Daily write-up - Jan 26th

Both Leicester and Wetherby have survived the weather today – which is a bit of a surprise…

Needless to say, they will be racing on heavy ground, so there will be an element of ‘lottery’ to contend with…

The ground at Kempton yesterday wasn’t too bad – yet the result of the main race, left me baffled.

As I’m sure you will recall, I was quite keen on Barrakilla.

He ran a perfectly respectable race to finish third – and whilst I was a little disappointed that he couldn’t win (for no apparent reason – other than a mistake at the second last), I can accept these things happen - provided he is beaten by the ‘right’ horses…

And that’s the issue at this time of year – the results have an element of randomness about them.

It really was very difficult to fancy the winner, Roc D’Apsis.

He had been pulled up the last time he ran – off a mark just 1lb higher.

Admittedly he was wearing cheek pieces for the first time – and had been given a short break – but even so, you had to be quite creative to make a case for him off a mark 9lb higher than his last success.

He was even been beaten twice last season, over yesterdays course and distance, off much lower marks.

Yet, for whatever reason, he won yesterdays race quite comfortably…

As I’ve said previously, this current ‘randomness’ does make selecting horses with any confidence, a tricky thing to do…

Anyway, things are as they are…

There was never much danger of me tipping – or even being particularly keen – on any of todays runners…

In fairness, neither of todays meetings is too bad – there is just nothing running that particularly appeals to me.

The most interesting horse of the day, is probably Deep Trouble, who runs in the novice chase at Leicester (2:30).

He was a very useful hurdler (he won at the 2014 Punchestown festival) and I suspect he could be just as good over fences.
He caught my eye last time out at Kempton, and I could have been interested in him today – in the right conditions.

However, he is a horse with a marked preference for decent ground – so I can’t see him being suited by todays going.

He has also tended to run his best races when wearing a hood – so it’s a concern that he’s not wearing one today.

Bearing these 2 points in mind, the early money for him is interesting.
However, I would be more inclined to take a watching brief, as I suspect that today is more about preparing him for a big end of season contest.

Over at Wetherby, there are a couple of reasonable handicap chases…

In the first of them (2:20), I could have been quite tempted to take on the favourite, Take the Mick, if it weren’t for the application of first time blinkers.

Certainly, the way he ran last time at Ludlow suggested that he needed some kind of head gear – though even with the blinkers in place, I would be wary of him…

Tutchec is the one that interested me most in the race – despite having a desperate time of things last season.

As a result of that, his handicap mark has plummeted – and the stable of Nicky Richards is in decent form at the moment.

However, the market is wise to him and a best price of 7/2 makes no appeal, with so many risks involved…

The final race of interest, is the handicap chase at 3:25.

Unfortunately the market looks to have the right one at its head, in the shape of Azert De Coeur.

That said, I think he is too short, at the current 2/1, as a case can be made for a few of his rivals…

Throthethatch is the most obvious one to oppose him with – though I have a feeling that Plus Jamais will run better than odds of 12/1 imply.

In truth, it’s a race where nothing can be safely discounted – and therefore another, where a watching brief is probably the best policy.

Best of luck if you do choose to get involved today.

TVB.