Review of the day

I took a few darts with the tips today, hoping one of them might come off  - and it did !

Under a brilliantly aggressive ride from our old friend Jamie Bargary, Foxtail Hill went pillar to post and still had a bit left for the final hill, when Saphir de Rhue looked like he might reel him in.

It was thrilling stuff – and encapsulated why we love this game so much…

There was no such luck with the days 3 other tips – though Poetic Rhythm ran an honourable race to finish third in the novice hurdle.

To be fair, he never looked like doing much better than that – but it was still a good performance…

Theos Charm was the first tip to run – but he ran a bit of a nothing race.

In fairness, it wasn’t an easy race to even narrow down – though I did manage to get the race winner, Royal Vacation, on my ‘short’ list..!

Southfields Royale was the final tip to run – but his race was effectively over quite early.

Race position was critical – and whereas the winner Ziga Boy got a brilliant ride from Tom Bellamy, who had him in the lead by the third fence – Southfield Royale was virtually in last place throughout, caught in the kick back and the traffic…

I was a little irritated that I didn’t go for Ziga Boy.

He was the first horse I found when I looked at the race – but some relatively negative comments from his trainer put me off.

When will I ever learn not to listen to them ?!

In addition to the 4 tips, there was also a Top Pick – and once again, it came good.

They are developing an incredible record, with a strike rate in excess of 70% over the past 2 seasons.

Obviously that puts the pressure on when I issue one – but fortunately Le Rocher was oblivious to that and responded gamely to pressure for a hard fought win.

If I was irritated about not tipping Ziga Boy, I was even more annoyed that I didn’t take a risk on Timons Tara.
Something just didn’t feel right - but for once I should have ignored my sixth sense, as she fairly routed her field – and at a good price as well.

She wasn’t the only winning eye catcher on the day either.
The Fresh Prince won the very next race on the Uttoxeter card – making it 3 from 3 there (and explaining why I spent time on it when there was such good racing elsewhere !).

Also Upsilon Bleu made up for his narrow defeat last time, when winning well at Doncaster.

That race also showed why it is folly to chase down the price on horses like Cyrus Moriviere.
Every horse has a price – that must always be remembered.

In the big races at Cheltenham Un De Sceaux was a reasonably impressive winner of the Clarence House chase: with Unowhatimeanharry similar in the Cleeve hurdle.

Whilst Cantlow managed to find an unfancied French horse too good for him in the cross country chase (I think people have cottoned on to the back to lay angle on Valadom – who was sent off an unbelievably short price for a horse unlikely to last home).

The final word on the day however has to be saved for Thistlecrack – or more accurately, his ultra game conqueror Many Clouds.

What a horse – what a race.

He payed the ultimate price for beating a seemingly unbeatable horse.

It was a titanic performance – and watching a horse quite literally running its heart out, was a moving sight.

This game can give you some tremendous highs – but there are also some desperate lows.

He was carried out on his shield, doing something he clearly loved.

He won’t be forgotten…

TVB.