Preview comment:
Sir Reginald had The Confessor behind when runner-up over 7f at Chester and went one better at Doncaster. He has a chance here, despite the penalty, while stablemate Polski Max could be interesting if recapturing early-season form.
Explanation:
SIR REGINALD and THE CONFESSOR both ran in the chesterBET Powered By Datatote Handicap over 7 furlongs at Chester in 30 August 2013. SIR REGINALD finished second in that race and THE CONFESSOR was fourth. As a result, the theory is that SIR REGINALD should beat THE CONFESSOR again in this race too.
SIR REGINALD then ran in a 6f handicap at Doncaster on 13 September 2013 and won that race i.e. ‘went one better’ than the runner-up spot in his Chester race.
The penalty: SIR REGINALD carries a weight penalty of 5 pounds for winning a race after 24 August 2013. Weight penalties are applied for race wins close to the date of a subsequent race. The official handicapper might not have the chance to reassess a horse if it wins close to a big handicap race.
Both SIR REGINALD and POLSKI MAX are trained by Richard Fahey i.e. stablemates. POLSKI MAX won two races early in the season – in April and May – but has not performed so well in three races since then. He needs to perform like he did in April/May rather than he did in his June and August races.
30 September 2013
Deciphering Racing Preview Comments – Part 1
The language and style of writing used by journalists in writing race previews is distinctive and can be a little confusing for those not used to reading them.
The next few posts will help decipher and explain the following preview from the Sporting Life for Ayr’s Silver Cup:
Sir Reginald had The Confessor behind when runner-up over 7f at Chester and went one better at Doncaster. He has a chance here, despite the penalty, while stablemate Polski Max could be interesting if recapturing early-season form. Likewise Dick Bos while Thunderball showed signs of a revival last week when just behind Pearl Ice, who now carries extra. Graham Gibbons rode the latter on Town Moor but has now switched to stable companion COLONEL MAK. Winner of this in 2010 from stall seven, he's back on familiar territory and has come right back to form, winning at Pontefract before only finding one too good at Newmarket. The ground is perfect and David Barron's six-year-old has as good a chance as any on the form book. The drop back to 6f might benefit Trail Blaze and he's another with decent claims while Boots And Spurs is another dropping down in distance. Irish raider An Saighdiur may be the pick of the remainder as this looks too competitive for old Harrison George.
The next few posts will help decipher and explain the following preview from the Sporting Life for Ayr’s Silver Cup:
Sir Reginald had The Confessor behind when runner-up over 7f at Chester and went one better at Doncaster. He has a chance here, despite the penalty, while stablemate Polski Max could be interesting if recapturing early-season form. Likewise Dick Bos while Thunderball showed signs of a revival last week when just behind Pearl Ice, who now carries extra. Graham Gibbons rode the latter on Town Moor but has now switched to stable companion COLONEL MAK. Winner of this in 2010 from stall seven, he's back on familiar territory and has come right back to form, winning at Pontefract before only finding one too good at Newmarket. The ground is perfect and David Barron's six-year-old has as good a chance as any on the form book. The drop back to 6f might benefit Trail Blaze and he's another with decent claims while Boots And Spurs is another dropping down in distance. Irish raider An Saighdiur may be the pick of the remainder as this looks too competitive for old Harrison George.
29 September 2013
Telegraph Fantasy Racing Update
Not a large number of points on offer with a 13/8 winner and 5/2 runner up in the Nayef Joel Stakes in the latest round of the British Champions Series.
But both of our stables managed to pick up a good portion of what was on offer.
One stable picked up 40 points for a combination of Montiridge, Richard Hughes and Richard Hannon in addition to 25 points each for George Baker (Premio Loco) as a jockey and Kevin Ryan (Glory Awaits).
The other stable collected nearly 80 points with Soft Falling Rain and Paul Hanagan and a further 5 points from Jamie Spencer (Glory Awaits).
All eyes now on British Champions Day itself on 19 October and two stable changes permitted before then.
But both of our stables managed to pick up a good portion of what was on offer.
One stable picked up 40 points for a combination of Montiridge, Richard Hughes and Richard Hannon in addition to 25 points each for George Baker (Premio Loco) as a jockey and Kevin Ryan (Glory Awaits).
The other stable collected nearly 80 points with Soft Falling Rain and Paul Hanagan and a further 5 points from Jamie Spencer (Glory Awaits).
All eyes now on British Champions Day itself on 19 October and two stable changes permitted before then.
