Today’s main meeting in France is from Chantilly.  Already a few races gone, with a decent performance by Simeem in the 10.30 race.  She looks a useful filly, as she came from a long way back, and is value for a bit more than her winning distance.  Wooded is interesting at 1.12.  He drops back in trip today, which should not be a major issue.  The group 3 event should be ran at a decent pace, with the ground at Chantilly riding good to soft, Wooded should be doing his best work at the finish.  Acosia at 11/2 could be his biggest threat.  A few others I like at Chantilly, I hope I may be able to find a winner, on a fairly decent card.  It is just good to see some racing, on grass !

Having been watching the racing in USA of late, i find it is very inconsistent, I think a large number of the jockeys, make numerous errors, punters know their fate before halfway normally ! It is really hard for horses to come from a fair way back, as the bends are normally tight, and the length of the home straight is normally much shorter than in Europe, which makes it very difficult.

More tomorrow.

Reflecting on the return of the racing in France yesterday.  Two really hot favourites were beaten in Victor Ludorum and Sottsass.  The former raced wide, and was keen under Barzalona, who failed to get his horse relaxed.  I would think connections would of expected him to win well, prior to the race.  It was interesting to note that the winner dictated the pace of the race,and stole a bit of leeway- as the horses entered the last two furlongs. I thought  Barzalona should of gone against the pre-race tactics, on Victor Ludorum, which were to ride his mount from off the pace, sometimes when you are riding, you have to do that, simply ride the race to suit your horse, not the opposite. Basically for me it was a very average ride on a very useful horse !

Sottsass was another who was ridden from off the pace, the eventual winner Shaman,  who made all the running in this Group 3- over 10f,  dictated the fractions and stayed on strongly to win, Shaman was well ridden.  What surprised me,  was after seeing the previous race, why did Sottsass’s rider not sit a lot closer to his main threat Shaman, who had the run of the race at the front end.  Sottsass was given a hard task to win from his rider.

I would not write off either Victor Ludorum or Sottsass, both are much better than what they showed yesterday.

The fillies Group 3 event was won by Tropbeau, who was given a good ride by jockey Mikael Barzalona.  Khayzaraan, who prior to the race,  I thought was the biggest danger to Tropbeau, ran too freely in front, she stopped very quickly when asked to quicken passing the two furlong from home marker, and eventually finished last.  It was though a game effort by Tropbeau, who stayed the trip well, she will have a solid chance of winning the French 1,000 guineas in about 3 weeks time.

Racing again today in France at Saint Cloud, Cherbourg, Marseille and Vincennes.  So hopefully I can find a winner.  It was announced yesterday that racing in the UK will not return before the 1st of June, hopefully the government will be satisfied that all the boxes will be ticked regarding safety and social distancing.  It will resume behind closed doors, hopefully that will not be for too long, but the return of racegoers will depend on the current pandemic. And nobody has any clear idea on how long that will last.

More later.

The latest from France, is that racing goes ahead tomorrow.  4 meetings are scheduled. Toulouse, Longchamp , Vichy and  Compiegne, with some really useful prospects set to line up at Longchamp.  Victor Ludorum will head the market in the 11.55, the Prix de Fontainebleau, which is a group 3 event, is ran over 7f and 209 yards.  Victor Ludorum won his last race, a group 1 back in October 2019.  He had two of his rivals, Ecrivan and Helter Skelter back in 4th and 5th that day.  If the favorite is ready, he should win again, as I thought he had a little bit in hand that day. Although Helter Skelter was a strong finisher, and was given a bit to do.  He might be the main threat.

At 12.25 the fillies line up.  Tropbeau and Khayzaraan looked really good fillies last year, it is difficult to split them.  The 7f and 209 yard event, carries the same status as the colts race, it will be a good race between the two, I have a slight preference for Tropbeau, although very marginal.  Hopefully we can see some good racing on Sky racing.  And should learn a bit for the big group 1 events later in the season.

The BHA seem optimistic that racing has a fair chance of resuming later this month.  I did mention a couple of horses yesterday, Arizona and Earthlight- both worth looking at in the first colts classic, hoped to be ran in the early part of June.  Having spoken to great friend of mine yesterday former jockey, Declan Murphy, who lives in Madrid now.  Declan raised the question of travel, and he has a valid point, hopefully both horses will be allowed to travel.  I did ask Declan how it has been over the last number of weeks, with the lockdown in Spain- only over the last day or so have people been allowed to exercise outside.  The Spanish seem to be winning the battle in reducing the spread, let’s hope many other countries are also starting to get things back to some kind of normality.

So as I mentioned, small stakes bets on the two I have mentioned-  at 10/1 and around 20/1 for Earthlight, who if he turns up on the day, could well be a quarter of those odds !

Resumption of Racing

Reading in the latest newspapers, regarding when racing will resume in the UK and Ireland- although  it is not totally clear, as it depends on the government. I am assuming  it will be behind closed doors for a good while, with the Irish government having already ruled that all sports events with  crowds of over 5000 being suspended for a number of months.

Having spoken to a number of connections who are based mainly in Newmarket.  The horses are being prepared as normal, with races in mind.  The two main ”classics” for three year old colts and fillies, the 1,000 and 2,000 guineas will  hopefully take place in early June.

