For Harry and St George!

The 426th edition of the Wayward Lad blog.

I have not blogged much this week as I had the funeral of a very old friend to attend on Thursday. Graham died suddenly at the age of just 51 and it was a great shock to all who knew him. All who were there, and there must have been well over 150 people, had tremendous good feeling for Graham who was an incredibly generous man whose love for life always uplifted your soul. I felt both humble and proud that he had chosen me to be one of his friends, and I will miss him.

Today, we have good meetings at Cheltenham and Doncaster, and another interesting meeting at Uttoxeter. I normally go to the Trials meeting at Cheltenham, but this year I’m watching on tv. The opening Triumph Hurdle trial looks a straight choice between Baby Mix and GRUMETI and I favour the latter who looks as good if not better than Alan King’s previous winners of this race. At 13/8, I’m having a personal wager on him.
Next on the card we have novice handicap chase over 2m5f, and there are 4 from my alert list running in it: Bless The Wings, Carpincho, That’lldoboy and Lexicon Lad. Of those, I favour Bless The Wings and That’lldoboy andboth look well handicapped on OR130 and OR127 respectively. This trip and track should suit BLESS THE WINGS and I reckon he should be a lot shorter than current odds of 6/1, as I’d have him the 4/1 fav.
The next at 2:05 is all about Aerial and whether he should be the fav as The Giant Bolster won over C&D on this card last year and has failed in his attempts to stay 3-mile since. Back to this trip and getting 7lb from Aerial, he will be no pushover. I can’t see either Poquelin or Tamarinbleu getting involved off their ratings, but I do like CHANCE DU ROY at 10/1 taking the 3rd place spot and maybe even giving the leading pair something to think about.
The Argento Chase should go to DIAMOND HARRY and I cannot understand why this horse is not the 2/1 fav for this race. He ran a cracker in the Betfair Chase and based on his Hennessey Gold Cup win, he’s clearly the best horse in this race. The only horse I fear is Midnight Chase who is a better horse than OR158 and he could have them all off the bridle if he turns in a performance like the one that won the Listed handicap chase over C&D in December 2010.

At Doncaster, we have the Skybet Chase and it looks a cracker. First off, Aiteen Thirtythree does not stay 3-miles in this company. I also think you’d be taking a big chance with Shalimar Fromentero to win this as he looks nothing special. I think Galaxy Rock and AP McCoy are a marriage made in heaven, but this trip isn’t far enough at just 3-mile. Qianshan Leader and Shakalakaboomboom both looks well treated on LTO wins and it would not surprise me if either won the race. Cape Tribulation has been crying out for 3-mile so he should also run well today, but needs a step up in his form to win. The two I like are Wymott @ 20/1 and Wayward Prince at 9/1. When this pair met over hurdles in Feb 2010, Wymott was the better horse. As such, if Wymott can get his act together he is a very dangerous horse running off OR142. Wayward Prince ran much better LTO than in his reappearance in the Hennessey Gold Cup (in which Wymott ran 6th) and has been dropped to OR146 which I think is lenient as I reckon he’s OR155+ at his best. I was going to make Wayward Prince my antepost selection earlier this week when he was 16/1, but events overtook me, and he’s just 9/1 now which is not so generous, but I still think he worth and eachway wager. As for Wymott, I’ll have a personal “place-only” wager on him.

Selections:
Cheltenham 2:35, DIAMOND HARRY, 2pts win at 4/1 (Bet365 best odds guaranteed)
Doncaster 2:50, WAYWARD PRINCE, 1pt eachway @ 9/1 (Bet365 best odds guaranteed)

These are my early wagers and there could well be additional wagers later on.

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