Wednesday's Meetings Lingfield Flat 7 Races 2:00-5:00p.m. Musselburgh Flat 7 Races 2:10-5:10p.m. Catterick Flat 7 Races 2:20-5:25p.m. Bellewstown(E) Flat 7 Races 4:05-7:05p.m. Worcester(E) N/H 7 Races 4:45-7:45p.m. Kempton(E) A/W 7 Races 5:55-8:55p.m. Racecards At The Races Racing Post Sporting Life Good Luck
Hello, team. Hope we all tickety-boo. Good, good. As anyone who has stumbled across the ‘2020 Triumph Hurdle’ thread knows I have been waiting for the hurdling debut of HUMMDINGER for some 4 months. Tomorrow the waiting is over as the 3YO gelding makes his bow over timber at Worcester (6.45). Although still a maiden on the Flat over the course of the spring/summer Hummdinger has run a few decent efforts with the best of these being a couple of runner-up berths. It’s always a bit of a coin toss re how a horse will fare when transferring from the level to jumping hurdles in earnest (decent chap, incidentally) but a major plus (top notch military man, incidentally) is that Hummdinger is certainly in one of the best yards re switching horses from the level to the NH sphere. I hope that this one proves well above average and would be disappointed if he doesn’t go very close tomorrow eve. Sky Sports are currently forecasting ‘Berlington Bertie’ re Hummdinger’s chances and I look forward to the opening show re this juvenile hurdle. Let’s hope he goes on to be a hummdinger of a hurdler (don’t groan too loudly, regular readers, as you must have known that line was coming at some point). What, what?!? Good luck all.
Glutnforpunishment for me in that heat - looked a thorough stayer on the flat and if he gets a soft lead (entirely possible in this sort of heat) he will take some pegging back.
There will be little odds on her but National Treasure is one who went into my notebook on debut. Third over the 7F that day I thought she shaped as the one who would do best long term of the three fillies who pulled 9 lengths clear of the remainder that day. Runner up Alpen Rose has won since over 1 mile at Doncaster on soft ground and they seemed like stayers in the making. The Gosden winner of that last race had the advantage of a previous run and I felt the Camelot filly National Treasure would reverse form next time out. Main opposition is from Stoutey's Tanita who was also 3rd on debut but although her RPR is similar I far prefer the Godolphin filly. I thought National Treasure would be odds-on so I will take her at 6/5 and find something to double her with. 7.55 Kempton National Treasure
Morning, team. Here is today’s stat of the day. Old boy Gosden’s last 13 runners in 2 mile handicaps have all been beaten (dating back to 2012 and 10 were 8/1 or shorter). This evening he runs Baltic Song (8.15 Kempers Park) in such a heat. Will he break the old hoodoo?!? The son of Sea The Stars faces just 4 opponents.
I have a strong fancy for one at a decent price in this race. VIRGIN SNOW (25/1) debuted in what could be a nice little race at Doncaster on debut. She raced in the larger of two groups but the 1-2-3 raced as a trio on the stand side where the winner just got back up to touch off a nice looking Godolphin animal. The winner has been beaten since but that was in a Gr3. Two others in behind the selection have boosted the form quite nicely. Virgin Snow got no cover at Doncaster that day and Queally looked in two minds where to have her. All the same she ran a very pleasing race and in my opinion runners from this yard improve markedly for having had a run. She needs to improve but Crowley gets the nod tonight and he will find some cover for her I am sure. The extraa furlong should also be to her liking. For me she is the best bred filly in the race for me being out of Oaks winner Snow Fairy and interestingly she filled a minor placing on debut before winning her second start on the all weather at Lingfield.
A few at Catterick today... 2:20 - Breguet Boy @ 5/1 - Dalgleish has a good record with 2yo and the market seems to back it... 3:50 - Fuente @ 5/1 - Ran a good one lto, finishing 2nd here, the follow up might be today... 5:25 - Redrosezorro @ 9/4 - Eric Alston has a fine record at the course and can score once again here. Won lto at Carlisle, 5lb claimer, Harrison Shaw helps with the 5lb rise... Cheers...
I had a look at Virgin Snow and she is not without a chance here. She probably has about 10 lbs to find with the leading two here but it's a figure that can be bridged. The down side is that others are also open to plenty of improvement. I am not keen on the Ed Dunlop stable. He just doesn't get very many winners and his 12 month average of less than 7% is disappointing really. He is currently 1/24 and less than 5%, so that is a bit uninspiring. Ed Dunlop used to get winners at Kempton but I noticed that he is 0/34 over the past 12 months, which seems odd. In the end I was able to get 6/4 on National Treasure and doubled her with The Pinto Kid in the 7.55 Kempton. The Pinto Kid has an excellent record with 3 wins and a neck second from four runs at the track. Just pipped last time, he has a 7 lbs claimer taking some weight off tonight. I don't know much about the jockey but the stats show 1 win and 1 place from 3 starts. The Prescott filly steps up in trip and Emirates Knight is interesting for Roger Varian but is unproven on the surface. The Pinto Kid should run his race and go close and he looks a good price at 11/4 with Coral. I see him as a 2/1 shot at best. 5.55 Kempton National Treasure 6/4 7.55 Kempton The Pinto Kid 9/4 Win double 7.55 The Pinto Kid 11/4 Win single
Happy to plunder with some each way thievery. Seemed to take a long time to find her stride in the straight. Another step up in trip should see her go close next time maybe.
National Treasure was ominously easy to back and simply looked very slow tonight. Decent effort from Virgin Snow. They looked a real batch of stayers and Run Wild didn't half turn the form around with Tanita from the last time they met, turning a 2 length deficit into a comprehensive thrashing. It's always disappointing when youngster's don't progress from race 1 to race 2 and even more so when they go backwards as National Treasure did this evening. That was a real set back to her potential career, Well picked stick.
The couple of interesting things about RUN WILD, Oisin Murphy for Gosden on all three runs!!! Owners choice??? Also, was hooded first two runs, left off tonight and bolts in, maybe we need a new hint on race cards, “no longer in headgear”.
Run Wild was given a much improved rating of 90 for winning without the headgear on. In contrast, the reopposing Tanita was given a 3 lbs lower rating than her debut. National Treasure was the huge disappointment, having run to 83 on debut and likely to improve a lot as a daughter of a Derby winner, she actually ran a stone worse on 69. She was very weak in the betting and the punters got her spot on but equally they suggested Tanita was the one and Run Wild was not but they got that one totally wrong. Later on The Pinto Kid got a very poor ride. Dropping in trip he was held up further off the pace than usual and Thommo commented a few times about how far off the pace he was. He made an effort when it was all too late but stayed on a little bit for what should have been 5th but to compound his awful ride the jockey dropped his hands too soon and was caught at the line and dropped to 6th in the last stride. I will not be touching anything that this 7 lb claimer sits on in the future as he seemed pretty clueless.
Old boy Hummdinger was terrible at the first and then it all went downhill from that point on. Not good. Although the very alarming drift throughout the day (9/4 to 13/2) gave an indication of what was to come even before 'tapes up'. In spite of this though will keep an eye out for him next time.
