Thursday's Thrifty Selections - 19 April

There were certainly some upsets on the cards yesterday!  None more so than Esentepe (named after a village in Cyprus) in the Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket who won at 28/1 for Richard Hannon...one of only two runners who had seen a racecourse this year.  The other was Pimpernel who has been plying her trade for Al Zarooni in Meydan.  

Ripon holds it's first meeting of the season today.   I love this course!  I've been a couple of times and it really is beautiful (it's been names Yorkshire's Garden Racecourse) and quintissentially Yorkshire. The results are put up manually like a cricket scoreboard on a pavillion and you can buy tea and cakes, pies with mushy peas and fish 'n' chips - it's fitting then that in the very first race of the season here, there runs a maiden called Run Fat Lass Run (it won!!).  It really is a beautiful, friendly track though.....as long as you remember the draw!! (high in small fields,low in big fields - as they split into two groups).

Ripon was also the course where I first saw Silvestre De Sousa win a couple back in 2010 and cottoned on to the fact that he is a top class jockey.  He's rides here particularly well and is back today on Able Master (15:20) and Lucky Numbers (16:30).

	Cheltenham	First Choice	E/W or Forecast Choice
1	15:10	Silver Gypsy 3rd

	Newmarket	First Choice	E/W or Forecast Choice
1	15:00	Mickdaam 2nd
2	16:10	Most Improved NR
3	16:45	Twice Over 2nd

	Tipperary	First Choice	E/W or Forecast Choice
1	17:25	Wellmarked UP
2	17:55	Tobar Na Goise UP

	Wolves	First Choice	E/W or Forecast Choice
1	18:35	Available 2nd
2	20:05	One For Joules 2nd
3	20:35	Aleksander UP

Great news about Frankel - I'm sure I'm not the only one who was immune to rumours and hysteria at the weekend, who didn't lose any sleep and who fully expected this outcome. 

It'll be no surprise to hear that at Tipperary today, the going is soft.  This means that a winner over 5f from anything other than a high draw will be as rare as the proverbial rocking horse manure!

Saturday's Selections & Results - 24 September

There is a load of decent racing today (well it is a Saturday!) - with three decent meetings within an hour and a half of me (Haydock, Ripon, Chester) but I'm unable to get to any of them despite all my finest efforts as I have other stuff/commitments....but there's still time!!

There is some excellent racing coming up over the next few weeks - the Arc on 02 October, the Cesarewitch on 08 October at Newmarket (which Ascot haven't been able to get their grubby hands on ....yet), Champions Day at (spit hiss - we all know it really should be at HQ Newmarket) Ascot on 15 October and then on the 04 & 05 November the Breeders Cup  meeting across the pond which is at Churchill Downs for the second year running and also the Melbourne Cup on the 05 November.  

However today, we have the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket which is down to a mere 33 runners with the defection of Maraheb and Tinkertown - not exactly a sensible betting medium but fantastic fun to watch!  There may be one more to add to that non-runners list if the ground doesn't suit Dare To Dance (anyone who has backed this horse already is a brave brave soul).  Non Runner

There are also a couple of races at San Siro today that warrant attention -  the group 1 Premio Vittorio di Capua at 15:15 which has been won by Godolphin for five of the last 9 runnings (but no entry today!) and which looks set to be the Dick Turpin 1^st  v. Cityscape 2^nd race.

Also at San Siro today is the Premio Sergio Cumani group 3 at 15:50 which is named in  honour of Luca Cumani's 10 times champion trainer father Sergio. Luca has an entry, Khor Seed 1^st

Paul Hanagan is riding at Newmarket today and Kieren Fallon is riding at Haydock - swapsies!

Today’s system selections are:

Haydock

14:45  Gentle Lord (11) 4^th

My Italian picks were best today (see above!)  Just the one winner on this shopping list and a loss of -4.8

Chester

16:10  Swift Alhaarth (6.6) UP

16:45  Baby Strange (5.4) UP

17:20  Corporal Maddox (5) 2^nd

Wolverhampton

17:50  Le Toreador (7) UP

19:20  Justbookie Dot Com (3.55) 3^rd

19:50 Yensi (4.6) UP

20:50 Painted Tail (4.2) 1^st          

Ripon

18:00  Gottcher (10.5) UP

A couple of longshots that caught my eye and who aren’t without a remote chance of sneaking into a place (or better!) are:

Haydock        14:15  All Analena If whatever was amiss LTO is resolved   UP

Newmarket    17:00  Gallagher  If the first time tongue tie and longer distance do the trick UP 

An early season tentative foray into the jumps for me (don't get me wrong - I'm perfectly capable of finding a winner on the jumps cards but am just out of practise after concentrating soley on the flat since April !) has thrown up:

Market Rasen  14:20  Viva Colonia  UP

                          14:50  North Island  UP

Frankel galloping yesterday (Tom Queally)
) Pic: Edward Whitaker / Racing Post )

Away from racing !  Google have let the world know that it's Jim Henson's 75th birthday with a fantastic cartoon on their home page.  This has led to my discovering this website:  http://www.matthewbarr.co.uk/muppets/  where you can take a quiz to find out which muppet you are.  I'm Gonzo!!!

