Day 1 Well we kicked off with a good un in Appreciate It, just your 24length Irish winner, a omen for what was about to come really. Shishkin & Honeysuckle impressed, Epatante didnt, as Concertitsa failed to get the better of Black Tears which i thought Jack Kennedy gave a peach of a ride to win the race in the end. My Day 1 efforts were summed up perfectly in the last as i backed everyone bar Galvin in that... Oh Dear... Day 2 If Day 1 started with a bang, big bad Bob Olinger certainly made you sit up and watch as Blackmore rode a future star to claim the Ballymore, and we were all the more wiser and happy for watching him do so as well. Monkfish did what we all expected him to do but after what what gone on before him I was slightly disappointed with his win when he had done so. Don't know why, i just felt i wanted more off him... Put The Kettle On impressed once again and this is another one with a big future ahead of her and hopefully giving us days like she did on Wednesday once again soon. The battle of Sir Gerhard & Kilcruit was built up to be a bit of a classic and it didnt fail us, especially if you backed Knighted one...!! Day 3 Yet again the opening race of the day provided us with a talking point, Envoi Allen falling at the 4th, who would have picked that ahead of the race... So the bookies breathed a sigh of relief but it would get better for them as the day went by. Mrs Milner ran away with the Pertemps with a mighty good win, i had the other one Milliner, must have misheard Kevin Blake obviously... The Ryanair went the way of the darling of Cheltenham, Rachael Blackmore, who to be fair rode Allaho through some of the jumps on her way round but came out an easy winner. I had 2nd placed Fakir, but it was a very distant 2nd in the end. My Paisley Park failed to get back his Stayers Hurdle title and if they keep Flooring Porter in this next year i doubt very much he will get back that title either...!! Day 4 Quilixios impressed as much as Zanahiyr didnt in the JCB, although Tritonic really did fall short of the betting hype pre the race didnt he...?? Vanillier provided me with my longest odds winner, 20/1 in the book, a 14/1 winner in the end and a horse that has got some potential for the future me thinks n hopes. My heart wanted Al Boum Photo to take the Gold Cup for a 3rd time which i thought was on when looking at the depth of the race. But in Minella Indo we saw another superstar of the Festival and one that will be hopefully around for next years race as i think we could have a much better line up than this years list. Native River came 4th, 24 lengths behind the front 3, with the others well beck from him...!!! Overall a very good festival, but not a classic, but then again had there been 4 days full of punters it might have been the best...!!
