Decent draw there for ireland getting wales as top seed.england v scotland games will be a great spectable.looking forward to seeing utd v barca later even if its a friendly, been starved decent footy the last few weeks!
I make that a salubrious treble overall for you today. Cracking stuff on what was a trappy day's racing.
It is indeed a treble, all single bets though!!! If I had doubled and trebled them I might have been able to phone work on Monday and tell them I'd not be back!
I definitely am! Don't think I've ever had a day without a lost bet in my life. Any more winnings will just be going towards tonights drinking money anyway, so for my own body's sake it might be better off if I lost haha.
Cheers Fabio. Well done yourself today, you've been on fire these last few months I don't know how you pick so many winners
Great stuff today lads especially Fabio well done sir!! Hope u enjoyed your evening! Went to Ascot with the family good day packed crowed but turmoil after the speculative bid! Really was a frantic bettinf ring! I backed Postponed on course so was happy! Can't belive Frankie lost that tbh ! Clever cookie didn't do himself any harm a group 3/2 horse in his day and ground but wel done connections taking the risk!
A few remarks after the fact of King George day at Ascot: What a surprise announcement as the runners headed to post for the first race: “there is a non-runner in the fifth race...” – how come I was able to mouth the words “number ten” as the course announcer told us the blatently obvious. Wait until all the punters have shown up and paid at the gate to see the Derby winner before withdrawing him. For once, I am not saying that just because I am cynical; but because it is patently obvious stating at 5pm on Friday that a decision would be made in the morning was duplicitous at best and a downright lie at worst. In turned out to be a great race for the author of the Timeform comments in the racecard as they had managed to pick Golden Horn to beat The Corsican and Flintshire – the three non-runners – but I guess they had to do their write-up on Thursday without Friday’s weather forecast! Fans of Golden Horn had better hope that it is dry at York in August for the Juddmonte International or he may have run his last race. It is not very often quick ground for the Irish Champion Stakes, there is a slim chance that it will not be easy ground for the Arc and/or the Champion Stakes, so that really only leaves the Breeders’ Cup. Connections of Bushcraft must now be regretting their decision not to stick to six furlongs and head to York, especially given that a horse he beat at Newcastle collected the prize on the Knavesmire. What on earth where those comedians in the Stewards Enquiry playing at after the 21-runner International Stakes? The favourite backers never got a run for their money and that was unfortunate (no McCririck around to shout about it); however, to declare it as a non-runner led the racecourse bookmakers to refund the punters and settle winning bets with a Rule 4 deduction. Then later in the afternoon they gave out a changed decision that the favourite had indeed been deemed a runner so bets on it were lost and there were to be no Rule 4 deductions. What chance have racegoers got when the sport is being administered on the day by a bunch of toffs who do not even know the rules? I was talking to two couples who had asked me to do a selfie for them as none of them had an arm long enough to get the mobile phone far enough away to get them all in. They had been paid out with Rule 4 deductions and one of them had been refunded on a bet. I could have suggested that they go and find their bookmakers and ask for their extra winnings but not mention the refunded bet but that would have been way beyond what they would have understood. I see that the BHA are now going to hold an inquiry into just what chain of events did occur. Undoubtedly some very junior stewards’ secretary will end up being the scapegoat. I wish I could recognise my female trainers from behind so I could give you a name for this anecdote. After the King George as the horses were being led in, I was behind a lady who called out to Pat Smullen as he was going past to ask whether he would be available to ride her horse in the Phoenix Stakes, as she thinks it has an excellent chance. Smullen replied that he thought he was riding in France on that day but would get his agent to check and give her a call. If on the day of the Phoenix Stakes there is only one horse running that is trained by a woman – irrespective of whether Smullen is available to be aboard – then that must be the one and I will know the identity of the trainer, perhaps. Looking at the entries the only woman trainer with any is Jessica Harrington, but the lady did not sound Irish. Is there a supplementary entry date for the Phoenix Stakes? My suspicion is that it was Eve Johnson Houghton as she was the only female trainer with a runner on the Ascot card.
I wonder if the time was quick because of the early part of the race running down towards Swinley Bottom with Romsdal leading. I say this because they were running into quite a noticeable head wind up the straight, which one would expect to result in slow times (especially on the ground). I note that both jockeys involved in the finish got banned for excessive use of the persuader: six days for Atzeni and four for Dettori.
Was the ground as soft as the official going description yesterday at Ascot? I know you can't always tell on the tellybox but it didn't look that bad. In his ATR stable tour Cumani reckons one of the reasons yesterday's KG winner got beat earlier in the season in Ireland was because the ground was on the soft side of good. States he wants it fast ideally.
Unfortunately there is no opportunity to walk on the hallowed turf at Ascot so I could not categorically say if it was genuinely soft or more like good to soft. Looking at previous form, I would not have fancied either of the first two on slow ground. In the Princess Margaret, the winner Besharah looked very happy on the ground, cantering on the bit for most of the race before easily asserting to win. Whether she would have won with such contemptuous ease on quick ground is an unknown although she was the form horse in the race.
