Friday's Meetings Chester Flat 8 Races 1:30-5:23p.m. Market Rasen N/H 7 Races 1:40-5:00p.m. Ascot Flat 7 Races 1:50-5:10p.m. Cork(E) Flat 8 Races 4:05-8:10p.m. Downpatrick(E) N/H 7 Races 5:05-8:40p.m. Sedgefield(E) N/H 7 Races 5:18-8:40p.m. Nottingham(E) Flat 6 Races 5:27-8:18p.m. Ripon(E) Flat 6 Races 5:30-8:25p.m. Racecards At The Races Sporting Life Racing Post Good Luck
Shantou Sunset @ 12/1 ew Market Rasen 3.15. Needs good ground and down to a winnable mark for the forum’s favourite ivy grower.
Chan: Please excuse my ignorance (am obviously not keeping up-to-date), but what does "the forum's favourite ivy grower" mean exactly, and who would it be? Thanks in advance for your patience!
Ah Swanny it’s nothing really mate. A fellow forumite Sir Barney Chuckles was once very uncomplimentary about the training abilities of Kim Bailey. He reckoned he couldn’t train Ivy to grow up a wall. It did make me chuckle at the time and I’ve never forgotten it. Very childish of me really but having said that the way his Shantou Sunset ran today SBC may we’ll have a point.
I see Showtime Mahomes is out tonight at Ripon 7.15. ITVX has an hour long documentary about the ownership group which is a bunch of mates from Darlington which I watched recently. The doco is worth a watch imo and I hope their horse runs well this evening.
Maybe, he did have 1 more Cheltenham festival winner than SBC’s beloved Nicky Henderson in 2024 after all. I often read Kim Bailey’s daily blog which is a reasonably interesting read most of the time.
That is a very, very good line. Certainly made I chuckle. Yes, Ivy Grower 1, Hendo 0 certainly was the '24 scoreline. I've always found Kim Bailey's career somewhat fascinating. All that success in the early to mid 90's and then well...next to nothing. I think he went in the region of 25 years from that latter date until his next Grade 1 winner!!! I'm sure people could come up with a million and one reasons as to why things have panned out like they have for him (and I'm sure some would be in the realms of 'conspiracy theory') but why people are STILL prepared to pay in excess of £100,000 for a horse and then put them into training with him I find highly baffling. The phrase 'more money than sense' certainly springs to mind. Look his success in the period 1990-95 means he's got a dazzling CV but I'd look elsewhere for someone to train my horse in 2024. I wouldn't entrust him with any Ivy either!!!
His decision to fire both his Cheltenham festival bullets at the one target certainly baffled me. He got the win so fair enough but the other one had never previously gone 3 miles before and he was aimed at the 3 mile 1 furlong handicap on heavy ground and twice up the hill. Crackers! If I had a leg of Trelawne that would have taken some explaining particularly when there was 2.5 mile handicap and grade 1 option available.
