Review of the day

A combination of abandonments; the proximity to Cheltenham - and some ‘obvious’ races, meant that it was a relatively quiet day.

I ended up tipping in just 2 races: and whilst there was no joy in the big race at Kempton, I did manage to find the winner of the big race at Fairyhouse.

That was Acapella Bourgeois, who I delayed tipping until 10:30, in the hope that the markets might be a bit stronger.

Well I guess they may have been, but they still crumbled as soon as I issued the tip !
Within 5 mins, 3/1 was 5/2 - and 20 mins later, it was 2/1.

Considering it was a short priced horse, in a grade 3 race, it does make me wonder…

Realistically, I couldn’t have tipped much later - but it still wasn’t late enough.

The horse did drift during the afternoon.
I backed it at 3.8 on BF at around 3:00 - and it was 5/2 on the opening show.

However, it was then backed again - and was eventually returned with an SP of 15/8.

That was very similar to it’s BSP of 2.85 - however it was trading on BF at 3.5, just 2 mins before the off.
More than that, it’s final trade price on BF was 3.1 - so the BSP was a fair bit shorter.

That’s because there was a lot of money asking to be matched at BSP (nearly twice as much as on the fav.).
That has the effect of reducing the BSP - which is part of the reason why I recommend taking a price in the live market, 5 mins before the off, if at all possible…

Anyway…

In the race itself, Acapella got the relatively uncontested lead I had hoped for - and whilst he jumped better than at Gowran, he was hardly slick over his fences.
In fact, he looked an unlikely winner, jumping the third last - but he does gallop and clearly appreciated the heavy ground - and ultimately, he just outstayed his rivals.

It didn’t feel like a great win - but it was a win - and at the moment, every one of those is most welcome..!

Double Shuffle and Adrien du Pont were the 2 other tips on the day - and whilst they both ran their best races of the season, I was still a bit disappointed by them.

Double Shuffle ran a bit of a nothing race - travelling reasonably well, until pressure was applied - and then gradually fading.

Adrien briefly looked as if he might get involved in the finish - but he found little when the tempo increased.

Both will doubtless drop a few more pounds - but I wouldn’t be in any rush to support them, in the short term.

In addition to the tips, there were also a couple of Mentions on the day.

Master Tommytucker really should have won the novice chase - but instead, he hit the deck - again !
He cruised through the race and was a couple of lengths clear and still going strongly,  when he met the third last on the wrong stride - and couldn’t sort his legs out.
If I had tipped him (and that was a possibility), I would have been gutted, as the race was at his mercy (he traded at 1.2 in-running).
Still, jumping is the name of the game - and if you can’t jump, you aren’t going to win many races…

It was similar story with Benson - the days other Mention.
He had unshipped his jockey last time - and he made another severe blunder today.
It was too early in the race to say what effect it had - other than to ensure he wasn’t going to win !

I ended up opting out of the BFHP race, because I couldn’t see a way to stake it - but ultimately, it made little difference.

The race was won by Downtown Getaway - and my plan was to save on him, whatever path I took.
There was always a chance that he would show himself a very well handicapped horse - and whilst he didn’t win by much, he still did it quite well.

He just got the better of Palmers Hill, who was the one I was prepared to take on - with Our Power and Polish filling the 2 other places.
Both of them were also on the short-list - so I had read the race quite well - but it would still have been hard to profit from it…

TVB.