Saturday's 'No Newbury' Selections & Updates - 11 February

So what have we on the cards for Saturday then?  Musselburgh looks to be going ahead without an inspection (there will be horses lifting all four feet off the floor at once in the UK!), ditto Naas and then we have Lingfield, Wolves and Kempton who should  all be ok (being 'all weather').  It all amount to not quite Newbury but then we do have Leopardstown on Sunday to look forward to.  


The re-arranged Scottish Triumph Hurdle will run tomorrow at 14:05 (rescheduled from last Sunday) There are just the two runners with (proper) Triumph entries this time around:  Kie and Creekside - no Lyvius of Scoglio.  Now last Sunday I was on Kie whose odds have lengthened even with the absence of Lyvius (who I had down as his major threat) and who was pulled out of an aw bumper mid week to keep him fresh for this.  The ground will have a little more cut this time which will suit even more so (he's won on good/soft previously).   You can just about get an each way price on Kie at the moment so that's me on as I really cannot see him out of the first three at the very least!  PS:  Ignore his last run at Kempton - something (not serious) was amiss. 2nd


I notice that Betfair's featured multiple is Maguire's Musselburgh rides....no Betfair! This only works when he's riding for Elliott (re. my Lucky 15 I put up on this blog a couple of Sundays ago - 24 Jan!) 

Not too bad - a profit at least!  -2.09 profit today 

	Musselburgh	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	13:30	Cross Of Honour 1st
2	14:05	Kie 2nd
3	14:35	Everaard 1st	Ostland (EW) UP
4	15:10	Ultimate UP
5	16:50	A Bridge Too Far (EW)

2/             See my Kie notes above

4/             Whenver Brian Ellison books Denis O’Regan, I have a close look- usually means a big run is expected!  The strong pace should set up the race nicely as well

	Kempton	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	14:30	Mishrif 2nd
2	16:10	Requisite (EW) UP
3	17:15	Snow Ridge (EW)  UP

Notes:

1/            Short I know but perhaps fodder for a quick double with Tour D’Argent?

2/            Great draw, great trainer and jockey stats here, crying out for this step up to a mile imo.

3/            Didn’t run at all badly LTO after 6m off the track.  5lbs less on his back today and first time blinkers could work the magic.

	Lingfield	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	14:45	Santefisio  UP
2	15:20	Nubar Boy 1st

Now before you think you've drifted on to another page and fallen into a pirate copy of "Brassed Off", this is the nightly nap clue!  It was filmed oop north and not a million miles away from where I am now.  The clue is in the name of the song.  Look out for bloke at 1:40 (very funny)

Musselburgh 13:30

Cross Of Honour 1st

A trainer had a filly that was very temperamental. At Kempton she would win a race by several lengths as long as it was an evening meeting but if it was a  daytime meeting, then she would lose every time without fail. The trainer finally stopped racing her during 
 the day when he realised she was a real night mare!

                                                                                                   

Sleeps to Go

Sunday's Irish Selections & Results - 05 February

Perhaps I'm just a born optimist (you have to be to follow horseracing sometimes!) but I really thought that Musselburgh would avoid the below minus temperatures that the rest of the continent seem to be afflicted by.  So it's back to the drawing board with my selections and a fresh look at Punchestown - although I have a big red reminder to take note of any runners with the money coming  and join in!!


The definition of optimism has to be Imperial Shabra who is running against Big Zeb and Sizing Europe - he's never even won a chase before.....but you never know, strange things happen in racing as someone pointed out to me on Twitter, I am watching only but just for the record I think that Big Zeb will prevail.


With Sandown and Musselburgh lost this weekend - four of the eight runners of the  Musselburgh 15:00 (Creekside, Kie, Lyvius, Scoglio,) all hold entries for the (proper Cheltenham!) Triumph - it must be an absolute nightmare for trainers plans!  

