Lady To Flower In Snowdrop

[stevecaution]

The 2.50 at Kempton on Saturday sees the return to action of one of the more frustrating horses in training, Charlie Hills’ Queen Catrine.

Despite some good placed efforts and a narrow 2nd in the Sandringham Fillies Handicap at Royal Ascot, she has only managed to get her head in front once, in her maiden win. Narrowly top of the ratings for the Snowdrop Fillies Stakes, a Listed contest, she is given the vote in the Timeform preview and it would not be a shock to see her go close.

John Gosden saddles Solar Magic, who is lightly raced and the stable have been in decent form so far. She has to find improvement but it’s not exactly unlikely and after she let me down as my selection when she was third to Adhwaa, she made no mistake next time in winning her maiden at short odds. Perhaps a little out of her depth in listed class next time, she is passed over this time with a little bit to prove for now.

Wee Jean and Victoria Regina have similar ratings and profiles, no doubt they will appeal to some backers but there is not enough in favour of either of them to make me select them.

Rakuti has an eye-catching jockey on board in the form of Ryan Moore and is probably shorter in the betting than I would have expected. Not quite enough in her form to make me want to select her but no doubt some will be encouraged by the top man being on board.

Tea Blossom is lightly raced and open to further improvement but I think the filly with the most going for her here is Lady Dutch, who was the winner when Tea Blossom finished fourth last time. Trained by Marco Botti, her stable are in form and she was having her first start for this outfit when accounting for Baltic Knight in good enough style last time. 5lbs worse in with Tea Blossom this time around, I believe she can confirm the form on the revised terms.

Lady Dutch is a course winner, a distance winner and is right about hand with the top rated ones here. The stable have been going well and all seems set for a good run.

With question marks regarding track, trip, fitness and level of ability on other fillies, she seems the logical bet at 7/2 or bigger.

I doubt we will see a filly emerge from this that will match James Fanshawe’s Ribbons, who took this contest last year before striking it rich at the top table, but then what the hell do I know about horse racing?

Lady Dutch to hopefully Flower in the Snowdrop Stakes (7/2 or better)

Good luck to all with their picks this weekend.

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[nwalton]

I see Lady Dutch has an entry in the group 2 Middleton @ York next month.
Good luck today(i noted you’ve beat the price today)

[stevecaution]

nwalton wrote:

I see Lady Dutch has an entry in the group 2 Middleton @ York next month.
Good luck today(i noted you’ve beat the price today)

Thanks, I’ll need plenty of luck based on last years efforts, where I beat the SP quite a decent percentage of the time but in vain on most occasions.

Lady Dutch had some placed form at Group 3 level, albeit in Italy, and I am hoping she has improved for the change of country and trainer.

Generally I am a fan of Marco Botti, I think he’s a talented trainer. The only thing that is a bit hard on the ear is the Super Mario Brothers accent and I keep expecting to hear a cry of “Niiiintendo, woo hoo” mid interview.

I had a look at John Gosden’s Made With Love today (3.25 Kempton) but decided there was enough to leave him alone. He was with Roger Varian and obviously the 221 profile, and the fact that he is now with the Gosden camp, will make him a popular choice in an otherwise open affair. It’s not like Roger Varian isn’t a top name though and following a second in the Wood Ditton, which worked out as a good race, his defeat at odds of 2/11f is a slight concern. His odds of reward in his maiden win were 1/7f, so it was hardly unexpected that he scored that day. First time in a handicap, could go either way but I’d rather just watch a race that looks a classic “honey trap”, where the bookies always seem to get something else stepping up to save them.

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[stevecaution]

Got to be happy with the Nap landed at 7/2 and a banana skin avoided with Made With Love.

These horses who get beat at short odds and/or have won at very short odds always give me palpitations as favourites. Looking at Made With Love in the race itself, I was struck by how small and scrawny he looked compared to some of his older, more battle hardened rivals. I thought to myself that he’d need to outclass them a fair bit to win the race, and that task proved beyond him today.

A nice start to the proceedings for this season and with 3 winning selections from 4 tips in the PP4/Daylight Cup competition (Nap winning) it was not a bad day at the office for someone who doesn’t know much about Horse Racing.

It’s all downhill from here for sure, so I’ll enjoy the moment

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[Nathan Hughes]

Racing? I know nothing
my wisdom is little
where’s my lucky pin
my knowledge is sh!ttle

the horse’s you see
I don’t understand
would someone more clever
please lend me hand

look out, look out
here comes Ricky Lake
‘you know nothing’ he says
your form book is fake

Taghrooda was a fluke you see
you really don’t know much
you’ll never back a winner
WHAT!! you napped Lady Dutch?

Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026

[nwalton]

well done steve

[Jonibake]

Nathan Hughes wrote:

Racing? I know nothing
my wisdom is little
where’s my lucky pin
my knowledge is sh!ttle

the horse’s you see
I don’t understand
would someone more clever
please lend me hand

look out, look out
here comes Ricky Lake
‘you know nothing’ he says
your form book is fake

Taghrooda was a fluke you see
you really don’t know much
you’ll never back a winner
WHAT!! you napped Lady Dutch?

Very funny Nath!!! Well done Steve. I was with you on Lady Dutch but you were there before me so congrats on 7-2! You were also spot on about the Gosden nag. Great start – keep it up mate!!!

"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"

[stevecaution]

nwalton wrote:

well done steve

Thanks for that. It’s nice when a plan works out for a change.

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[stevecaution]

Jonibake wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Nathan Hughes wrote:</div>
Racing? I know nothing
my wisdom is little
where’s my lucky pin
my knowledge is sh!ttle

the horse’s you see
I don’t understand
would someone more clever
please lend me hand

look out, look out
here comes Ricky Lake
‘you know nothing’ he says
your form book is fake

Taghrooda was a fluke you see
you really don’t know much
you’ll never back a winner
WHAT!! you napped Lady Dutch?

Very funny Nath!!! Well done Steve. I was with you on Lady Dutch but you were there before me so congrats on 7-2! You were also spot on about the Gosden nag. Great start – keep it up mate!!!

Great poem right enough. Think I learned a new word there, unless it was shuttle?

Thanks Joni, I came to the race primarily to oppose Queen Catrine, as I have always felt she might bring value to another runner.

Quite a nice performance from Lady Dutch and they are mulling the Middleton at York, as mentioned by nwalton earlier in the thread.

I am hoping to be more selective and less gung ho than last year. I never actually got round to calculating how the thread performed but I suspect it wasn’t that bad. Maximum 10pts on Kingston Hill at 10/1 for the St Leger certainly helped and I still rue the 30pts that went west on Noble Mission and The Fugue in singles and a double, particularly with the appalling ride William Buick gave Gosden’s filly in the Eclipse. It was of no use to me that Noble Mission was eventually awarded the race where he finished second.

You’re off to a good start this year Joni and I hope it keeps up for you. Once the dust settles on The National, and perhaps AP’s career, we should see some interesting action at Newmarket, Newbury and in Ireland and France. We’ll be finding out which tickets to bin and which ones, if any, to keep for later in the season.

Good luck to all players.

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[Author]

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