Getting to the course yesterday I warned the fellas that Day One had been far too easy and that this place had a nasty habit of biting back. They all said that so long as Samcro won we wouldnt care what else happened. Job done then in race one which was a good job for the debacle that followed. Black Corton had been a passion for me all season but he really didnt jump with his usual fluency. The two Irish novices looked very classy with Percy being a notch above the other fella. Supremely confident ride. Monalee should have been in the JLT. Topofthegame looked to be keeping the week going strong but just got nutted close home, probably saved our livers! Min was the middle leg of my Canadian with two in already he looked to be travelling all over Altior but Nico was just cajoling him into the race and he flew up that home stretch. You dont mind losing to him and I will just have to settle for fourfolds! All year we have been clutching 9/1 Cause Of Causes tickets and grinning but in the last fortnight all I had heard was that the stablemate was just as well fancied. Did I listen. No I stubbornly refused to lay a penny of it off. Others in our group did so fair play to them. Having been turned over by the stablemate in the Cross Country I didnt expect to see a similar fate in the FredWinter but Mitchouka was seriously badly hampered early and had no chance after. I did the write up for the race and other than having had the obligatory three runs to get a mark and the fact that Elliott trained I still could never had pointed the way to this one. The finale of course was the bumper. My race supposedly. I was pretty confident that our form was better than theirs, I was pretty confident that Acey Milan was our best horse. I was right about the latter but the real bumper king had three in his yard better than anybodys and none were the favourite. Thats my third consecutive day at the races, having been at Chelmsford on Monday, and I have to say that I have almost had enough. I have banked enough cash to be able to call the meeting a success, drunk enough Guinness to keep the Mum in laws shares bubbling and spent more than enough time in queues. However, I have Thursday and Friday tickets so I shall be there in far more restrained manner, quietly cheering on my remaining bets from some lofty perch. I hope you are all enjoying the Festival and doing well.
