It was certainly a glorious day at Cheltenham on Saturday. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to find a
winner – but we came close.
Because of the forecast of heavy overnight rain, I woke
early on Saturday morning to learn of the effects of the rain and have a review
of the racing with that knowledge in mind.
The ground had deteriorated from soft to heavy, and it was certainly
testing. As such, I had another look at
the novice handicap and thought that the form on heavy ground – as well as
experience of forcing tactics – gave the Venetia Williams trained Waldorf Salad an excellent chance of
success that was much better than his odds of 14/1. On that score, I was right
as the horse set a strong gallop that had many struggling to keep up as they
went up the hill (away from the stands) after running the first mile. By the top of the hill, there was only the
leading 3 of the 12 starters in with a chance of winning, and our selection Waldorf Salad was heading that trio.
Unfortunately, he was headed 2-out and altho’ he stayed-on well he was never
going to pass the eventual winner. It
would have been a tremendous start to the afternoon, having a 14/1 winner, but
it was not to be. My £5 eachway wager at
14/1 paid-out £22.50, recording a profit of £12.50.
Next up was the feature race at Cheltenham, the Betbright
Chase over 3m1f. The odds-on fav Djakadam, runner-up in the last
Cheltenham Gold Cup, fell mid-race as they field started up the hill away from
the stands. As per my blog, I’d placed
win-only wagers on Many Clouds @ 8/1
and O’Faolains Boy @ 10/1 as I didn’t
think Djakadam was on odds-on
chance. I also didn’t think Smad Place
would be able to hold-off Many Clouds
if he was as fit as he was when winning the race in 2015, but, as things
turned-out, he was.
As the leading pair pulled clear in the final mile and
jumped the 2nd-last together, the Grand National winner Many Clouds didn’t seem to have moved a
muscle and looked full of running. Unfortunately, that was all show as he had
nothing left in the tank when asked for an effort, whereas Smad Place jumped the last 2-lengths clear and then when shook-up
by his jockey (Richard Johnson) he quickly skipped away to a 10-length
advantage. It was unfortunate that Djakadam fell, but let’s take nothing away
from Smad Place, as there were some
rock-solid 160 performers left toiling in his wake. Clearly, he loved the ground, but a return to
the front-running tactics employed in winning the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury
last autumn are also responsible for his good form. I’ve rated his performance
in winning this at 166, which isn’t as good as how I rated Cue Card and Vautour in
the “King George” on Boxing Day (172), but this was over further and at
Cheltenham. He was 20/1 for the Gold Cup immediately after the race (with
BetVictor) and I snapped that up for an eachway wager; and he’s best-priced at
12/1 now. The win of Smad Place capped a glorious day for trainer Alan King who sent out 5 winners.
By this time, it was fairly obvious to all that the
ground was very testing and that front-runners were managing to get away from
their rivals – this was not a day for hold-up tactics. The handicap chase over
2m5f looked a cracker on paper, but the ground took no prisoners and by halfway
some of the field were struggling – including my selection for the blog Irish Cavalier. It was a very disappointing effort from Irish
Cavalier, and I knew the writing was on the wall when jockey Barry Geraghty
gave the horse a slap on the shoulder as they field passed the stands – and,
sure enough, after jumping the next fence he pulled the horse up. Was it the
ground, or was it something more? Given the
overall performance of the trainers’ horses over the weekend, it seems more
likely a problem at the stable.
Going up the hill, the field fell away rapidly behind the
leading pair, and soon there was only last year’s winner Annacotty and long-time leader Tenor
Nivernais left in with a winning chance. Given Annacotty’s love of
Cheltenham, there could only be one winner, and he soon took up the
running. The jockey went a bit too early
as the runner-up came back at him on the long run-in (the final fence having
been omitted due to the poor ground), but Annacotty
stayed on to win, without having to better his performance when winning the
Paddy Power Gold Cup in November, when I thought he’d have to better that run
by 7lb. This was a lesson learned for me
(you should always have an open mind, it is never too late to learn) in that on
testing ground, races can turn into a “match” with most of the field being
unable to cope with the ground. In such circumstances, weight and rating matter
little.
My final selection of the day ran at Doncaster in the Skybet
Chase over 3-mile. I had narrowed my selection down to either Buywise or No Planning, and the “good” ground at Doncaster swung my opinion
towards No Planning, as he’d won over 2m7f at Haydock on similar ground in
April 2014. I thought the “good” ground description was dubious considering it
was considered “sticky” the day before, which was another plus-point for No Planning as he’d won on soft and
heavy ground as well. Unfortunately, No Planning ran no race at all as it
looked like he was left at the start (from the tv pictures I could not tell
what happened) and trailed behind throughout, before pulling-up with a mile
still to run. It was reported that he’d bled from the nose, but this race was
lost at the start.
All-in-all, a disappointing day, and my personal “rule”
of not having a wager at odds under 9/4 kept me off good hurdle winners Yanworth @ 2/1 and Thistlecrack @ 4/5. Both these horses look destined for Cheltenham
Festival glory at their respective targets.
No comments:
Post a Comment