Race reviews

It was a little bit the case of what might have been today – but at least The Package ensured that the P&L continues to move in the right direction…

Cootehill was the first of the tips to run – and he was also my best bet of the day.

Unfortunately he didn’t rise to the responsibility and ran very poorly to finish fourth.

To be honest, I’m at a loss to explain why he ran such a lifeless race. Maybe the ground had become a bit too soft for him; maybe he didn’t like the course – or maybe Nigel Twiston Davies horses are not quite right at the moment.

Whatever the reason, the result was very disappointing…

Just over half an hour later, Lemon Drop Red ran better – but the end result was the same…

Once again, he failed to get home in a race and looks a bit of a short runner.

I dare say the ground (which was softer than I expected) didn’t help him – nor the uphill finish – but unless he gets on a quick track, in fast conditions, I don’t think I’ll be following him in the immediate future…

And so it was left to The Package and Timmy Murphy to save the day – and they didn’t let us down…

Always travelling sweetly, he took up the running approaching the home turn and was soon half a dozen lengths clear.

Ruby and Michel Le Bon threatened to run him down between the final 2 fences, but Timmy had kept something in reserve and ultimately, he won well.

With this under his belt, there is no reason why he can’t progress throughout the season.

Now onto the ones that got away…

Maybe most irritating of all, was Knockara Beau at Kelso.

Under Lucy Alexander, he jumped much better than has been the case in the past and ultimately, he beat Blenheim Brook quite comfortably…

The forecast paid just over 10/1 and is a trick that I missed (hopefully one or two of you were a little smarter than me !).

In the following race at Kelso, Stagecoach Pearl was a major disappointment and finished a well beaten last of 6…

A little like Sophonie earlier in the week, I couldn’t help thinking that he maybe  hadn’t recovered form a tough race last time out – as his run today was just too bad to be true…

If that was a couple of points saved, there were soon to be offset by missing Time for Spring, over at Sandown.

My main concern with him, was whether he would get home today up the Sandown hill – but I had forgotten that AP as on board…

I reckon that if the horse had tried to stop, he would just have got off and carried him over the line !

Back at Wincanton, Houblon Des Obeaux put up a surprisingly good performance to give weight and a beating to some potentially decent novices chasers.

It was hard not to be impressed and the suggestion is that he might be real force over fences.

Zarkandar was also impressive in battling to victory in the Elite hurdle.

He is a class hurdler and it will be interesting to see if he can make a challenge for top honours this season. That said, he had a hard race this afternoon and I suspect he will need a good few weeks to recover from it.

Finally at Navan Gabriel Brandy ran a commendable race in the bumper to take third place (thereby rewarding EW support ;) ).

Not that I’m ever likely to tip him, but the winner, Ned Buntline, looked a potentially very serious horse indeed…

On to tomorrow then.

TVB.