A 9/1 winner on a day for the old-timers

A great day of racing yesterday, and the highlight for the blog was the success of selection SHOTGUN PADDY@ 9/1 in the days feature handicap the Betfred Classic Chase over 3m5f at Warwick. Always travelling well and jumping superbly, the 7yo novice chaser never looked unsettled by the strong pace set by the veteran Carruthers, who was running off a 301-day break. The recommended wager of £5 eachway returned £66.25 at the SP of 9/1 (placed with best odds guaranteed bookie).

I'd also placed an eachway double combining Shotgun Paddy with another of my selections on Saturday, Filbert. Unfortunately, he was run out of the places on the run-in and came in 4th. This looked a solid race run at a good pace, and the winning effort from Desert Cry was a career-best from this horse. Filbert hit the 2nd-last and that probably cost him 3rd place, and he'll probably do a lot better over 2m4f as will the runner-up Grey Gold. The 3rd placed Elenika is a lot better than this yet has only won once from 18 chase starts. This gelding ran his best form in the Spring of 2013, so perhaps he'll improve with the sun on his back in March-April.

I really thought my day was going well when FREE WORLD was allowed to start at 8/1 and then quickly moved into a 5-length lead a mile out jumping superbly and being given a very gentle ride by the 7lb claimer Miss Brooke (daughter of the trainer?). With all the rest under the cosh 4-out, I thought FREE WORLD was going to romp home an easy winner. Unfortunately, his rider allowed the eventual winner Chicklemix (who won at Towcester LTO over a similar trip) to come upsides approaching the final fence whereupon FREE WORLD made his only jumping error. The rider of Chicklemix had been hard at work for much of the final half-mile and was able to keep the momentum going to the line, whereas FREE WORLD probably could have done with a reminder before the final fence which could have meant a better jump.

Finally, it was a poor effort from Buddy Bolero at Kempton. The old-stager Planet Of Sound galloped them all into the ground and probably repeated his effort when 3rd here at Kempton in the Racing Plus Chase in February 2012 (nearly 2 years ago).  I hope the handicapper isn't too hard on the 12yo as, in this sort of form, he could be capable of running into a place in the handicap chase on the opening day at the Cheltenham Festival; a race he was 11th in last year.

Overall, a profit of £26.25 on the day to recommended stakes.