A glimmer of hope on the horizon

We should have given the racing a miss yesterday as the going at Newcastle, where the blog selection CAPTAIN TIDDS ran, was desperate. We lost a point on that one.

Neither of the meetings today at Ludlow or Taunton grab my attention, so I’m giving them a miss.

The Horse Alert list has stumbled along from one losing run to the next, but there may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon. ZANIR ran a cracking race to be 4th last Saturday @ 16/1 and looks likely to be primed for a Festival handicap hurdle. PICKAMUS is entered for the class 2 h’cap chase at Ascot this Saturday, and a big run is expected. Also, PALYPSO DE CREEK will try and go one better in the Peter Marsh at Haydock; he was 2nd to Our Vic last season in this race. From the Weekender this week, Nick Mordin shortlists KALELLSHAN, and then in his stabletour interview Ferdy Murphy has some great words of encouragement for GOING WRONG. He says of the horse “I would think he is the best staying novice chaser we have had here for a long time, if I am right then it will be (aimed at) the RSA Chase, he is going to be a smart staying chaser!” Readers of the blog will know that I put them onto this horse way back on 12th August 2010 when I wrote that this relation of Dublin Flyer was a real RSA prospect.

I was also taken by the column written by Paul Kealy in the Weekender, and his focus on the Ryanair Chase at the Festival. Regular readers of this blog will know that I came to the conclusion that Paul Kealy has come to, way back on 15th December 2010, a full 5 weeks before this column was published. And that is that when you look at the Ryanair, other than Poquelin there is very little in the betting for the race that is likely to (a) take part, or (b) have suitable going come March. Back in December, I identified POQUELIN at the standout price of 6/1, now he is 5/1, and come 17th March he will probably be the 9/4 fav or even shorter.

Looking ahead to Saturday, PEDDLERS CROSS looks virtually unbeatable in the Grade 2 hurdle at Haydock. If, as is likely, he does win then his Champion Hurdle odds will harden from the best of 6’s on offer today. Only Bet365 offer best odds guaranteed, but it is unlikely that you will get better the closer we get to raceday. If you are in the market for PEDDLERS CROSS, and I think he is the most exciting hurdler we’ve seen since Istabraq, then take the 6’s that’s on offer. Regular readers will hopefully have already taken advantage of the 14/1 that I advised taking back on 27th November. If you want to know where the markets are heading weeks (sometimes months) before the racing journo’s cotton-on, then read this blog!

Thanks for reading this blog to all new visitors.

The blog takes a lot of effort to maintain and I hope that readers of the blog get enjoyment from it too. If you have had a successful wager on the back of what you’ve read here, then please make a contribution as an expression of thanks. Feel free to tell those who you think may find the blog of interest and value and, if you are a regular visitor, please add the blog to your list of favourites.
Thanks from Wayward Lad