 

 135                     122                    119

       56                       53                   25

Not for staking the house or your daughter on though!

Tuesday’s Selections & Results– 30 August

Straight to the point tonight as I’ve not had much time for random racing thoughts and comments, instead I've used my time on the important stuff below:

Tuesday’s system selections are:

Epsom

15:50   The Bells O Peover (8.6) 3^rd

15:50   Dancing Storm (5.5) UP

Ripon

16:45   Hot Rod Mamma (3.95) 1^st

Wolverhampton

17:55   Almaty Express (9) 1^st

18:25   Brynfa Boy (3.6) 2^nd

Southwell

18:40   Elusive Warrior (9.2) 3^rd

19:10   Spacecraft (8.4) 3^rd

Well what do you know!  Places in all 6 races and my little old 10p each way accumulator (I had 2 to include both picks in the Epsom 15:50) yielded £10.09!

Overall a very good day with +5.95 profit

One day I WILL have my 10p each way accumulator come up.....word association game now commencing:   

pigs/fly, hell/freeze, pope/convert/judaism, Kerry Katona/crossed legs, Jedward/talent.....hmmm

Southwell 19:10 ???

      114                    104                  102    

I'll start a female jockey tally from tomorrow (promise I'll look for nice pics lads!)

This is very very funny (only in America!)

On a personal level, I have now spent 9 weeks as a non-smoker (believe me this is an earth-shattering can't believe it type thing) and now I have to work on my ice-cream and Haribo induced weight!   I may bore anyone who scrolls down this far with Tuesday morning updates on how much weight I have lost (or not!) at the foot of my blog.

Bank Holiday Monday’s Selections, Review & Results – 29 August

Yesterday was a good day (for a Sunday!) - a profit for the blog selections with two winners.  It was very nearly four winners but three photo finishes but just one prevailing!   Richard Hughes and Graham Gibbons gave Libranno and Kodicil respectively fantastically strong and cleverly timed rides.  Fallon almost did the same to bag a with Lady Elsie after setting off to the front and dictating the pace only to be pipped at the finish by James Doyle giving Zamina an pretty impressive ride.  The Doyler outfalloned Fallon!

You evil mean people!! (just joking) Race review voted for is:

Ripon 16:10 Ripon Champion Two Yrs Old Trophy, 2011 (Listed) Class 1

Quite a number of these runners have never been tried on soft but most should be comfortable on this going looking at their breeding.  Last Bid is the only one to have run here (he won) before but from his previous 5f runs, doesn’t look as if he’ll get this trip.

Hannon has two runners: Gusto and Redact.  Redact would appear to be the first string but Gusto has De Sousa booked - he has the better strike rate in 2yo races here and is chasing the champion jockeys title!  I’ve often found in the past that when Hannon has two runners in a youngsters race it can pay to back the ‘second string’!

Gerfalcon (£35K) and Redact (£25K) both have group entries which shows connections hold them in high regard. 

Gerfalcon’s 3^rd LTO at York was better than it appears from a low draw with those in front drawn high.  The handicapper’s not been particularly kind to him though and this just might be beyond him. 

Redact will be better suited by the return to 6f but is another who is untried on soft but whose breeding isn’t so convincing that he’ll handle it.  Another who has been walloped by the handicapper IMO. 

Gusto however cost £120K and wasn’t totally disgraced LTO in a listed 5f race.  Like Redact, the return to 6f should suit and on his penultimate outing over this distance (good/soft) he showed a tasty turn of foot and won readily.  He’ll have some speed on his side of the draw and assuming he handles the track, should go very well.  He doesn’t have any group entries but I fancy him to get the better of the two market leaders with the more accomplished pilot and the danger being Gerfalcon.

Gusto 7/1 (each way if you’re a careful peeps like me!) UP The danger horse Gerfalcon won

Tomorrow’s system selections (I'll put prices up in the morning):

Warwick

15:20   Forjatt (4.4) 2^nd

17:05   Arctic Reach (5.6)  UP

Epsom

15:40   Picture Editor (6.4)  UP

Chepstow

17:35   Charlie Delta (29)  UP (6^th from a field of 17 certainly outdid his 40/1)

Ripon

16:45   Elusive Prince (3.9) 1^st

At least there was one winner!  Overall loss of -1.1 today

Ripon 16:45???

I’ve heard a few funny things over the years relating to horseracing – mainly spoken inside the four walls of my kitchen by my nearest and dearest. 

These are a few I can remember but most have departed my poor overloaded and overused memory cells many months ago never to be recalled......

“.....Overturn is hanging on grimly”

 – commentary on RUK when Overturn  was 2-3 lengths in front just a few yards from the winning post in the Chester Cup 04/05/11

“.....so when a really good racehorse retires, he’s becomes a horsey gigolo?”

– filly offspring

“It’s the Kentucky Derby tonight”

”Is that a race for chickens”

”No”

”Well it should be!”

Me with both filly & colt offspring

“Mikael is an excellent jockey – he did win the Derby after all!”

“Yes but City’s side were shit compared to United’s”

Me and filly offspring

113                  104               102