Review of the day

There was no joy this afternoon – which considering the excitement of the 2 previous days of the Open meeting, was a little disappointing…

In fairness, when you play at the kind of odds I’ve been playing at, there will inevitably be blank days – and today was one of them…

Morney Wing was the first of the tips to run - in the Southern National, at Fontwell.

He actually ran a pretty good race, to finish fourth, almost touching evens in running (though I’m not sure quite how !).

Over a Cheltenham the first tip to run was Module.
Part of the attraction with him, was his spectacular record after a break – but the market suggested he wasn’t fit today – and that was how he ran.

I’m sure he will be a totally different proposition, next time…

The raced was marred by the death of Simonsig.

He looked destine to be a great, with back-to-back festival wins – but injuries stopped him from fulfilling his potential.

Maybe he should have been retired, like his stablemate Sprinter Sacre – but it’s always easier to make those kind of shouts with hindsight…

The race was won by Fox Norton, who is clearly a horse on the up.

He may not have improved 30lb since last season – but he certainly justified his new rating of 161 (and maybe a few pounds more).

The next tip to run, was Leoncavallo – but he was just disappointing.

The race wasn’t run at quite the break neck pace I expected (I suspect Dickie was unsure about Sternrubin lasting home in the ground) – and so it didn’t fall apart as I had hoped.

Leoncavallo stayed on late in the day – but he was nowhere near close enough to get involved in the finish.

The final tips to run, were Altesse de Guye and Chic Theatre.
I had really high hopes for the former – accepting that there was a distinct chance she might bumped into one.

And I suspect she did bump into one, in the shape of Behind Time.

That said, I was still left very frustrated by the run she got/ride she was given.

It was difficult to know who was to blame: the horse; the jockey or the opposition – but suffice to say, she couldn’t have had a much worse passage through the race.

On the upside, at least her mark will remain unchanged – and she lives to fight another day…

The opener on the Cheltenham card was won by Moon Racer - but it was another unsatisfactory contest, in which Movewiththetimes was subject to no end of interference.

Mick Thonic had no excuses on that score – but he got involved in an early pace burn up and was a spent force rounding the home turn,

It is likely to take him a while to get over todays run.

Finally, in the bumper, neither La Cavsa Nostra nor Gustave Mahler featured…

Over at Navan, my 2 stabs at impossible looking traces, nearly produced a very nice double…

Snow Falcon set the ball rolling, when getting on top close home in the Lismullen hurdle: and The Game Changer looked sure to follow up an hour later, when cruising into the home straight a few lengths clear.

He touched 1.36 in-running at that point – but then stopped to nothing, leaving the race to be fought out by staying types.

Maybe that’s why there are no 2 milers in Ireland..!

TVB.