Review of the day

It feels like a long time since we had ‘one of those days’ – and the fact we had one today, is down purely to my poor judgement.

Certainly, I had the horses short-listed to make today a day to remember for the right reasons – but I got a couple of calls wrong and that was that.

In my defence, it is always harder on a Saturday due to the sheer volume of races that I try to cover.

I spent too long looking at the races that I couldn’t solve, rather than thinking best how to play the races that I could.

A lesson to be learnt, I think…

Anyway, in terms of what actually happened:

Edmund Kean ran a good race in the Welsh National – but in a race where it paid to race handy, he was at a distinct disadvantage being settled out the back.

He probably would have finished third, if he could have summoned up the energy to jump the third last fence - but he couldn’t and he was pulled up, along with every other runner in the race, bar two.

Truly attritional stuff.

Next up it was Anteros – and this is where it started to get painful.

I’ve no issue with the fact that I tipped him: he was well backed (suggesting I had read things right) and he ran a reasonable race, to finish sixth.
Where I made a mistake however, was by not also tipping Invicta Lake.
He is a horse that I’ve tipped the last twice he has run – and on both occasions, there were valid excuses for him getting beaten. He deserved another chance today – and last night I intended to give him one.

However I felt there was no rush to tip him – and by this morning, my attention had moved elsewhere.

That was costly.

Hopefully a few of you kept the faith – if so, you would have been rewarded with a 20/1 winner…

The other mistake I made was in not putting up Beforeall each way.

28/1 is a big price to go win only – even if that is what I tend to do.

He was backed into 8/1 at the off and ran a huge race to finished third.

The winner of the race was La Reve – the horse I nominated as the most likely winner.

How I managed to lose on the race, almost beggars belief…

The one consolation I can take from the day, is that I made the right call in dodging most of the mentions.

As I inferred this morning, I spent a lot of time mulling over both Ballygarvey and Rouge et Blanc/O Maonlai as possible tips  - and I did the right thing in resisting them all.

That said, it was a close run thing with Rouge et Blanc, who traded at 1.05 in running – but leaving such tight races alone, is generally the right thing to do.

What I should also do, is not spend as much time on them, as they stop me putting my energies in to potentially more valuable areas.

Of the other mentions, then I thought Grumeti ran – and jumped well – without being up to the class he was competing in: whilst Taj Badalandabad also ran a decent race to finish fourth at Ffos Las.

At Wetherby, Firth of Clyde was a big disappointment – whilst a mistake at the third last, stopped Top Totti in her tracks.

Finally, at Fairyhouse, Rock on the Moor was in the process of running a huge race, when she fell at the third last hurdle. You had to think that she would have been placed – though whether she would have beaten the winner, is a different matter.

Whilst later in the afternoon, All the Chimneys, was incredibly backed into 4/1 joint favouritism.

I fancied him – but I would have wanted that price on him being placed !
And despite travelling well in the race, he found little when let down, and wasn’t placed.

So that’s it, for another month: 3 down, 2 to go.

Despite a disappointing end, it’s been a good month overall all.
I’ll get a monthly report out in the next day or so – and then switch my attention to making a profit in February.

There’s no time for resting on your laurels in this game !!

TVB.