Daily Racing Thread Friday 23rd. August 2019

3rd, would have finished closer but for hanging left

 

Won ..R4

 

Shout(s) mate. Some tricky races today

 

Shout

 

Just been announced that Roaring Lion has been put down after suffering another attack of colic

 

Espoir d'Allen also today. sad day.

 

Fox Duty Free just never turned up today. Rather than improving, he went backwards by a large chunk. I had my doubts about Desert Mirage dropping in trip and I reckon he's probably ran slightly below his first race this time. Celtic Art has probably run to his form and Molatham has improved enough to edge him out today. It's miles away from Mum's Tipple's level though and the form is best analysed disregarding the Hannon horse who displayed a very rare leap in form that we may not see the like of again for a very long time.

It was indeed folly to oppose Stradivarius but I felt Dee Ex Bee was a bit below his best today. He's beaten the third only very narrowly today and although the O'Brien horse won by 12 lengths the time before he did seem ridiculously well in on 89 in that Handicap. Stradivarius just keeps on rolling out those wins and Gosden has some fortune on his side having Enable and Stradivarius in his yard. Either would be the horse of the lifetime for most trainers and he has two at the same time.

I got plenty of pelters here last time for playing down Ten Sovereigns win in the July Cup. I simply felt a few horses ran poorly that day and questioned his 15 lb rise from the Racing Post to 125. Whatever happened today needs an excuse because he has run to 102 on Racing Post Ratings on this occasion. Baataash had it in control from a long way out and at the moment the Ten Sovereigns win at Newmarket looks an anomaly in a run of 110, 110, 125 and 102 ratings for his last four runs. Fairyland was also poor today but So Perfect seemed to run her race. Baataash had the look today of a horse whom you would expect to have been unbeaten for a long time but he simply doesn't fire every time he runs. Awesome today though.

In Ireland Alpine Star just lasted home while Love was another disappointment for Aidan. In the Futurity Iberia seemed poised to run well but he faded badly late on. The favourite Armory looked to have it in the bag and set to record an impressive enough win but he didn't manage to stretch away and was underwhelming in holding off 50/1 shot Rebel Tale by 3/4 of a length. He did turn the form around from his debut run against Justifier but the proximity of others made this look a mediocre performance and Toronto was stone last tonight, having been second, albeit 5 lengths behind Armory last time out. Armory did nothing to enhance his rating and/or his Guineas prospects this evening with a "Meh!" performance. The stable's run of 6/77 currently is uninspiring and contrast's very sharply with John Gosden's 7/20 currently.

 

One more for me today and another each way. In the last at Chelmsford I like the Marco Botti runner

8:45 - Better Than Ever 20/1 ew