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It’s a crazy old price that USNF isn’t it Joni ? Beat Mendelsshon comfortably in the Dewhurst and can see him going off at half them odds.
GL anyway
It’s a crazy old price that USNF isn’t it Joni ? Beat Mendelsshon comfortably in the Dewhurst and can see him going off at half them odds.
GL anyway
Thanks Botchy. Yes a crazy price – apparently the fav is a bit special but even so…..
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
+£5.721.67
The final total and a nice, healthy profit for the year. I’ll write a review later this week.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
A little bit overdue with the review but here it is.
What a fabulous flat season it was with some thrilling races and a couple of real stars.
Let’s start with the obvious one. I was privileged to be at Newbury back on 21st April to watch the Dubai Duty Free Conditions race in which Enable made her seasonal reappearance. She was beaten into 3rd that day but I said at the time that she looked hugely promising and my god did she go on to be that and a whole lot more.
For me she is the best middle-distance filly of modern times and I can’t wait to see her again next year. She really has no flaws does she? She is equally as effective on fast or slow ground, can be ridden from the front or off the pace and has the turn of foot to cope with a slowly run race or to out-stay them if they go quicker. Her Oaks win over the much better fancied Rhododendron will live long in the memory as she simply ground her gallant opponent into the ground that day. It is going to take an exceptional horse to beat her next year. One of my disappointments this season was that the filly that beat her that day at Newbury, Shutter Speed, didn’t fulfil HER promise but things didn’t quite work out for her did they?
Sticking with the fillies it was all about Winter who just got better and better until a busy campaign caught up with her. I think she was better than the miler colts though I am disappointed that we will not get to see Barney Roy back over a mile again next year as I felt sure he would win more Group 1’s back over that trip. He was another that I saw at Newbury early in the season in The Greenham and was a gorgeous looking individual who you feel should have won more than one Group 1.
I think that they asked a bit much of Churchill. It seems silly to criticise a great trainer like Aidan especially after he has just beaten the world record for Group 1 wins but I am sure that Churchill’s tough two year old season eventually caught up with him. Aidan is a bit like Mark Johnston in that he prefers his horses to do their work on the racetrack but I can’t help thinking he sometimes goes to the well too many times. I remember Henry always saying that you can only get horses to peak so many times in a season and I think if Aidan ever wants to train a truly exceptional horse, he may need to show more restraint. Saying that, it was a remarkable achievement to train all those G1’s especially when you see that there were so many individual winners – it wasn’t like one horse won most of them!
For a while it looked like the 3 year-old middle-distance colts might prove to be disappointing after the Derby but Capri winning the Leger, Cracksman winning the Champion and Rekindling winning the Melbourne Cup helped add some respectability to the race. I always say that you can’t write off horses so early in the season. The Derby is run at a time of the season when many of the runners aren’t anyway near reaching their full potential. The fact that their normally highly-astute trainers run them at all tells you how much they think of them but it may often take a couple of months before they start showing their true colours. It wasn’t until August that we started to see them blossoming. The same could be said of the previous year when Ulysses, Idaho and Cloth Of Stars all ran. Ulysses was brilliant this year wasn’t he? Such a shame he didn’t run in America – I think he would have won that race.
Obviously Cracksman’s victory was the highlight of my year and he is extremely exciting for next year. I was critical of Johhny G for not running him in the Arc but you can’t really argue about the decision now can you? That performance in the Champion was spine-tingling: reminiscent of his dad in the way he just powered remorselessly clear. I don’t think there is much strength in the 10f division next year for older horses what with Ulysses, Barney and Highland Reel retiring so it could be his half-brother Eminent who gives him most to worry about in the POW next June. But of course all flat fans will be thinking ahead and salivating at the prospect of Cracksman V Enable either in the King George or Arc or (can we dare to dream?!) both!!!
I’ve written a lot about the Frankel crop on the main thread but obviously I was delighted at how the season finished especially after things had begun to look a bit bleak in June. In fact I was going through my seasons bets the other day and decided to tot up all my Frankel bets. Until the Monarch’s Glen treble (of which I allocated 1/3 of the winnings to Frankel) and Cracksman won in October I was nearly £2,000 down on the Frankel’s. In the end I still ended up slightly down but it could have been a lot worse. Most of his runners are poorly priced and I vow to be a bit more picky next year. Head must rule heart!!!
So to the thread. I am really pleased to have posted a profit again after last year’s end of season malfunction!! This was the most enjoyable of the 6 years as I was up from quite an early stage and so could relax – it is always much harder when you are playing catch-up. My 3 betting highlights were Bahamadan at 33-1, getting Bateel at 9’s in the Vermeille and, of course, the treble.
I love doing this thread for many reasons. One is that it helps me stay disciplined. Since about season 2 I have made a personal promise to only bet what I put up on here and that means, because you never want to look a twat, I only bet on races that I have some sort of clue about. In my younger days I would have thought nothing of sitting down in front of the TV for an afternoon or going down the bookies and betting on just about every race. Thank god those days are gone. Also, being a racing fan can be quite a solitary experience. Thankfully my kids are showing an interest but I have no friends that like the sport (apart from Mr K of course ;)) so this thread is great for sharing views with fellow anoraks. The contributions from other DLAP players and observers makes it all worth while.
So it’s hibernation time now but my winter dreams will be full of Cracksman, Nelson, Elarqam, Herculean, Contingent, Saxon Warrior and Amadeo Modigliani to name but a few and I can’t wait for mid-April and a first trip to Newbury and hopefully Newmarket to catch up with Mark, Nathan and Jac.
Thanks to everyone for their views and support and see you all in 2018!!! xxx
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
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