Review of the day

Always on the Run justified strong market support at Kempton this afternoon, and came home a good winner, under a nice ride from Paddy Brennan.

The horse was keen from the off (as had been the case at Warwick), but Brennan managed to harness his energy effectively and he still had plenty left, when the challengers came at him, up the home straight.

Again, as at Warwick, his jumping was excellent (particularly for a novice) and that ultimately won him the race.

The jumping of his main rivals wasn’t anywhere near as good – but a lot of that can be attributed to the pressure put on them, by Always on the Run.

He’ll get a fair rise for todays win (I would guess, around 8lb) – but so long as he continues to jump with the same accuracy, he could well be up to defying it.

In the opener on the card, Sky Lino was another who did exactly what he’d done on a previous outing – but this time it wasn’t such a good thing !

He’d been very excitable prior to his run at Bangor – and it was the same again, today.

As a result, his race was probably lost before it began – and whilst he ran OK to a point, he was spent force up the home straight.

If he doesn’t calm down, he will never fulfil his potential.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see connections try him in a hood, next time…

The other horse I considered tipping today, was A Good Skin – but I had some worries about him getting home on soft ground.

In truth, it’s difficult to say whether I was right – he may just have bumped in to an improver, in Silver Grove.
But what is true, is that he went from looking the winner turning in, to not really going anywhere over the last 2 fences.

He still ran an honourable race – but I couldn’t help feel that slightly quicker ground or a slightly shorter trip, would have seen him home in front.

Sun Wild Life also ran an honourable race to finish fourth – spoiling the place bets, which I’m sure one or two of you will have had…

In the graduation chase Josses Hill jumped with aplomb – and won pretty comfortably.
As I said this morning, he was by far the most likely winner - if his jumping stood up to the test.
It did – though whether it will stand up to the test of a big field and Cheltenham fences, is a completely different matter..

Finally, Goodtoknow bounced back from a disappointing run last time to win in a hack canter at Wetherby.
I don’t know whether I can claim him, as I effectively put up Epic Warrior in the forum.

However, I saw the error of my ways this morning and switched to his camp !

Congratulations to Francis, who did go for him – and thereby gained some consolation for yesterdays near miss…

Just a reminder, that as it’s a Friday, I will open the tipping window at 6:00 in case there are any tips I can issue this evening for tomorrows big races.

TVB.