Pinatubo is still short odds to win the colts race, currently around 10/11 generally. Not great value for me, so I have backed Arizona each way at 12/1.  The vibes I hear from the Ballydoyle camp, are that this colt is training well, and is well forward.  I do think he is a bit of value, currently priced around 10/1 with most firms.  Another colt I like in the race is Earthlight, who I have also backed on the exchanges at 22/1.  I am not certain this horse will line up, as he is in the same ownership as the favourite.

If Pinatubo, is not fully tuned and ready to go, Earthlight could well take his chance.  I hear Pinatubo is going ok, but is a horse that does not show everything at home, hence the reason he started his career at Wolverhampton on the all weather !

So for anyone who likes a bit of ante-post, my two selections are ‘value’ as I see it.

More in a few days.

News today for jump race fans- Racing resumes on July 1st.  Hopefully the current pandemic will be under a bit more control in the next month or so.

Flat racing is pencilled in to return on May 1st.  Possibly behind “closed doors” – with only essential staff and racecourse officials, Jockeys and Trainers, with the most important medical staff also.  Let’s face it, without them, racing stops.  The rule is- two ambulances, have to be on course, before a race can start.

With the NHS staff under extreme pressure of late, it will be interesting.

The government will not want horse racing to stop for too long.  As a massive amount of cash- which goes into the government coffers !

Is currently costing them a lot of money at the moment in lost revenue, so they will want racing to start, as soon as possible- safety permitting.

Racing in America and a few other places are still going ahead.  Randwick in Australia has some good racing tomorrow.  Tom Marquand, has been riding in Oz, over the last few weeks, possibly with the Covid 19 problem, he could be there for a while.

He is a very good young jockey.  A large number of good judges, believe he is a future champion jockey in the next few years.   Having followed his progress over the last two or three seasons, I would tend to agree.

More in the next day or so.

With all Irish and English racing suspended, as from last night. And with no real following myself of the racing from Hong Kong, where I believe racing today goes ahead just after 11 am UK time. I will not be advising something there.

Time to reflect on March, it is nice to have managed to find 5 winners in a row during the month, which ends in profit.

Moving forward, no real definite idea on when racing will resume. But under the current issues all over the world, racing is of no real consequence.  The corona virus seems horrific, hopefully a vaccine can be found, sooner rather than later.

I will try and write something for my followers most days from now, I’ve been in hospital with a bad leg fracture.

But a follow up appointment yesterday, revealed my slight stumble the other day, had caused no harm.

More later.

A really good couple of days for my subscribers.  Two horses advised over the weekend.  Mossy Gill on Saturday at Wolverhampton, was advised in the morning at 6/4.  He won easily.

And yesterday at Carlisle 2.00- The Ferry Master, another winner.  I advised backing him at 6/4 in the morning.  Managing to get the race in the stewards room, after finishing a nose behind, in the live finish.  Hampered, he was always going to get the race, having seen the head on.

All racing today is behind closed doors. Loughan 2.20 Hereford, looked very inexperienced last time, he ran well to be third.  With that run under his belt, I would expect him to get favourite backers off to a good start today.

More tomorrow.

Hopefully my followers backed Al Boum Photo yesterday. Winning the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase (Grade 1).  A fantastic race to watch, I actually thought his jockey Paul Townend accidentally got to the front, sooner than he wanted.  Paul actually said post race to the press, that his horse jumped his way to the front, but really good horses, seem to be able to find that bit extra, when needed, and Al Boum Photo is a very honest stayer, and galloped on strongly from the final fence, to win.

Todays racing goes ahead, with the Corona Virus causing major worldwide cancellations, racing is on.

At Fontwell, where the going will be testing. Daytime Ahead could well take the 1.15. A game winner last time, this grey mare seems to be on the up, despite being 9 years young !

Misty Whisky will head the betting in this Mares Handicap.  She seems to be very talented, but her jumping has let her down so far, she hasn’t ran badly on the two tries over timber, but slicker jumping is needed, before I would be interested in backing her.

Another Mares only race is the 5.00 Kempton.  A listed bumper.  Sabrina won well last time at Ascot.  She will need to improve from that win, if she wants to deny Coquelicot, who was a decent winner at Huntingdon last time.  I think it is between the two, I just wish the Honeyball horses were running more consistently at the moment, so I will probably watch this race, rather than get involved in the betting.

Apologies for over two weeks of no posts.  Unfortunately I had an accident, a slip on a wet drain whilst walking into St Peter Port, ended with a fractured left leg !

Today’s card at the Cheltenham festival meeting has one of my favourite races.  The JCB Triumph Hurdle.  A grade 1 event over two miles. I rode a couple of 4th’s in this race back in the 90’s. Both of them trained by Mark Tompkins, who had a lot of good horses at the time.  Canny Chronicle, who was fourth to Duke Of Monmouth, ran out of his skin that day.  Mark still tells me I should of been second, as he thought I went too soon.

Anyway today’s field has some really promising horses.  Solo was an impressive winner at Kempton 20 Days ago.  I was at the races that day.  Watching this horse coming back to the winners enclosure, he looked something special.  He would be my choice in the first race at 1.30pm.

Wide open races throughout the day.  Al Boum Photo tries to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase for the second time.  He has been prepared for this race, and hopefully, he can be the one they all have to beat again this year.

More tomorrow.