Day 1 Post-Mortem
Great start with three winners and a third on Day 1. The highlight was Shishkin winning the Supreme at 6-1 - a surprisingly generous SP. It was a messy race and my e.w. fancy Captain Guinness was going really well when he was brought down by a falling horse. In the second race, the Arkle, I had a small e.w. bet on Put the Kettle On which won well at 16-1. I regretted my caution but felt his stable companion Notebook would win - but at a price that didn’t interest me. Then I had a disaster in the Champion Hurdle where Pentland Hills ran very poorly and Supasundae petered out after looking promising. But in the next race (the Mare’s Hurdle) Honeysuckle did me proud after a very resourceful ride by Rachel Blackmore.
Day 2
The Ballymore Hurdle at 1.30 looks like a gimme for Envoi Allen but he’s too short to interest me so I will do an ew on Mullins’ The Big Getaway - currently at 9-1.
The RSA features my old friend Minella Indo who did me a favour last year at 50-1. He’s only 3-1 for this very competitive chase so I may just watch this. Hope he wins though.
The Coral Cup Handicap is a nightmare with Henderson, Mullins and Elliot all having multiple entries. Life’s too short to tease out all the possibilities so I’m going for Henderson’s Burrows Edge at 16-1 on the grounds that he’s the stable jockey’s choice, he carries a modest weight, and Henderson excels at these handicap hurdles.
I really, really fancied Altior for the Champion Chase at 3.30 but he’s been withdrawn with an injury so I’m sulking and not having a bet. It’s hard to separate Defi Du Seuil and Chacon Pour Soi anyway.
All romantics want Tiger Roll to win the Cross Country Chase but I won’t be touching him at odds on. He should of course win.
Wednesday is a less engaging day for me with nothing I feel too passionate about. I will be content not to engage heavily with the betting side and just enjoy the racing.
