Sunday's Meetings Sedgefield N/H 7 Races 12:50-4:20p.m. Naas N/H 7nRaces 12:57-4:27p.m. Fontwell N/H 7 Races 1:05-4:35p.m. Southwell N/H 6 Races 1:15-4:10p.m. Racecards At The Races Sporting Life Racing Post Good Luck
In the (14:50) at Fontwell, a Class-4 Handicap Chase over the extended 3m3f, I am hoping for a good run from the stoutly-bred and consistent, Alkopop. Certainly has the form to do well in this marathon trip. Tom Cannon rides for the Dorking, Surrey, yard of trainer Toby Lawes. 8/1 (PP/BetVictor) best price at time of writing, which seems pretty fair. E/W best option.
Interesting one in the bumper at Fontwell today Reflect is a half sister to a decent horse called Tara Rose. Tara Rose is the dam of Push The Button who debuts in exactly the same race. I wonder how often that has happened!! Film D'Action is the selection in this for me, purely on which course we are at and the trainers amazing strike rate of 17 winners from 40 runners in bumpers at the track. Those winners have been some of the trainers best horses too with the likes of Swincombe Fleat and Kid Commando winning here. Over at Southwell I am going against trainer trends with Tregale, who I think is beautifully bred for bumpers, I want to take on the top of the market and he and Norman Fletcher both stand out.
Fontwell 14,50 D'Jango 14/1 e/w bet365 three places, 12/1 others Naas 15,52 Bola Bola 20/1 e/w WH, bet365, PP and betfair five places, 18/1 sky six places
I’m looking forward to seeing Built By Ballymore in their bumper, his form ties in with a horse who ran in our P2P in Path D’Oroux. That big field bumper has worked out well too. If the jolly isn’t to be trusted (hood on racecourse debut) then he could be good value. I’ve not looked at the rest of the card. Waiting for the real racing next Saturday. Cheltenham was good yesterday but again highlighted many of the issues with UK racing, the lack of depth is astounding. One thing I did like was Syd Hosie winning a big race again. He buys nice horses. Delta Work was the standout performer for me, if the jockey had wanted to, he would have hacked up. But then that would ruin national hopes and mark.
Yes Delta Work ran a very nice trial. What did you make of Energumene? I heard they were trying to blame the colour of the fence boards ……
I need to watch that race back, I thought the front two in the market had run below par at the time but I’ve not seen it back so can’t comment on how they jumped.
I thought Energumene's jumping was very hit and miss: 1st - corkscrewed badly 2nd - in a bit tight 3rd - jumped OK 4th - reached a bit but OK 5th - good jump 6th (water) - good jump 7th - reached a bit again and left a bit of trailing leg in it 8th - a bit low but fine 9th - shortened into it, quite slow 10th - jumped a bit to the right and pecked on landing 11th - good jump 12th - (3rd last - downhill fence) - a bit awkward I thought - certainly didn't soar over it 13th - slow jump 14th - horlicks I thought Edwardstone ran a very good race and I assume Alan King would have left a bit to work on. For me there were 3 things that won it for Editeur De Gite - 1) a decisive move from Houlihan rounding the final bend 2) a superb jump and the 2nd last putting the others under more pressure and 3) the heart of a lion to get back up after being headed by Edwardstone. I'm not sure how much the back and forth on the ferry might have affected Energumene. Although he travelled powerfully he didn't jump as fluently as he can and I wonder whether they might think about blinkers next run? It certainly makes the QM Champion Chase much more interesting. Let's see what the DRF throws up next weekend,
Well, you gotta jump 'em all and Alkopop didn't. Hope horse and rider are OK, that is the most important thing. I think they are both alright. Strictly speculative, but I'll chance a small e/w bet on the Bumper debut of the Kingston Hill gelding, Push The Button. Thomas Bellamy rides for the Nigel Twiston-Davies stable. (Last race at Fontwell)