Going to be one of those days I fear. MyCoy beats mine into 2nd the last race, now I'm on McCoy in the 1.45, watch him get beaten ..................
Wondered how that good jockey Alan Munro was and it seems he is doing OK in the Far East. Won the 2012 Singapore Gold Cup recently on Better Life for a top Japanese trainer. Here's the result with a video option: http://www.turfclub.com.sg/Racing/Pages/ViewRaceResult/1713/11 (Erm, seems they don't do 'whip bans' on the Singapore/Malaysian circuit, or am I mistaken?).
That's bad news, Dan, will have to start drinking this bloody Glühwein (mulled wine, served hot) they have here to keep warm!
My mate was out there a couple of weeks ago and went racing at Kraji. His friend owns a couple of horses over there so they were in the owners enclosure and just satrted chatting to munro - he's getting on very well and loving every minute of it.
I don't think I could drink that muck if I had a gun held to my head and unlike Sir Barney i can think of many reasons why someone would like to do that
3.30 Sandown Gigondas 40/1 Certainly comes with a fair bit of risk attached as he seems to have two ways of running which is evident by his last run when pulled up on his handicap debut but I think he is definitely better than his mark of 113. The first thing about this race is that 3 year olds get a massive 14lb weight for age allowance which I think is going to play a massive factor in the outcome of this race, especially as in less than a months time these horses will be classified as 4 year olds. Looking specifically at Gary Moore's gelding, I think he's shown some very nice form in his brief hurdling career to date which has spanned 5 starts since making his debut in July this year. He was well supported on his racecourse debut at Stratford when I think he was going to play a leading roll in the finish when a horse in front of him hampered him and caused Joshua Moore to fall off in a race where the front 3 have all won since (3rd beaten 42L) and it was a very promising debut. Gigondas showed no ill effects from being hampered as he won in very impressive fashion on his 2nd start at Fontwell when upped to an extended 18f in August when scoring by an eased down 8L when scoring from Feb Thirtyfirst who has subsequently come out and won twice since to give the form a very solid look. Gigondas was sent off a 7/2 joint favourite on his next start over the same C+D under a penalty but he never really went a yard and was a well beaten 7th in the end. I've no idea as to why he ran that poorly but he certainly jumped back to form when running a lovely race on what was his next outing two starts back in October. At Chepstow over todays trip on soft ground, Gigondas ran a very pleasing race when finishing a 22L beaten but not overly knocked about 3rd as he conceded 7lb to a pair of rivals that look very promising individuals. I think Jamie Moore knew his two rivals were better than his mount as he didn't attempt to go all out and go with the leading pair who forged clear and certainly wasn't knocked about as he had 3rd place already sewn up. The winner that day Far West has since gone on to land a Grade 2 in very impressive fashion whilst the 2nd Handazan, a 98 rated horse on the flat, has won on his only subsequent start. Gigondas made his handicap debut at Hereford at start of November off his current mark of 113 when upped to 2m4f for the first time and for one reason or another he just never seemed to travel and he was subsequently pulled up. I've no idea why he ran such a poor race but he's certainly better than that and I'm just taking a chance that he will bounce back today which is obviously factored into the price. Gary Moore is in pretty decent nick at present and Jamie Moore takes the ride off a very nice racing weight of 10-7. Given that I think he's well handicapped and he gets a stone for his age I think this 3 year old could definitely run a very big racing if bouncing back to form and he's available on the exchanges at 70/1 to do so.
Very nice Bold Sir Brian (although Racing Post commentary reports he made a couple of dodgy jumps - need to watch replay when I get home).