At the moment, a Walsh/Mullins Lucky 15 looks a good bet (always each way then at least you usually get you money back !).  They are:

13:20  Allure Of Illusion 1st (dh)
13:50  Simenon 2nd
14:20  Sergent Guib's 3rd
15:25  Up The Beat  2nd


e/w Lucky 15   -  30 pts stake returned 60.18 pts 
(I didn't have to work this out as this was my actual bet with Paddy Power!)

Selections will dribble on throughout the morning/early afternoon

	Punchestown	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	13:20	Allure of Illusion 1st	Present Potential (EW) 3rd
2	13:50	Simenon 2nd
3	14:20	Really Unique (EW) 2nd
4	15:25	Up The Beat 2nd	Droim Toll (EW) UP
5	15:55 *	Heads On The Ground (EW) UP

5/             Scotsirish 1st and Garde De Champetre 2nd are likely to have the first two places wrapped up so hoping for a 3rd

A winner, two profitable places and a very profitable L15 makes a tidy profit today of +27.54

Three McManus runners in the 15:25 (all with different trainers) and 15:55 (all with Enda Bloger)!  Take note of which the £££s goes for shortly before the off!

My nightly nap was Kie ("if you mix up the letters in one of them") but at least we had a good tune to listen to, if not a good each way bet to come in for us!

Kie = Ike

Wednesday's Wacing Selections & Updates - 25 January

So Paul Struthers, ex-chief PR Manager for the BHA and who left under a cloud of scape-goat-ism (it is a real word - honest!) after the whip-rules were introduced, has been appointed the new Chief Exec of the Professional Jockeys' Association.  Brilliant!  His background in PR and inside knowledge of the workings and agendas within the BHA should be invaluable to the PJA.  I wonder how many of the BHA will sleep soundly tonight? 

I've been trawling through my old sheets, links and Cheltenham form study aids and came across this link to a very funny quiz (and the main site is very, very good indeed too).

When Jason Maguire (22% strike rate) teams up with Gordon Elliott (30% strike rate) at Musselburgh, its almost game over for the other runners in the race.  They team up today at today with Maes Choice (13:40) 1st, Oscar Hill (15:40) 1st and Spring Lane (16:10) 3rd.  You could do worse than put an each way patent on these three like I have......in fact backing all four of Maguires rides (the fourth is Absinthe for Donald in the 14:40) today in an each way Lucky 15 could pay well!

• Elliott/Maguire each way patent - 14 pts Returns 37.98 pts
• Maguire each way Lucky 15 - 30 pts Returns 73.92 pts

I'll update this at the end of racing today - see if profits were made!!

Not the greatest day for the blog yesterday but still +56.57 up for the month.  Hoping for better today.  Three winners but small loss of -0.13 but more than made up for it with the patent and Lucky 15 above :) and taking those two into account there would be a substantial profit of +67.77 (wow!)

	Hereford	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	13:30	Tour D’Argent 1st	Tanerko Emery (EW) UP
2	15:30	Home Run UP
3	16:00	Backfromthecongo 1st

Notes:

1/             Tour D’Argent should easily win this and has shown he can cope with soft.  Tanerko Emery is a class horse and actually comes out top of my sheet,  He is also able to handle the going but the Vaughan stable not firing lately (17 runners and no winners)

	Limerick	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	13:35	De Dodger UP	Sir Harry Cash (EW) UP

	Musselburgh	First Choice	E/W or RF Choice
1	13:40	Mae’s Choice 1st
2	14:40	Absinthe 2nd	Raajih (EW) UP

Notes:

1/           Short I know but perhaps fodder for a quick double with Tour D’Argent? 

2/           I’m not expecting Raajih to get 2^nd (that’ll be Ingleby Spirit) but he’s a good chance for 3^rd

Tonight's Nightly Nap is a say what you see but a la Francaise:  

Hereford 13:30

Tour D'Argent

1st 

I'll put a handful more up in the morning but will be spending most of my day dusting down and updating my Cheltenham workings ready for trials day on Saturday.

49 sleeps until Chelt Fest!

My weighing what I eat update (forgot yesterday) remains at:

 X -8lbs