Review of the day

My, what a frustrating day – from a tipping perspective, anyway…

Quite how I could read things as well as I did – and manage to tip two losers, is almost beyond comprehension !

Hopefully, most of you picked up on the fact that I had a much better feeling for today – and managed to get on one or two of the mentions…

In terms of the tips, then I was really disappointed with Tantamount…

Yes, he finished second – and yes, he briefly looked like he might win approaching the last – but that shouldn’t hide the fact he ran a disappointing race…

Held up near the back, he never seemed to be travelling with much enthusiasm - and even through he cut through the pack rounding the home turn, I still thought something was likely to get away from him.

The question was what !

Nothing in the race seemed to have much ability, so even under performing, I thought he should win.

Unfortunately I had figured without 20 race maiden, Another Mattie, who galloped on resolutely up the straight and never looked like being caught…

Moments later it was the turn of Cloudy Too – and if Tantamount was frustrating, this was even more so !

At 10:30 this morning, when I looked at the markets, I was surprised to see that What a Good Might had drifted to 15/2.

My assessment last night suggested the race was between him, Cloudy Too and Algernon Pazham.

I had actually written out the ‘late tip’, when it suddenly dawned on me that the reason he had drifted, was almost certainly down to the ground.

He has a preference for good ground – and the going at Bangor was supposedly soft (which should have suited Cloudy Too).

The fact that Cloudy Too was never really travelling, whilst What a Good Night came through to nail Algernon Pazham on the line, suggests the ground wasn’t quite as soft as advertised.

In truth, it didn’t look particularly quick – but as I’ve said many times, before judging how the ground is actually riding, after there has been recent rain, is an art, rather than a science.

It would appear I’m more of a scientist than an artist !!

Hopefully, a few of you took notice of that result and managed to get on Foxcub in the handicap hurdle.

He was another who I had dismissed on account of the ground – but again, victory for him suggests it wasn’t riding soft, in the way the going description implied…

In the opener on the Bangor card, there was a comfortable victory for Uhlan Bute.

I felt he probably represented a bit of value – but it was a difficult one to judge.

It was also difficult to judge whether John Louis would be good enough to win the novice handicap chase.

Instinctively I felt something in the race would get the better of him – but he battled to the line and won a tight finish.

So a lot right – and that was just at Bangor !

At Ayr, Mumgos Debut looked like he was going to take advantage of the final fence fall of Frankies Promise, but he faltered close home and was over taken by What a Dream.

I did feel the race was between the pair of them – so maybe one or two of you were lucky enough to collect on the forecast (which paid just over £14).

After 2 seconds, Lucinda finally got her winner courtesy of Final Assault.

Despite various concerns, I thought he might simply outclass his rivals – and he did exactly that.

Somewhat ironically, the 2/1 I was after, was quite easily available pre-race (in fact his BSP was 2/1) – so hopefully a few of you were on.

There wasn’t a lot to report from Exeter.

Krackatoa King clearly needed the run in the novice handicap chase (he might well need his next one as well !); and whilst Sirop De Menthe was the only one to give Pull the Chord a race, ultimately he wasn’t good enough to beat him.

So an interesting day, for sure – whether it was frustrating or profitable, probably depends on exactly how you use the service….

The voyage on the TVB ship is rarely a smooth one !

TVB.