Shadow Of Light 7/4 for the Commonwealth Cup now. I have taken him for the July Cup as well. He is 6/1 for that race now. Treanmor is 1/1 for the Chesham now and Outfielder 3/1 for the Norfolk Stakes, so it's shaping up for now. As ever the problem will be getting them to actually win.
Ah, the armchair jockeys come out to play. I am not at all sure the Barzalona comment is right in this respect either.
You don't need to be a jockey to judge a poor ride. In the Guineas Barcelona hit the front with 2F to go. Meanwhile Shoemark was leaving it too late to set off after Ruling Court. The latter jockey was pretty much universally accepted to have made an error but the former went pretty much unmentioned. I just wonder if Godolphin had not had the winner in Ruling Court would it have been as easy to shrug off the ride given to Shadow Of Light. Ignoring Ruling Court for a moment, Shadow Of Light makes his move and makes up good ground to hit the front. At this stage he must have been about three lengths ahead of Field Of Gold. He ends up being mowed down late by that horse to finish 1/2 a length behind him and had that been Godolphin's sole return from the Classic I am sure questions would have been made as to why he wasn't held together to make his challenge later. Most horses can only quicken once in a race and there are enough who think they have done enough once they are in front and so need to come late. This is more important in my opinion when trying a longer trip and we knew coming into the Guineas that the colt had stamina questions. It's all a moot point now and it did me a long term favour, because I would have had £270 running on Ruling Court in the Derby @ 16/1 only to see the Trainer bottle it at the 11th hour and pull him out of the race. Hopefully Shadow Of Light can find redemption in the Commonealth.
Missed the 14/1 Bedtime Story for the Prix de Diane this weekend as I was going through its other entries including two at RA next week. Colin Keane rode a poor race on it in the French Guineas and she flew home to be beaten just about 4 lengths.. The 7/1 available will have to do. Coolmore leave 4 in at the latest declaration. IMO Keane also rode a shocker on White Birch and I've taken the 10/1 that horse to get its revenge on Los Angeles.
Colin Keane became a superstar jockey don't you know. That was stated in Nov 2020 in the Racing Post. Despite that and being Champion Jockey several times it has taken until now and a fairly straight forward, but over-hyped, ride to get him some recognition. . Keane replaced Shoemark after the Field Of Gold debacle and then riding that colt in what amounted to a steering job next time garnered lavish praise, when even I, as an armchair Jockey, and a sixteen stone one at that, could have won on him. Before you know it he is Juddmonte's retained jockey and seemingly being called a superstar again. What a fickle game this horse racing is. In my day Barcelona would have got the guillotine for that Shadow Of Light ride.
Lady Inan is said to be missing Royal Ascot. The leaves Karl Burke's Zelaina as the warm favourite at 7/4. Zelaina was quickly away when winning a Nottingham 5F race and wax said to have missed some work coming into that race. Gary Nutting had given that as part of his reasoning for tipping her ante-post at 7/2. I feel she is little value at her price now though. If she had been behind in her work it didn't stop her going off favourite for her debut. Sent off Evs Fav she won her class 5 maiden easily and could be useful but her price is at a place I would have liked to see proof, rather than just potential. Lennilu is 2nd best in the Queen Mary betting and she has won twice looking fast as US trained horses often do. Not trained by Wesley Ward she is a relatively inexpensive filly. I liked the debut of Society Kiss trained by Ralph Beckett. Her debut was at Ascot, so that's the course and distance boxes ticked already. She was strong at the finish that day drawing clear. She went off 12/1 on the day suggesting she was not expected to show as much as she did, hopefully meaning there is more to come. The time was said by the trainer to have equalled No Nay Never's juvenile track record. In addition it was a class 2 race and the Racing Post gave her a higher rating than the favourite for this race achieved on her debut. Hopefully the American filly can set a strong pace for Society Kiss to strike from. Ralph Beckett has intimated that her debut win had earned her a crack at the Queen Mary and for me she was value at 10/1. I can't see that being the case on the day and she'll do me. Queen Mary SOCIETY KISS 10/1
Disappointing ( a little financially) that Outfielder will not be heading to Ascot. Looked a proper speedball that I feel they would only have seen the rear end of...
Yes, Outfielder had a tiny shin problem after working and as Wesley Ward felt he was their only horse who was likely to win he has decided not to travel over. The trainer said his son is gutted. I'm not too chipper about it myself!
One of the funniest films ever, Caddyshack, gave us the wonderful character of Carl Spackler. The slightly unhinged greenkeeper spends the entire film trying to catch gophers whilst having sexual fantasies about the female players. If that isn't a recommendation for a bet then I don't know what is. Queen Anne Stakes Carl Spackler 20/1
I remember the scene where a dropped Mars Bar was floating in the swimming pool and observers took it to be a different brown floater. Carl Spackler has to drain the pool. After that he finds the offending item and realises that it is just a candy bar and proceeds to take a bite out of it. An old lady looking on assumes it is still the offensive floater and promptly faints.
