now has a record of 6 wins and 5 places with AP McCoy on-board. If there is value, it will be hard not to back him with McCoy next season.

Finally, it was the Victoria Cup, and we placed our hopes in Brownsea Brink, and, more ambitiously, 50/1 shot Dubawi Sound to get us back into profit for the day. Brownsea Brink never got to run his race at all, while the latter ran well, leading one of the two groups for the majority of the race before dropping back to last inside the last 2 furlongs. Winner Gabriels Lad ran on well while second Glen Moss kept on well and you would think that a big handicap could go his way this season if connections continue to aim him in that direction.

These days happen and we have to move on and learn from them. In some cases, we were just unlucky, in others, we were wrong. Time to take what we can from it and move on. Beginning with the French Guineas and Leopardstown Derby Trial…