Fork Handles was completely unsuited by the lack of pace in her race and showed absolutely nothing as a result. She eventually trailed home in last position and seeing as she is the type who needs it all to go her way, that's not much of a surprise. I'd say that she's a moody type anyway, but this was my fault as I was borderline convinced that we would be seeing a truly run race and certainly wouldn't have put her up as a selection otherwise, as a race turning into a sprint for the line was never going to suit a filly with her attributes. This was a dismal run, but I can assure you that it's not her true running and overlooking it in the future would be the wise thing to do. She'll win a handicap over 10f when getting a proper race-pace.
-2.00pts on the day. Form of last 10 selections; 8-2-3-4-3-9-4-2-0-0 (0 winners & 5 places).
Yesterday, three horses were of interest to me but I didn't back any of them for a number of reasons. The horses in question were Tabaret (16/1), Whitby Jet (9/2) and Whitecrest (16/1 at the time). Unbelievably, all three of them came second and seeing as I'm firmly of the belief that win-only is the only way to play our selections (with a view to winning in the long-term), I'm absolutely delighted that I did not post any of them up! The amount of near-misses that we've managed to have of late is tough enough to take, but if there was a trio of seconds on a single day then I don't know how I'd react. Having the same amount of selections finishing last would be a lot easier to take, oddly. Maybe that's a sign of some luck returning?!
Just the one selection for today folks and it's one that I'm very hopeful of a big run from, but of course the opposite usually occurs when I say that! He's a massive price though and we'd make plenty of money if we could spot such incorrect pricing every day. Whether this will be the one that wins is beyond me, but he should give it a good shot and hopefully that will be enough. Have a good day and a winner is due soon!
Galician won't be an easy horse to beat if coming here in the same form as when she was a comfortable 3-length winner over this 6f trip at Ayr last time out (on much quicker ground), but I have to take her on due to the current odds on offer being significantly too short for consideration. Tom Tate's Parc De Launay is the one that interests me the most at the prices and although the odds-compliers couldn't realistically put this 3-year-old down in the betting as a 5-6/1 shot, I would if I was the man in control. A big step up on his recent efforts will have to be produced if this tricky gelding is going to visit the winners' enclosure today but connections apply cheekpieces for the first time and they could prove to be a massive help. On the other hand, he is a keen-going sort and they could light him up even further, which would be counter-productive and minimize his chances of getting home. I have long thought that connections need to give him some sort of assistance though, as he has looked to be very awkward on occasions and applying the aid could help to straighten him out somewhat. Other positives include returning to 6f, as he didn't get home over a furlong further at York last time out and is better on a straight track anyway. The handicapper is also giving him plenty of assistance by dropping him to a mark of 80 (was given a mark of 90 as a juvenile), meaning that he can tackle a Class 4, 0-80 handicap for the first time in his career. Whilst it will be no easy task to overturn the in-form favourite, Tom Tate's charge is capable of running to marks about 10lbs above what he's weight at today and I expect to see him taking advantage before too long. Coming back to Ripon - the track where he made a winning debut at last year - is interesting due to Tate's excellent record here and Jamie Spencer (5-20 at track in recent years) comes down for just two rides, the other of which will only become interesting if there's market support for it. The same can be said about this fellow I suppose, as I'm rarely too inspired when seeing Tate's runners being weak in the market. Connections will hopefully want to get this one back on track though and if he can get the better of the overly short-priced favourite, it may prove to be that he's too good for the rest. He's no "sure thing" by any means, but 12/1 is a gigantic price about him and worthy of medium sized support in the hope that he'll bounce back to his best. If he can, he will make a bold bid and hopefully it'd be enough to see him end up victorious. Fingers crossed!
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