17th February - Race reviews

I think today has to go down as a poor performance on my behalf…

If I’m honest, I probably shouldn’t have tipped: however, I’d opted out of the previous day and there was some very good racing.

Unfortunately, I really struggled to find any time for form study last night – and I think it showed.

In fairness, I don’t always need a lot of time for form study – a lot of knowledge is kept in my head. However, I do need time/space to properly assess races and I didn’t really have that last night.

I’ll try to avoid a repeat !!!

A few quick words on the performances of the 3 tips:

Whilst I quite enjoyed watching Zaynar school round in the first – though I would have been happier if I’d not had to pay for the pleasure !

For the second time this week, a horse who has made the running in all of it’s recent races, was allowed to lob along close to a soft pace.

In truth, he probably wouldn’t have got near Sprinter Sacre, regardless of how he was ridden – but it would have been nice to have at least had a chance.

Presumably Zaynar will now head for Cheltenham and one of the 2m4f races – either the Jewson or possibly, one of the handicaps. Either way, I suspect you will see him ridden far more aggressively.

Sprinter Sacre does look as if he will be tough to beat  in the Arkle – but I’m not sure we learnt a lot more about him today. The demands of Cheltenham should play more to the strengths of Peddlers Cross – and I certainly haven’t given up hope for him in that race.

I was very disappointed with the run of Sound Stage at Sandown.

I felt he was probably my best bet of the day – but he was beaten a long way out.

There is a chance that he doesn’t get the 3 mile trip – but that said, I’m not sure he was ever going well enough to feature at the finish.

He has been very lightly raced over the past couple of years – with some significant absences. The suggestion is that he has had some issues and maybe these are going to stop him fulfilling his potential.

Whatever, he is a horse I would struggle to follow until I saw some more positive signs…

Finally, Stow ran a reasonable race to finish fifth at Newbury – but he was well beaten by some progressive rivals.

In truth, that was always a danger and I can’t really have any complaints about the way he ran.

It looks as if he needs softer ground to be at his most effective – plus slightly weaker opposition.

He is worth keeping an eye out for in the right conditions – and in a slightly lower grade of race.