Update

It was disappointing to see Wyse Hill Teabags withdrawn this morning – particularly bearing in mind how the short priced favourite for his race, Vendor, bombed completely.

As I said last night, I had been waiting a long time for him to reappear over hurdles – and I’m sure he would have been well suited by the rain softened ground.

Hopefully there will be other opportunities for him – though it would appear that he isn’t the soundest of horses, which is always a concern in NH racing…

That left just Falcon Island as a selection for the day – and unlike Wyse Hill Teabags, he would not have been particularly suited by the very soft ground.

Despite that, he ran a tremendous race to finish third –and I’m absolutely sure he would have gone very close to winning, had the rain stayed away…

Still, these things happen – and with the new season on the horizon, it was a timely reminder that I need to keep half an eye on the weather (the ground was riding quick at Aintree yesterday).

It was also a reminder of the dangers of EW betting. I would have been very tempted to put up Falcon Island EW, as I saw holes in a few of his rivals – and it was a 9 horse race (it was last night, anyway !),.

However, 2 NRs this morning, would have meant that only first or second would have been paid out…

Over at Wincanton: Whilst it would be easy with hindsight, to think I got the call on Minella Stars right – I’m not sure it is really that clear cut.
The horse was backed down to 5/2 fav, from an 9/2 last night.

He may have finished well beaten – but if you can find horses that all but half in price having begun at less than 5/1, it is difficult to think you won’t make money in the long run…

That said, I felt the race was competitive last night –and that was how it looked in-running today – so in hard terms, 9/2 wasn’t a great bet.

Anyway, enough of today !

There is a reasonable meeting taking place at Bangor – and my first ’eye catcher’ of the season is running in 4:00 race…

A good percentage of my tips, are horses that I have spotted running promising races, which I think the general public may have missed.

I was pretty sure that Finmerello was one such horse, when he ran promisingly at Market Rasen last time.

Ultimately, he finished a well beaten fifth, but he showed up very well that day, until the second last hurdle.

Tomorrow, he gets to run in a handicap for the first time, off a very fair looking mark of 90.

Against 13 rivals –and with a row off ‘duck eggs’ against his name, I was expecting a double figure price. Instead, B365 have marked him up as their 7/2 favourite!!

I suspect he will drift tomorrow and may well reach double that price. If that is the case, he might be worth a small interest.

I just hope my future eye catchers turn out to be a little darker than him !!

Anyway, the Bangor card might be OK, but it simply pales into insignificance against the cards that are being put on at Galway and Naas in Ireland ! I’m guessing it’s a public holiday over there !!

The Naas card in particular, is an absolute cracker – and the chase that takes place at 1:25, would be worth travelling a fair way to see…

Hidden Cyclone remains a potential star; and Foildubh has some serious ability – but, assuming the ground is ‘Irish’ soft, I think Rathlin will take the world of beating – even over a trip short of his best.

He is 7/2 with PP this evening, so there is a chance he might get to 4/1 tomorrow.

If that proves to be the case, he would definitely be worth a wager…

Finally: Later this evening, I will email everyone who has already subscribed to the 2012-2013 season service. The purpose of the email will be to provide a little more detail on the mechanics of the service – and to test out the distribution list that I will be using. If you have subscribed to the service and don’t receive an email this evening, please contact me tomorrow and let me know.

TVB