Add Ree's Rascal to your notebook

Not a great day for the blog yesterday, with both the selections well beaten.

I took a chance with JARIDH, and was hoping that having Dettori riding was an indication that his problems as a 2yo were behind him – they weren’t. Given every chance, JARIDH did not seem to enjoy the experience and was beaten a long way out. With only 1 winner from 14 runners this season, Suroor has yet to hit form, but that winner was on Saturday and he has a great strikerate at York, so I would not rule out his runners this week at the Dante meeting.

Pretty much the same can be said about the other selection, FRANCISCAN. He had to work hard from stall 13 to take up a place in 3rd early on, but going around the tight right-hand bend at Windsor did not look like something he enjoyed. What was disappointing was that once they straightened-up he did not run on and he was beaten over 2-furlongs out. Back on a more galloping track we should see a different horse.
One to note from this race was the winner, REE’S RASCAL. He never stopped improving during a busy 2yo campaign, ending with 2 wins on the AW at Kempton. In the most recent of those wins, he beat Las Verglas Star (gave Ree’s Rascal 2lb) by a length over a mile; and that one won NTO and is now rated 14lb higher on OR79. With 5 of his 6 relatives having achieved higher RP ratings than him to date (half-bro Burning Incense ran well off OR94), the rating of OR67 for REE'S RASCAL for last night’s race was, in hindsight, fairly lenient. The way he won suggests that he will be able to win again.

Sometimes I wonder whether I should strive for “value”, as the only other horse discussed on the blog – SIDE GLANCE – won his race very easily after being well-off the pace with 3-furlongs to run. I should have recommended taking the 5/4 in the morning – but that’s easy to say when you know the result!

There are no selections today, as all 3 flat meetings look pretty dire and, with Yorks “”Dante” meeting starting tomorrow, I’m focusing on studying the form for that.

I will also be updating the “2011 – Flat Racing Notebook” page (look to the left-hand side of the screen). There are already some updates on that page concerning horses that have already run from the list, and I will be making some new additions during the day.

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