Impressive from the Meehan runner there, but disappointing not to see Military Man run. Had invested heavily.
'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby Listen to Iron Maiden, baby with me' Into 12/1 baby!
15:25 Haydock - Art Power (A really hot sprint this, many in with real chances. However, selection's form is as strong as any and will certainly handle the very soft ground.) Good luck today everyone!
Regarding Mighty Gurkha's poor run in France last time, it was caused by the fact that the stalls handler made an arse of taking the hood off the the colt as the stalls opened. This caused Mighty Gurkha to leave the stalls with the hood still on and he lost so much ground by the time the hood was pulled off that his race was already over. Mighty Gurkha made up the lost ground but he used all his energy in doing so and paid for it in the closing stages. The winner that day, Cairn Gorm, was well out of his depth in the Morny and I felt his 16 lbs rise for what looked a lucky win against Mighty Gurkha was overly generous. Can Mighty Gurkha get back on track assuming he comes out of the stalls without a hood on this time then? His OR of 99 puts him in the mix for sure, with favourite Mystery Smiles top on those figures with 103. The odd thing looking at this Sirenia is how many of the field were disappointing last time out. Cloudbridge was only 8th when warm favourite, Twaasol was also 8th after two wins and Lauded was another to record an 8 on his latest start, while Hala Hala Hala had a big fat duck egg. Of those, Cloudbridge looks poor value at 9/2 here after being 17 lengths last on his previous start. It looks a tricky one to call and with Mystery Smiles having been said to be going to the Mill Reef for his next start and pitching up here instead, i wonder why the change of plan with him? I went with Zamaani from the Crisfords yard. He had looked very progressive and was odds-on when he met Mystery Smiles at Chester. There is not much between them on that run and this will be a different test to Chester today, Zamaani is twice the odds of Mystery Smiles so he seemed a bit of value if we forgive his odds-on defeat at Chester. A busy day and hard to pick the correct races to play in. Hopefully I have picked a suitable race for a bet and a decent run for the money. 2.00 Kempton Zamaani 7/1 I did a reverse forecast with Mighty Gurkha. Mystery Smiles was next best.
I'm giving Lauded another chance but it's a very competitive race where you could make a reasonable argument for any of them. Good luck
I agree Smokey, I was quite undecided, but in the end I came to the same conclusion as Grendel, that on paper, Zamaani should have the beating of the fav at double the odds.
Always the same, you narrow a race down to two and the other one wins. I was on Mighty Gurkha last time when he came out with the hood still on. Zamaani ran too free early today and paid for it late on when he couldn't pick up. He should have been roughly where the third today, Mystery Smiles, was but has finished further away today. Good run from Cloudbridge, who was awful last time up. When he matures he should be a decent horse. A bit disappointed with Zamaani's effort and the forecast horse wins instead.
Just a couple of bets for today now. I thought Bullfinch was the one with all the potential in the 3.45 Kempton. He did it nicely last time and could be on a fair mark against some exposed rivals. Open to any amount of improvement, I thought 3/1 was a fair price and was surprised he wasn't favourite at about 9/4. In the sprint Dream Of Dreams drops in trip but has fair form at 6F. He slaughtered his field last time in what looked a breakthrough win. That was at 7F and the horse has been disappointing in the past carrying my money but he really looked the part last time and if he gets rolling he will be hard to beat. Hello Youmzain has been good for me before but I have also missed him a couple of times in races where it was so tight between two that it was a virtual coin toss and my money landed elsewhere. Golden Horde and Lope Y Fernandez have nice bits of form but the general feeling is that the 3YO bunch is a bit mediocre this year. The latter horse was awful in the Commonwealth Cup won by the former but he has run well since. I can't go against Dream Of Dreams after his last show and 10/3 was again a bit bigger than I would have priced him. 3.25 Haydock Dream Of Dreams 10/3 3.45 Kempton Bullfinch 3/1 Two singles and a double
I thought Enable was laboured looking there. It was an easy win but having missed the break and made the ground up quickly at the slow pace they were going, I had expected she would coast to victory but it was underwhelming to my eye. Of course it is all about the Arc but you wouldn't be cutting Enable for that race having watched the way she won today.
