I backed Affordale Fury at the weekend and was pleased to see him tanking along in front as he had done when winning at Christmas. He went out like a light. Trainer says he came back lame & with a cut. He’s 33s now for this NRNB and I’ve had a fiver on. He’s the most unexposed and – if lameness was the reason for his poor performance – also on a steep improvement curve.
On a side note, Graeme North of Timeform speculates that Galopin Des Champs had already ‘gone’ last March and that, taking the placed horses into account Inothewayurthinkin was, form-wise, a substandard winner. Having said that, there’s no doubt there are horses who perform much better at certain times of the season. This horse has run three times over fences in March/April: won the Kim Muir: Won The Mildmay: Won the Gold Cup. His non-spring form fencing is pretty lousy all round. He is 16/1 Lads nrnb. He bloomed very late last year and was, if memory serves, only supplemented a few days before.