3.30 Brighton
Rock Anthem 33/1
Quite like the look of Mike Murphy’s 7 year gelding in what looks a very open contest. Although he has only won off a mark as high as 72 (effectively 69 with claimers), Rock Anthem’s last win came 5 starts back in September where he was given an absolutely fantastic ride by Russ Kenemore. He was waited with for a long time at the back of the field and Kennemore pushed the button inside 2 furlongs to go and Rock Anthem proceeded to blast through the field to get up in the last 100 yards to win by 0.75L to Beaumont’s Party. The effort was visually very impressive as he met a couple of momentum sapping spots on his way to victory. I believe there was still a lot of horse left under Kennemore at the end of the race. The 2nd in that race has subsequently come out and won twice off a mark of 75 (was 74 that day) and has finished a very respectable 4th off 83 LTO. A couple of others that day who were behind have come out to win off similar marks.
Rock Anthem has 6 wins to his name with the last 2 coming at Sandown in September of 09 and last year. His victory in 2009 came as a 5 year old when he was actually a 1L 2nd behind Desert Kiss. Rock Anthem was flying home that day but just couldn’t get to the front. Desert Kiss was rated 80 that day so considering he weighed in light its fair to say he was a couple of lbs lighter than that. Desert Kiss was a 4 year old at the time and he has subsequently gone on to win off marks of 85 and 89. The declared 2nd that day Poyle Meg, who raced off 77 that day and finished 1.75L behind Rock Anthem, has subsequently won off a mark of 80 on the AW. The 3rd has come out and won off a 1lb lower mark.
LTO Rock Anthem came out and produced a rather disappointing run at Sandown where he was 2-2 over the C+D. However, he blew the start completely that day and I think he was probably saved for another day. Furthermore, the ground had probably gone against him with all his wins coming on ground that is good or better. Martin Dwyer is a very interesting jockey booking as he doesn’t ride too much for Murphy, but he is an excellent jockey and a definite positive in my eyes. Rock Anthem has had 1 effort at the very unique Brighton in his career when he finished a fairly distant 4th over 12f back in 2007. This wasn’t a terrible effort but considering it was 4 years ago it is probably best not to look into it too much.
Prior to his latest outing, Rock Anthem’s last two starts were both on the AW – one last September and a reappearance run at the start of July. His AW start in September could have come too quickly after the win and his reappearance run at Kempton, where he utilised the extremely strange front running tactics, I think was a clear attempt to get him fit for his last contest. However, considering the bad break and ground conditions I think that plan went out the window. Mike Murphy always seems to get his horses to improve, and I hope that Rock Anthem is no exception. I think he has shown enough in his 2 victories at Sandown to demonstrate that he can win off a mark of 75. Although he will have to produce a career best effort to land this, I think the current price of 33/1 makes him extremely overpriced. Mike Murphy is in good form at the moment with Lutine Bell, Mitie Mouse and Bennandonner posting excellent 2nds recently. Although effectively 6lb higher than his 2 best wins, the recent spins at Kempton and Sandown coupled my knowledge of Murphy’s ability to get constant improvement from his horses and lead me to believe that Rock Anthem has a very live chance to win this if acting on the track.
Another 2 I like is 4.40 Pontefract Red Somerset 10/1 and 6.00 Kempton Beat Route 7/1. I'm off now for the night so will try to get a write up done tomorrow
Rock Anthem 33/1
Quite like the look of Mike Murphy’s 7 year gelding in what looks a very open contest. Although he has only won off a mark as high as 72 (effectively 69 with claimers), Rock Anthem’s last win came 5 starts back in September where he was given an absolutely fantastic ride by Russ Kenemore. He was waited with for a long time at the back of the field and Kennemore pushed the button inside 2 furlongs to go and Rock Anthem proceeded to blast through the field to get up in the last 100 yards to win by 0.75L to Beaumont’s Party. The effort was visually very impressive as he met a couple of momentum sapping spots on his way to victory. I believe there was still a lot of horse left under Kennemore at the end of the race. The 2nd in that race has subsequently come out and won twice off a mark of 75 (was 74 that day) and has finished a very respectable 4th off 83 LTO. A couple of others that day who were behind have come out to win off similar marks.
Rock Anthem has 6 wins to his name with the last 2 coming at Sandown in September of 09 and last year. His victory in 2009 came as a 5 year old when he was actually a 1L 2nd behind Desert Kiss. Rock Anthem was flying home that day but just couldn’t get to the front. Desert Kiss was rated 80 that day so considering he weighed in light its fair to say he was a couple of lbs lighter than that. Desert Kiss was a 4 year old at the time and he has subsequently gone on to win off marks of 85 and 89. The declared 2nd that day Poyle Meg, who raced off 77 that day and finished 1.75L behind Rock Anthem, has subsequently won off a mark of 80 on the AW. The 3rd has come out and won off a 1lb lower mark.
LTO Rock Anthem came out and produced a rather disappointing run at Sandown where he was 2-2 over the C+D. However, he blew the start completely that day and I think he was probably saved for another day. Furthermore, the ground had probably gone against him with all his wins coming on ground that is good or better. Martin Dwyer is a very interesting jockey booking as he doesn’t ride too much for Murphy, but he is an excellent jockey and a definite positive in my eyes. Rock Anthem has had 1 effort at the very unique Brighton in his career when he finished a fairly distant 4th over 12f back in 2007. This wasn’t a terrible effort but considering it was 4 years ago it is probably best not to look into it too much.
Prior to his latest outing, Rock Anthem’s last two starts were both on the AW – one last September and a reappearance run at the start of July. His AW start in September could have come too quickly after the win and his reappearance run at Kempton, where he utilised the extremely strange front running tactics, I think was a clear attempt to get him fit for his last contest. However, considering the bad break and ground conditions I think that plan went out the window. Mike Murphy always seems to get his horses to improve, and I hope that Rock Anthem is no exception. I think he has shown enough in his 2 victories at Sandown to demonstrate that he can win off a mark of 75. Although he will have to produce a career best effort to land this, I think the current price of 33/1 makes him extremely overpriced. Mike Murphy is in good form at the moment with Lutine Bell, Mitie Mouse and Bennandonner posting excellent 2nds recently. Although effectively 6lb higher than his 2 best wins, the recent spins at Kempton and Sandown coupled my knowledge of Murphy’s ability to get constant improvement from his horses and lead me to believe that Rock Anthem has a very live chance to win this if acting on the track.
Another 2 I like is 4.40 Pontefract Red Somerset 10/1 and 6.00 Kempton Beat Route 7/1. I'm off now for the night so will try to get a write up done tomorrow
