just watched the 10 oclock news on bbc,,,,,,,,,,,, more about the dangers of the race than the race, stinks of sour grapes if you dont like it dont watch it if you cant show it shut up if you feel that you can save life and make a difference join up and get off to korea if you think im out of order your on the wrong site we love horses they race its what they do we love them for that we dont wnt them to come to harm ,,,,,,,,,,,,, but dont cross the road them machienes may knock you over stay frosty
Your namesake ran nicely on reappearance the other day mate Wouldn't rush to back him next time but would be nice to see him back to his best and running in good races.
I couldn't get Borat out of my head before I popped the question. 'Will you be my wife' actually came out of my mouth. I'll never live it down.
Looking forward to a great days racing tomorrow and have started with a double on Dodgin Bullets and Overturn who shouls both enjoy the better ground. Going to give Grands Crus another chance back over hurdles who if anywhere near his best would be too good for the rest of these. Backed Cantlow in the 3.25, was gutted he didn't get to run at Cheltenham and backed Purple Bay in the bumper. As for the big one Teaforthree and Chicago Grey are my main two bets and also had a couple of quid on Cappa Bleu and Across The Bay. Did anyone see the documentary on C4 tonight. Personally thought it was great and showed how well looked after and loved these horses are and how much the horses enjoy what they do, shame on the beeb for their overly negative reports the last couple of days. Incredibly sad the loss of little josh today but surely the spectacular performance of one of the best horses we may see in Sprinter Sacre didn't deserve to be the second story!
evening all, just popped in to mention big fella thanks. i didn't do my usual comprehensive writeup this year (apologies anyone who read last year's) and just did a quick spreadsheet writing off horses for age, weight, distance, lack of runs, or no experience over the national fences (which used to be a stat). so i've probably written off the winner. but anyway, i've ended up with 4: balthazar king 16/1 who has been running in cross countries at cheltenham over 31f and generally placing (the RO was actually a CO). aside from that, his distances average about 26f and he looks a stayer just lately. cappa bleu, the form fits, 2nd in both races this season, 4th in the national last year, run in classy company, big earnings, popular choice. chigaco grey, proven over 3miles, ran last year, although i can't shake the feeling that he didn't get into it even before being BD at the 5th - not sure why though. so, big fella thanks. he's run in the national three times before (2009-6th,2010-4th,2011-7th) and then was passed, in october 2012, from ferdy murphy to tom george, who entered him in a veteran's chase at aintree where he unseated, and then he has placed 3rd in the becher chase, won a 21f chase and then came 2nd (by a distance admittedly) in a 20f chase. he's 11, carries 11-6 which is just inside the race form weights, and yet he's 40/1. denis o'reagan is the jockey. i might be wrong here, but could he get a place with all his national experience and a new trainer? we'll see anyway. g'luck all! super racing today, especially SS, and the national aside there should be some super racing tomorrow
i saw that as well, and at the beginning i thought it was going to be an idiots guide but it was actually really interesting. bit of a bias for T4T?! i agree about the bbc, the fatalities at aintree made front page news on their website, but SS didn't. at least they had quotes from the people who actually had something to do with the horses but i see a negative trend going on. as heis says, looks like sour grapes. it doesn't ever say 'racewatchers and connections sad', so it's aimed at a different audience.
I have 7 selections in the National tomorrow based purely on birthdays of my immediate family lol... 3) Weird Al 66/1 9) Ballabriggs 16/1 15) On His Own 9/1 24) Swing Bill 66/1 26) Chicago Grey 14/1 28) Rare Bob 22/1 29) The Rainbow Hunter 80/1 Couple of quid eway on them. Good luck all!!
