Review of the day

I’m sure that a few of you thought we got a bit lucky yesterday, when Emperors Choice got up in a head bobber, to win the Welsh National – and maybe we were…

However, the reality is, that I’ve tipped in 12 races since Christmas, and we’ve been on the horse that finished second, in no less than 6 of them.

Furthermore, we’ve had 5 horses traded at even money or less – and get beaten.

If that’s us going through a ‘lucky’ phase, then I dread think what things will be like when we get unlucky !

Ofcourse, it all suggests an unbelievable level of tipping: 12 races have yielded 9 horses that have finished first or second.

I think it’s safe to say we are in the ‘Golden Period’.

The trouble is, as we know from last season, when you are in the Golden Period, you need to make it pay…

And despite a couple of huge runs today, we ended up losing just over a point…

The first heroic loser, was The Book Thief.

He held a narrow lead approaching he final fence at Limerick - but an untidy leap saw him surrender it.
To his credit, he fought back tenaciously up the run in – but just couldn’t quite reel in the winner.

I think we can feel a little hard done by.

Foritsa ran no sort of a race in the same contest, weakening quite dramatically out of contention, like a horse with a breathing issue.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a tongue tie in place next time he races – though whether we’ll be on him, is a different matter.

The second glorious failure of the afternoon, was provided by Jetson.

As you doubtless gathered this morning, I really fancied him – and whilst, in truth, I can have few complaints about the outcome, I still felt he could have won.

Davy Russell set out to make all – with Lieutenant Colonel the only one ever looking to be any sort of a danger.

Maybe Davy could have ridden him slightly differently, to try and beat Lieutenant Colonel – or maybe Lieutenant Colonel could have made a mistake at one of the last two flights !

Unfortunately neither happened – and the better horse on the day won.
That said, he wasn’t the better horse by much.

The final tip to ‘run’ was Home Farm – but no got no further than the first fence in the Lexus, so it’s impossible to know how he would have got on.
However, the pre-race market signs were distinctly positive – and whilst a worthy winner, I can’t believe that Road to Riches set an insurmountable standard.

It’s just a shame we didn’t get to find out how good Home Farm is…

With regard to the mentions, then there was more frustration, as Usuel Smurfer ran out a good winner of the handicap hurdle – at 20/1. Ouch !

The nature of the field made him nearly impossible to tip – but hopefully one or two of you took a small risk on him.

The days other mention, Art of Payroll, didn’t cover himself in quite as much glory…

He was settled out the back by Paul Carberry – and stayed there !

I’m sure there will be other days for him..

I’ve had a quick look at tomorrows cards – and there is some seriously nice racing !
I very much doubt that I will be able to take the day off in the circumstances - though I simply won’t have time to provide my normal level of service (in terms of an extensive write-up/review).

Assuming I do find some tips, then I’ll look to issue in the normal early/late windows – and I will produce a much reduced write-up (the kind ‘normal’ tipsters tend to provide !).

I’ll confirm plans first thing in the morning, as normal.

TVB.