We should be celebrating a great weekend of winners today, but our run of bad luck has continued. After Friday's selection LOOSE CHIPS threw-away a 2-length lead just 75-yards from the finish, yesterday STRAIDNAHANNA came into the 3rd-last fence holding a definite advantage over his stablemate No Planning, with most of the field merely plodding on - but ran straight into that fence giving himself no chance of clearing it.
When you look at how the rest of the race panned-out - with No Planning one-paced and not staying-on; and Sun Cloud (who has won at 3m6f) doing his best work in the final half-mile to take 2nd place - the only rival Straidnahanna would have had to worry about was the eventual winner Vieux Lion Rouge. Whether he would have been able to close-down the lead is debatable and, in my opinion, I don't think he's have done it. Had Straidnahanna not tried to take the 3rd-last fence out of the ground by its roots, I reckon he'd have won the race by over 10-lengths - he was clearly the best handicapped horse in the race.
My other selection in the race Indian Castle, ran well for a long way and only started to look in trouble after jumping the 4th-last fence when it became clear that his tank was empty and he was running on fumes. He did well to keep going and take 4th place, and I was impressed with his jumping and the way he maintained his position throughout the race - he will come on a lot for this seasonal debut.
Our Ascot selection Turn Over Sivola was a non-runner, with trainer Alan King withdrawing the horse at about 10am. Watching the race, I wasn't overly impressed with the winner, and reckon with a better round of jumping the runner-up Dunraven Storm would have won easily - which makes me reckon that had Turn Over Sivola run he would have won this fairly easily. Why he was withdrawn, I don't know and, perhaps, Alan King will state the reason in Wednesday;s Weekender.
At Haydock, the Betfair Chase was won by Cue Card, who has returned to the form of 2013. It was a brilliant win, made even more impressive by the fact he had Silviniaco Conti on the ropes at the 3rd-last fence and jumped the final two fences for fun. In this sort of form he would push Coneygree in the Gold Cup, if he stays the extra couple of furlongs. He certainly has an excellent chance in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, as that race looks made for him.
No selections for Sunday.
They said T O S as an infection.
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