Review of the day

From a P&L perspective, it ended up a bit of a nothing day - but it was hard not to feel a little disappointed, at the end of it…

Maybe that’s inevitable when the first tip of the day romps home - particularly when it’s been so well backed !

San Pedro de Senam was 12/1 across the board when I tipped it this morning - and still 10/1 an hour later - but come the off it was an 11/2 shot…

In a class 4 race, support like that is usually significant - yet if it had lost I would have told you that someone knew it wasn’t going to win !

Betfair is invariably a very reliable indicator in the minutes before the off - and on Betfair, San Pedro de Senam went from 5 (4/1) to 7.6 (13/2) in about 60 seconds !

That really is some drift - and I was sure it was signalling a poor run - but I was wrong…

And I guess that’s the problem with trying to interpret market moves - we can’t possibly be aware of the bigger picture.

In this case, I’m assuming all the wise money went down early (relatively speaking) meaning that there was little interest in the horse, late - and market dynamics then took over.

That wasn’t how it looked to me at the time - but with hindsight, it makes sense (as most things do !).

In the race itself, San Pedro de Senam cruised in behind the leader - and took it up jumping the last.

It really couldn’t have been more straightforward.

Mixchevious - the other tip in the race - ran a strange race.

He seemed reluctant to set off - but then looked set to mount a big challenge rounding the home turn - before fading out of things.

He looked as if he would improve for the run (even if his record suggests otherwise).

It was nearly 2 hours before the next tip ran - but then it was like waiting for a bus !

Sparkleandshine was next up - and he was very disappointing.

He was strong in the market as well - right up to the off - but just didn’t run his race.

As I said this morning , they are not machines.

I’m just glad that I adjusted the staking, because there was minimal value in his early price.

Next it Balko Des Flos in the John Durkan - and this one puzzled me.

I said this morning that I felt 7/2 was too big a price - yet he was 6/1 at the off on Betfair.

It may have been a grade 1 chase - but someone knew he wasn’t 100% (90% maybe - but not 100% !).

In fairness he ran a decent race - leading the the second last.
However, Min jumped past him at that point and it was soon all over…

Upsilon Bleu was the next tip to run - and I’m not sure how I felt about him !

In a way, he ran precisely the race I expected !

He tanked his way through it - looking so much better than all of his rivals, it was almost embarrassing.

However, I knew that once he hit the front, he was going to struggle to get home.

He needed something to lead him until late in the race - but nothing was capable.

He could also have done with all of the fences remaining (the one in the home straight was dolled off).

Such are the fine lines in this game.

Ultimately, he wasn’t able to resist the challenge of Cultram Abbey - which was a shame, as I’ve no doubt he was the best horse in the race (and by some margin).

The final tip to run was High School Days.

She ran a screamer (for a 20/1 shot !) - and beat the 2 horses who had finished in front her at Galway (as I thought she might).

Unfortunately however, there were 2 others who were a bit too good for her.

I don’t think we can have many complaints, though…

As for the Mentions:

Then West of the Edge made a few too many mistakes - and probably found the ground too quick. He’ll doubtless bounce back at some point.

The only other Mention was Charbel - and he received a sublime front running ride from Noel Fehily, to comfortably win the Peterbrough chase.

It really can be that simple: if you are on the best horse, just go out and run your rivals in to the ground.

Hopefully, a few of the others jockeys in the weighing room were watching and learning…

TVB