Review of the day

Unfortunately, there was no joy with todays tips – and at the end of the day, I still wasn’t a lot clearer on the state of the ground at the 3 courses either !

At Wincanton, it was clearly on the soft side – but not as soft as I expected – and not soft enough for Melodic Rendezvous, who could have done with it an inch or two deeper…

And that was a shame, as my decision to take on the two 4 year olds in the race was spot on.

Neither ever looked like winning – and whilst Melodic Rendezvous briefly did, when Irving came swinging along side him on the run to the last, it was clear who was going to come out on top…

Melodic Rendezvous is a grinder, not a quickener – and all he could do was stay on for second place.

In the same race, Olofi also ran reasonably, but faded down the home straight and ultimately finished well beaten..

The only other tip on the day, was Bertie Boru, in the Badger Ales chase.

For whatever reason, he put in a shocking round of jumping and never really gave himself a chance.

It says much for his ability, that he still managed to finish sixth, not that far off the third placed horse.

If his jumping can be sorted out (and I’ve not seen him jump so poorly in the past), then he is clearly handicapped to win a decent chase.

Earlier on the Wincanton card, King of Glory turned in a disappointing performance in the handicap chase.

I did think the race was his for the taking – but he never really travelled.

The race should have been won by Ballydague Lady – but poor jumps at the final 3 fences, presented it to the game Houston Dynamo.

In the novice chase, L’Unique looked scared of the fences on her chasing debut.

She tried to refuse at the first open ditch – and then had to jump a fallen horse at half way.

Not surprisingly, she was ultimately beaten a long way, and I could see her being retired to the paddocks after this.

If Alan King does choose to persist with her over fences, then maybe the hint should be taken…

In the mares handicap hurdle, Tara Mist wasn’t good enough to take advantage of a golden opportunity that was presented to her.

Chief market rival Kalane fell early; whilst Desert Queen, the only other horse in the field in single figures, ran too freely and was a spent force by the home straight.

That said, it is debatable whether either of them would have been able to cope with Lily Waugh, who produced a scintillating performance to win.

She is pretty exposed – and had never shown herself capable of such a run in the past – so the form would have to be treated with an element of suspicion…

Over at Aintree, Our Kaempfer really should have won the handicap hurdle.

However there was no pace in the race, and David Bass stole it from the front on Broxbourne.

He set slow early fractions – and then poached an unassailable read rounding the home turn.

Credit to him, but it was an opportunity missed for Our Kaempfer…

It was a similar story in the very next race, which was won by Bobsworth, almost by default…

As I suspected, neither of the John Ferguson horses took to the rain softened ground; so with Royal Boy falling early, all Bobsworth had to do, was fend off Simonsig.
That one was never going to be fully race fit – so even thought he appeared to be pulling double over Bobswoth all the way up the Aintree home straight, it was no great surprise that he never went past.

Simonsig will likely be over-backed the next time he runs, on the strength of this run – and I certainly wouldn't be afraid to take him on.

The final race of interest on the Aintree card, saw Upepito take a mid race fall – and severely hamper Tara Road.

With them both out of the way, it was left to Pepite Rose to come home a very easy winner.

In truth, if I had looked at the race for longer, knowing the state of the ground, I might have found her.

However, I was dead set on De Boitron until the rain came.
He’ll have to be one for another day…

At Kelso, Rival D’Estruval ran a fair race in the handicap hurdle – but hadn’t got the speed to go with the younger legs of Isaactown Lad.

He’s remains another to look out for when the conditions are right.

In the next race, Kilgefin Lad showed the issue of me having to tip first thing in the morning.

At any point last night, he could have been a tip – but by 8:30 his price had gone.

7/2 in a race where 4 had a realistic chance, was never going to suck me in.

That said, he did win well – despite a number of untidy jumps – and could be capable of following up in the right contest.

Finally, in the race of ex TVB winning tips, Indian Voyage got the better of Vengeur de Guye, with Rockawango held when taking a crumpling fall at the last.
Woodpole Academy again showed that ability remains – and I suspect connections will find a race for him.

It would be nice to see him complete one first, however…

TVB.