Sunday 15 April 2018

Review of the day

Considering how much I backed off today, it was surprising that it ended up such a frustrating one !

As has been the theme for the last month or so, I managed to get on the wrong side of the fine lines – and it ended up a day of disappointments...

The biggest disappointment, was undoubtedly the run Grand Vision.

I couldn’t see him not running a huge race – until that was, he jumped the first fence – and then it was immediately clear that it wasn’t going to happen.

The reality is, that for all the fence modifications, Aintree just doesn’t suit some horses – and it would appear that Grand Vision is such a horse.

He’s normally a brilliant jumper of a fence – but today, he looked like he hadn’t got a clue.

His ponderous jumping resulted in him getting behind early – and it was no surprise to see him fall (even though he never looks likely to fall when jumping conventional fences).

In the same race, Barrakilla did a little better, and finished fourth – but he was no match for Balnaslow.

I knew he was a big danger – but there was no point at which his price warranted tipping him.

Obviously, after the event, any price would have done – but it’s always easy to be wise after the event…

And that’s exactly how I felt following the very next race !

As I said this morning, it was my intention to put us on Bentelimar, when he opened up at 20/1 yesterday.

I tipped him last time he ran – and he disappointed that day – but I would have been prepared to go in again, if I could have got a price.

However, he just shortened and shortened in price – and by 6:00 yesterday evening, he was a 10/1 shot.

I hoped he might drift a little this morning – but it didn’t happen, so I gave up on him.

Instead I switched to Doitforthevillage and Tommy Silver – but Bentelimar made me pay for that and bolted up.

Again, it’s hard to know what I should have done.
He was a speculative call, who was a bit of value at 20/1 – but not at 10/1.

Beau Gosse was the only other tip in the day, in the 4-year-old hurdle race – but he wasn’t good enough.

He probably ran a little better than he had done at Kempton, but he didn’t run anywhere near well enough to cope with easy winner, We Have a Dream.

Apples Shakira again disappointed a little, in only finishing third.
Maybe she isn’t as good as she initially looked…

In terms of the Mentions: then Calino Dairy ran a huge race in the opener, to take third behind Finians Oscar.
The return to form of the winner was anticipated by the market – even if victory for him, looked very unlikely turning in !
Bristol de Mai was possibly a touch unlucky, both to find the ground not as soft as he would have liked – and to find Might Bite in top form.
In the circumstances, he ran an honourable race to finish second.
Supausndae also finished second – and he was unlucky to bump into L’ami Serge on the day when he chose to put it all in !
Finally, Getaway Katie Mai justified massive market support in the bumper.
5/2 looked plenty short enough this morning – but she was sent off at just 15/8.
In the circumstances, it wasn’t too surprising to see her respond willingly to pressure in a driving finish.

TVB.

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