I know! How is Overturn that short?! Baily Green has my money, very happy with 3/1 Anyone else think Celestrial Halo is a massive price at 13/2? On a quicker/easier track and ground without bog warrior leading them off at a stupid pace, Celestrial Halo could well have beaten Solwhit had he not clouted the last at chelts
Best bet of the day – there will be at least one false start in the Grand National. In the two races on the National course in the first two days the brain-dead jockeys failed to listen to the starter’s instructions or apply any common sense. They must know between them which of the runners want to be at the front but could not just let them line up first and then walk up to the tapes. Plus we all know that the Grand National is won in the rush to get to the first fence – that is why they have shortened the distance to make it quicker. Racing certainty of the day – even if all the runners get around unhurt the animal rights nutters still will not be happy. This is the one opportunity they get for mass publicity every year and the only place that they want to see horses are in their supermarket lasagne or pulling gypsy caravans to Dale Farm.
After hours of going round in circles i have settled on QUISCOVER FONTAINE and HARRY THE VIKING. QF looked to be going relatively well before falling last year, interesting preparation (3 runs, the furthest being 2m2f), though they did the same last year.
2.30 Chepstow The Gossmoor Yank 33/1 A very risky selection but if the application of first time blinkers, return to a sounder surface, the significant drop in grade, career low mark and return to a course which he goes well at reinvigorate this wayward 10 year old then I'm hoping he can turn back time and land this pretty poor contest. Now with Liam Corcoran, The Gossmoor Yank used to be a pretty useful animal when trained with Paul Nicholls over hurdles as he reached a peak rating of 131. Lightly raced for his age, The Gossmoor Yank was off the track for 25 months before running a belter in a handicap hurdle for Nicholls back in November 2011 but that was as good as it got for this son of Shernazar as he was disappointing in his last 2 starts for his former trainer (first starts over fences) and finished his career with the former champion trainer when tailed off in handicap chase off a mark of 132 in January 2012. He joined Liam Corcoran in April of that year and was disappointing on stable debut when pulled up in a handicap hurdle last May and has been confined to chasing ever since. Starting off his chasing career with Corcoran in a Beginners Chase back in November officially rated 124, he has had 4 starts over the larger obstacles for current connections which has subsequently seen him fall to a career low mark of 98. For the most part, he has seemed a shell of his former self but he definitely shaped as if he still held some ability two starts ago at Plumpton before falling 4 out. In a Amateur Riders contest at the end of February off a mark of 107, The Gossmoor Yank sported first time cheekpieces under Jo Buck and was still well in contention when taking a shuddering fall at the 4th last. Whether he would have made the frame or not is a complete mystery but he certainly showed glimpses that he has a win left in him. Another two positives to take from that run are that the application of a first time aid and the return to some semblance of a decent surface (good to soft) seemed to be working and can only increase my optimism for tomorrow. His final start came when tailed off in testing conditions at Kempton last month but the handicapper has seen fit to drop him 9lb to 98 as he was well out the rear of the field for the entire contest. Tomorrow he is dropped into a really poor 0-100 handicap with first time blinkers applied and if he is ever going to win a race again then surely it has to be this one. I'm definitely pleased to see him return to Chepstow as it seemed a course he really enjoyed over hurdles in his time with Nicholls and he had an excellent record of 1232 at the unique undulating course(was well beaten on his chasing debut at the course but that was a very, very hot race). Although a winner on soft, there is no doubt in my mind that he's much better on a sound surface and I think he'll really appreciate the return to good ground tomorrow. Donal Fahy, who was on board for the first time LTO, takes the ride and he's riding well at the moment. Liam Corcoran hasn't really had the best time of things for the past 18 months or so and is popping in the odd winner but is hardly thriving and that's obviously a concern. Given that he seemed revitalised in first time cheekpieces, I'm very happy to see blinkers reached for for the first time and I'm certainly hoping their application can spark him back into life. Based on his old form, he should really have more than enough ability to win off 98 in a Grade this low but barring one apparent return to some sort of form at Plumpton a couple of starts ago he has a profile largely consistent with a regressive horse and is clearly a very risky selection. However, I'm prepared to give him this chance as he won't have anything in his favour as much as this again and I certainly feel 33/1 is a price that more than incorporates that risk. Although this selection is definitely posted in hope rather than expectation, if he's ever going to win again then surely it has to be this race and if anyone is willing to take a calculated risk then hopefully they are rewarded at a very nice price.
