Welcome Back!
After a near 5-month break, the Wayward Lad blog returns for the 2014-15 Jumps Season. Over the next week or so, I'll be tidying up the blog, completing the stats (profit & loss) for last seasons selections, and introducing some new pages.
I've been thinking about the Cheltenham Bulletin a lot over the summer months, and for this season I've decided to revise what I produce. There are a fair few Cheltenham Festival booklets around, each trying to convey that they give the reader the "inside-track" on the trends to find the winners - but most leave the final selection open to the reader to make.
What I've decided to do is publish my take on the Cheltenham trends and not include them in the Cheltenham Bulletin any more. My Cheltenham Bulletin will be a purely selection-based production, with the obvious aim of providing the reader/purchaser with a profitable Cheltenham Festival.
What this may mean is that I have to open a new Cheltenham blog with my take on the trends and which are most valuable and important. This is because of space constraints on this blog. I can only have 10-pages on the blog and, as I need 5 pages for the results of previous seasons and the current season of the blog, there is not enough room to allow for future expansion.
Having a purely Cheltenham Festival blog will allow me to dip in and out throughout the entire year with any information that I think is important for the reader.
I've had a fairly good summer away from the jump racing. In fact it has been quite profitable. Normally, I tend to lose a few quid on the flat racing and, last year, I concentrated on the "Listed" and "Group" races only - which gave me some success. This year, for the first time in many a year, I've been taking a closer look of the sprint race division, and I've done fairly well. I used to avoid sprint races like the plague, but my brother (who writes the blog Sprinterstogo ) has convinced my to give the sprinters another try. What I've found is the sprinters, when they are in the groove, are incredibly consistent. Take yesterday at Chester.
The opening race was a Class 2 handicap over an extended 5-furlongs. On his previous run at York, I'd made a note of B FIFTY TWO when he ran 3rd to Blaine on 20th August. This was his 1st race for his new trainer. Having earlier this season won at Chester over 5-furlongs (making all) and having won over 6-furlongs at Newmarket last season; the course and trip were no problem for him. With Chester specialist Franny Norton booked to ride, and receiving a favourable stall 2 draw - I really couldn't understand why the horse was at 4/1 in the morning. I tweeted the same on twitter to my 1500+ followers and, sure enough, B FIFTY TWO came out of the stalls leading on the rail, and was never headed. In fact Norton was looking for danger in the final 100 yards and coasted home.
A favourable word should also be made for the runner-up yesterday, DUNGANNON. He may be a 7yo, but I made this run his best since winning at Doncaster in October last year, which was his 3rd win in 4 starts over a 6-week period. If he's about to hit and maintain this sort of form again he is certainly one for the notebook.
