It was a truly awful week for racing as one of the most loved and most talented trainers passed away after a long battle with Cancer. Of course I speak of the great immortal Sir Henry Cecil who passed away on the morning of Tuesday 11th June 2013. I don't wish to dwell on this topic too much and bring the mood down, I have however written a whole article on the life and times of Sir Henry. The link to that page is just below if you would like to read it, I just hope I have managed to do him justice. R.I.P Sir Henry.
http://lukeelder.blogspot.ca/2013/06/sir-henry-cecil-goodbye-to-friend.html
Last week was one of them days where you wanted to throw everything at the television as nothing went our way. Firstly we had Nabucco who ran well but just got out battled and went down by a length to Niceofyoutotellme. Then we felt even more hard done by when Pastoral Player got beat a short head when charging late at the eventual winner Amarillo. What made that loss worse was that he didn't get a clear run, if he had then it would have been most likely we would of had a winner. Finally we managed a winner with our NAP of the day with Dutch Masterpiece who took his handicap in really good style by 3 and a quarter lengths. But it was back to annoying ways with our last selection when Elhaame was a staying on second behind Double Discount to be beaten 3 parts of a length. Hopefully we have more luck today!
One last word, as always my posts are now up on http://pigeonscoop4.wordpress.com/ where I have my own section. Please go and follow Martin on twitter, he works tirelessly to provide a fun competition for everyone who follows him. You can do this on @Pigeon_Island so drop by and say hi to him.
But now onto the racing!
2:20 Sandown - Ashaadd
Ashaadd won handsomely at this track last time but over a furlong shorter when finishing very strongly under hands and heels when finding a gap. Ryan Moore was on board that day and he keeps the ride, but you can hardly say he worked Ashaadd too hard in the closing stages, but still won by a going away half a length. He also had some smart two year old form to his name when on debut he was second to Ask Dad by a neck and beaten just over 2 lengths by Pearl Acclaim. However the interesting thing is that despite going up 5 pounds for his last win he runs from 6 pounds lower in the weights. This is down to a very handy 3 year olds allowance so effectively he runs off bottom weight and a mark of 84, his official mark is 95. Long story short he has 11 pounds in hand, but this could also be his downfall that he is a three year old taking on the older horses for the first time. I am more than willing to take a chance however with the step up in trip looking sure to suit. This could be a very good piece of placing by Roger Varian providing he can stay out of trouble, Ashaadd to win the first. (4/1)
 |
| Ashaadd can show his elders the way here. |
2:40 York - Sam Sharp
Sam Sharp is the first of our runners to look out for that take their chance today, my notes on him in my tracker are as follows. Best at a mile, useful horse but always seems to find trouble, could land a few nice prizes this year. Last time out was no different to that on his reappearance when he again met trouble in running and was behind a wall of horse a furlong out. Pass that furlong marker he was back in twelfth and out of it until Richard Kingscote switched him wide and he flew home for third. The handicapper has been kind and kept Sam Sharp at the same mark for today's race which throws him in with a huge chance. I must confess I was probably wrong about him being best at a mile, at least he was last year that's for sure. On the basis of his reappearance he seemed to be a bit outpaced early on and as I mentioned flew hope so the extra furlong shouldn't bother him. Everything crossed that this time he gets some luck in running and can repeat his Leicester success from last September. (10/1)
 |
| Sam Sharp can build on his reappearance |
2:55 Sandown - Dutch Masterpiece
It's not often we have the same NAP two weeks running but that is exactly what we have we with Dutch Masterpiece after he obliged last week. This race has kind of fallen apart, as I am writing this a representative of Middleham Park racing has said Smoothtalkinrascal wont be running. He is in the process of being sold to Cheveley Park Stud and is a non runner today, all unofficial right now of course. But this makes Dutch Masterpiece's job a heck of a lot easier as in my eyes Smoothtalkinrascal was his biggest danger. Back to Dutch Masterpiece though, he was very taking when landing a handicap last weekend at Chester, going on to win pretty easily by 3 and a quarter lengths. As mentioned last week 2 of his defeats came when he hated the undulations of Goodwood and 6 furlongs was a bit too far at Newmarket. But in my eyes he is a Group race horse in the making and the Gary Moore yard really like him, Dutch Masterpiece to go in again. (15/2) (There will be a rule 4 on that price due to Smoothtalkinrascal coming out)
 |
| Dutch Masterpiece looks a class horse in the Making |
8:05 Leicester - Ashdown Lad
Ashdown Lad is the second of our horses to follow that run today and is one that I like very much. On his seasonal reappearance he was very awkward when push came to shove giving Robert Tart no help at all yet still a decent second. In his latest outing over course and distance everything finally fell into place when Paul Hanagan took over in the saddle, when just getting up by a flared nostril. He was much more genuine in the finish of the race and having a jockey with the experience of ex champion Paul Hanagan will have helped, he keeps the ride today. A thing that was against him last time was the ground, officially it was given as Good, but if you watch the race it is a lot softer than good. Testing ground was his downfall at Goodwood last season and a return to a fast surface will see him to good effect. My comment in my tracker for him is as follows. Awkward ride but very talented, if he gets his act together he is the type to go on spree. With that comment, hopefully Mr Hanagan can once again find the key to Ashdown Lad and bring about some more improvement off a 2 pound higher mark.
 |
| Ashdown Lad in winning action at Sandown |
NAP - Dutch Masterpiece
Nb - Ashdown Lad
Hopefully we can put last weeks annoying selections behind us and bag ourselves a few winners this weekend.
Happy Punting!!
No comments:
Post a Comment