Review of the day

It was nice to get the first winner of the new season on the board, this afternoon…

It could have happened on Sunday, through Forever Gold – and should have happened yesterday, through Drumlee Lad – but there was something apt about the success coming via service favourite, Valadom.

He probably had more words written about him in the forum last season, than any other horse – and there is nothing TVB likes more, than to latch on to a horse

And we’ve latched on to a good one in him.

He first caught my eye winning at Worcester last season, off a mark of 113.

He won today of a mark of 134 – and I suspect there is still improvement left in him.

My fear today was that he might not quite get home in the rain softened ground – but we knew from Uttoxeter last season, that the horse is a battler and sure enough, his guts saw him through.

It was a warming sight

The other selection in the race, Smooth Stepper, did not do quite so well.
He was actually backed into favouritism at the off – but he made a shocking blunder at the second fence – which effectively ended his race.

I’m sure there will be other days for him…

The opener on the Bangor card was won by Mumgos Debut.

I did think that was the most likely outcome – provided he had recovered from his exertions of last week.

He clearly had – and 11/4 was a pretty generous SP…

The other race of interest at Bangor, was won by Messire Des Obeaux.

Again, that was as I expected – though I was hoping that Foxclub might run a bit better in the same race.
I suspect the ground had turned too soft for him to be able to do himself justice…

Over at Ayr, I managed to duck Viva Steve…

I’m not going to give myself too hard a time about it tho - he was plenty short enough considering uncertainty concerning the ground.

He did look briefly in trouble, jumping the second last – but he found extra reserves close home, to win going away.

It was a good performance – but he was entitled to win like that, so I wouldn’t get too carried away.

At Exeter, Umberto D’Olivate showed that he is indeed a well handicapped horse.

He was 5/1 early – but 7/2 at the off.

That led me to believe he was back somewhere close to his best – and that proved to be the case.

He’ll probably get 6 or 7lb for todays win – but he is capable of winning again, off that kind of mark.

In truth, the only disappointment on the day, was the performance of Aux Ptit Soins.

He was electric over the first couple of fences – but looked laboured at a few of the others.

Reading between the lines, he probably wasn’t fully revved up for today – and Drumlee Sunset is a fair sort – though I would still have expected Aux to win.

I’ll reserve judgement on him for at least one more race.

The fact remains, he was top class over hurdles – and I didn’t see anything in his jumping to suggest that he can’t be just as good over fences…

TVB.