I don't believe it. My Mrs must be right Victor Meldrew. Lahore my nap couple of Saturdays ago missed it, too busy today arsing about practicing my putting. Got a new Scotty Cameron that would have paid for it. Damn.
Prices drifting is normally ominous. Sometimes though, the horse in question is just put in too short and they have to push it out to attract money. I looked at Brentford Hope last night and he seemed strong but I felt Evens was way too short. The colt was coming back from a setback in training and the fact that they were pitching him in pretty low was perhaps indicative of not being very confident at this stage of his rehabilitation. Very different ground today to his debut and most worryingly the Hughes stable have had a pretty woeful season. They went a long enough stretch without a winner and were 1/22 currently. The stable were 5/89 during June and July and only a narrow 40/1 winner has given them much relief lately. I went with Matthew Flinders as a better value punt but he was only 2nd at 5/1. The winner's last race had been working out terribly and I didn;t fancy him. Brentford Hope was desperatley slowly away but worked his way into it gradually. I thought he was absolutely swinging at one stage and that he, Semser and Matthew Flinders were going best in that order. In the end Brentford Hope's run just petered out and I don't think Matthew Flinders lasted home as well as he had promised to. Semser also didn't find as much as had looked likely at one stage and he was a bit keen early and maybe didn't last as well as he might otherwise have done. Thumur yet again was outpaced. I said last time he ran that it looked like he needed 12F. The trainer has run him at 10F again and would you believe it he has run like he needed 12F again. What do trainers expect if they put a horse into a better looking race, at the same trip, and the same result occurs? I thought that was the very definition of madness. A taking effort from Roberto Escobarr and the son of Galileo must surely go up in class next time out. This represented a sizeable improvement from his debut 3rd to my eyes. Brentford Hope was disappointing. He came in rated 11 lbs ahead of the winner even allowing for the 7lbs concession. There was some mitigation allowed for his setback and the faster going today but even with the slow start being a hindrance I could only really observe that he has finished behind a reasonably exposed looking yardstick in Thumur, who is an officially rated 81 and will be staying on that mark after today. Brentford Hope has a St Leger entry but that would be asking a lot to get back on track in time for. He is entered in another Novice race at Newmarket on Friday but that seems way too soon to be feasible. Could be tough to find a suitable and meaningful opportunity for the colt this season.
