21st January - Race reviews

I felt like I put in a hell of a lot of effort today, to go absolutely nowhere !
5 points staked: 5 points returned – still, it could have been worse I guess…
My rationale for tipping multiple horses in a race, was to try and smooth things out a little (and to make the more competitive races, less competitive !) and it was one of the savers, that saved the day !

That horse was Reindeer Dippin – a horse that I tipped twice in December, during the losing run. Better still, he beat Stow into second – another horse that I tipped during December. And this followed just 10 minutes after Richard’s Sundance had run a cracker to finish third at Wincanton – and guess what, I tipped him in December as well !

I think the various anonymous posters, who are keen to have a dig when things are going badly, would do well to dwell on the above paragraph for a few moments.

All of my tips are good tips: without exception, the horses have a better chance than their odds imply. This is proven by the fact that you can make money just backing them at the suggested price and laying off at SP – but it is also proven by their subsequent performances.
I’ve said before, but I identify horses that are ready to win. They may not win on the day I tip them – there are too many unknown variables (pace, jockeyship, jumping etc.) but when they get the rub of the green in a race, they will invariably go close…

Anyway, enough of that (the return of Marvin has clearer impacted my equilibrium !!) and onto a few brief comments on each of today’s races:

As I have just said, Richard’s Sundance ran a cracker at Wincanton. Attacking from the front and jumping from fence to fence. Unfortunately he ran into a very well handicapped rival in Zarrafakt (Buffalo Bob ran into the same well handicapped rival, when he got beaten at Newbury, back in November).
Richard’s Sundance will remain of interesting the right race – though he is clearly vulnerable to progressive rivals.

Next up it was the handicap hurdle at Haydock, where Stow and Reindeer Dippin, were backed off the boards and fought out the finish.
TBH, I honestly thought that Stow would prove the stronger if it came down to a battle form the last – but that wasn’t the case.
All credit to Reindeer Dippin who deserved this win for a couple of excellent efforts last year.
It was also nice to see Stow prove his Chepstow running completely wrong – even though we won nothing and his handicap rating will doubtless rise as a consequence of this performance.

My great hope for the day was King Fontaine, but he crashed out (and how !) at the second fence.
That was a huge disappointment as I was absolutely sure he was going to go close today (I had my biggest bet of the week on him L ). The victory of According to Pete added insult to injury as he won the race at Wetherby, which King Fontaine ran in last time.
Still, assuming he is non the worse for the fall, there will always be next time. As Ciaran likes to say, it is only money lent ;)

Despite having 3 cracks at the Ascot race, I got nowhere near.
Noland ran best of the 3 but could only finish a well beaten sixth. Sa Suffit raced prominently for a while but faded in the last mile, whilst Gilbarry was never really sighted after an early mistake. It was a hugely competitive race, so I wouldn’t view any of the 3 too harshly.
The only consolation I have, is that I was right to take on Zaynar. He was sent off an unbelievable 9/4 – and in fairness, ran well. However, it was always going to be a huge ask, taking on so many decent rivals, with so little chasing experience.
He could be worth looking out for next time though…

A quick mention for the Victor Chandler chase, which was won in tenacious style by Somersby.
That wasn’t really the result I wanted: as well as having backed Somersby for the Ryanair, I have also backed Finians Rainbow for the Queen Mother champion chase !
However, I would still be optimistic, that Somersby will take up the Ryanair engagement rather than the Champion chase one (where he came up short last year).
I also don’t think that Finians Rainbow lost a lot in defeat (thought he will clearly need to improve again to beat Sizing Europe and Big Zeb at Cheltenham).
Somersby is now a best priced 10/1 shot for the Ryanair, so other must be reading it in the same way I have !!

Finally, there will be no tips tomorrow. It’s been a tough week (tipping wise) and I feel like a day off !
Hopefully I’ll be back fresh on Monday, ready to kick on with the new week !!
TVB.