Review of the day

I was a bit surprised to see the meetings at both Ascot and Haydock, run through to completion today…

I was pretty sure that at least one of them (probably Ascot) would fall foul of the weather, at some point - but that wasn’t the case.

In fairness, conditions did get progressively worse throughout the afternoon, and if the last races had been the first, I doubt either meeting would have gone ahead - but that wasn’t the case.

There can be little doubt that the uncertainty over the weather, was playing on my mind, first thing this morning - and definitely affected my decision to only tip in two races.

Red Indian was the first tip to run - and he was well backed at Ascot (went off 7/2 fav).
However, he jumped poorly and finished well beaten.

It was definitely a race for the battle hardy - and I suspect it was no coincidence that the 4 oldest/most experienced horses, filled the first 4 places.
Certainly they don't come much tougher than the winner, Ballyoptic

Somewhat ironically, I had quite fancied him for the Haydock race in which I tipped The Two Amigos and Yala Enki.
I was a little surprised when he was sent to Ascot instead - but figured it would improve the chances of the other two !

It probably did - and both ran well.
They were in a group of 4, which broke away from the field rounding the home turn - but they were the first of the quartet beaten.

It did look as if Lord du Mesnil was going to win the race. However he was run down close home by Smooth Stepper - an 11 year old, carrying bottom weight.
No coincidence, I suspect…

There were also a couple of Mentions on the day.
Danny Whizzbang ran well at Ascot - but after racing freely, didn’t get home.
The race was won by Copperhead. I could have been interested in him at his SP of 6/1 (nearly 8/1 on BF) - but he was 3/1 this morning, which made limited appeal.
Gerolamo Cordano was the days other Mention - but he ran poorly.
He too was a big drifter - but this time the market was spot on…

With both The Worlds End and Cyrname under-performing, their respective races where won by Emitom and Riders onthe storm - though it’s hard to judge the merit of their victories (in the circumstances).

Finally, I nailed the days BFHP !
My short-list of 5 contained the first 3 home - and whilst I ditched the runner up when suggesting the bets this morning, I was never going to ditch the winner !
Nordano hacked up 16 lengths at 8/1 - and made me wonder why I hadn’t tipped him…
I’m sure plenty of you were on him - but the official P&L could still have done with the boost !

Still it was another positive result for the ‘matrix’ method - which must now be around 200 units up, if you include the midweek racing.

It’s a bit too early to say it’s the future - but the initial signs are certainly very promising…

TVB.