Review of the day

Expectations are funny things…

On the back of another successful month – and some very bullish comments from me this morning – I suspect that one or two of you thought that Lion Ne Bearnai was a near certainty this afternoon…

And I must admit, I was pretty confident myself - in fact, I would go so far as to say, I was as confident about Lio Ne Bearnai as I have been about any tip I’ve issued this season.

So I guess it just goes to show…

In fairness, he ran a perfectly good race to finish second – but I did expect a bit more.

Maybe time will show that he was beaten by a very well handicapped horse – that is a possibility.

Certainly the winner was given a very confident ride, suggesting the jockey felt he was better than appeared the case before the race.

That said, I just wish that Lion Ne Bearnai had been given a more aggressive ride.

In a way, Andy Lynch was able to take the easy option, stalking a willing leader in the shape of Westerners Son.

That one was always going to provide a nice tow into the race – though there was also the possibility that he wouldn’t really go hard enough to suit a confirmed stayer, like Lion Ne Bearnai.

I think that’s probably what happened.

Lion Ne Bearnai took up the running entering the home straight - but the pace hadn’t been strong enough to see off Mine Now – and simply, he had a better turn of foot between the last two hurdles.

These things happen – there is no such thing in racing as a certainty – even if you feel before a race that there just might be !!

TVB.