22 September 2013
Murphy Makes The Most Of His Chances
As Eminem once rapped: “if you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted. One moment. Would you capture it or just let it slip?”
Young jockey, 18-year-old Oisin Murphy certainly captured the moment on Saturday when he rode four winners from four rides on Ayr’s card. The fact that his 9,260-1 four-timer kicked off with victory in the William Hill Ayr Gold Cup aboard Highland Colori (20/1) made the feat all the more impressive.
After that big race win the confidence must have been surging and Murphy, nephew of former top jump jockey Jim Culloty, followed up with Levitate (5/1jf), Silver Rime (20/1) and Cockney Sparrow (5/2f) in the final three handicaps on the card.
The 5lb apprentice is linked to the stable of trainer Andrew Balding and there was much talk after the race of Murphy being champion apprentice next season.
Young jockey, 18-year-old Oisin Murphy certainly captured the moment on Saturday when he rode four winners from four rides on Ayr’s card. The fact that his 9,260-1 four-timer kicked off with victory in the William Hill Ayr Gold Cup aboard Highland Colori (20/1) made the feat all the more impressive.
After that big race win the confidence must have been surging and Murphy, nephew of former top jump jockey Jim Culloty, followed up with Levitate (5/1jf), Silver Rime (20/1) and Cockney Sparrow (5/2f) in the final three handicaps on the card.
The 5lb apprentice is linked to the stable of trainer Andrew Balding and there was much talk after the race of Murphy being champion apprentice next season.
16 September 2013
Godolphin’s Autumn Harvest
The Godolphin operation looks to have some fine two-year-olds to work on over the winter, judging by the results at Doncaster last week.
On Friday IHTIMAL (11/10f) was a worthy winner of the May Hill Stakes for fillies over the straight mile, giving her a second win from five starts. It was the filly’s first race over a mile, having started her career at six furlongs.
This Shamardal filly holds an entry in the Group 1 Shadwell Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket on 27 September.
Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor said after the race: "Ihtimal showed some class when she won her Group Three at Newmarket and we weren't really sure about the ground today but she handled it well. For the future, we are looking at the Fillies' Mile [Newmarket] for her now. We will talk with Sheikh Mohammed and decide. She is an easy filly to train. She shows a turn of foot in the mornings and she is nice and tough. She tries very hard and she will be good in the future. She is a small filly but she has an engine and, with her class, I think that she will be fine next year.”
In the Listed Flying Scotsman Stakes (7f) BE READY (13/8f) saw out the trip well in just his second race.
By New Approach, the colt holds an entry in the Listed Two-Year-Old Trophy over six furlongs at Redcar in early October.
Finally, OUTSTRIP (13/8jf) beat a small field easing down in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes (7f) on Saturday, making it two wins from three races for the Exceed And Excel colt.
It was a big win for new Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby: "I was very confident, without being too confident, coming into the race. When he ran in the Vintage [Stakes] (Group 2 at Glorious Goodwood), we just got touched off on the line. They were two nice colts that went away from the rest in the Vintage, so I was confident today.”
“He is a nice horse and I thought he would handle the conditions today. He has got a turn of foot as we saw again today and it was a decent performance.”
"We will look at the Dewhurst [Stakes] (Group 1 race at Newmarket in October) or go to France for the [Prix Jean-Luc] Lagardère (Group 1, formerly called the Grand Critérium, at Longchamp in October). Those are the two options we have in place and we will see how the horse comes out of this race.”
"He is a horse who will strengthen. I would like to see him do that and a mile will be his trip next year. We will cross those bridges when we come to them."
On Friday IHTIMAL (11/10f) was a worthy winner of the May Hill Stakes for fillies over the straight mile, giving her a second win from five starts. It was the filly’s first race over a mile, having started her career at six furlongs.
This Shamardal filly holds an entry in the Group 1 Shadwell Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket on 27 September.
Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor said after the race: "Ihtimal showed some class when she won her Group Three at Newmarket and we weren't really sure about the ground today but she handled it well. For the future, we are looking at the Fillies' Mile [Newmarket] for her now. We will talk with Sheikh Mohammed and decide. She is an easy filly to train. She shows a turn of foot in the mornings and she is nice and tough. She tries very hard and she will be good in the future. She is a small filly but she has an engine and, with her class, I think that she will be fine next year.”
In the Listed Flying Scotsman Stakes (7f) BE READY (13/8f) saw out the trip well in just his second race.
By New Approach, the colt holds an entry in the Listed Two-Year-Old Trophy over six furlongs at Redcar in early October.
Finally, OUTSTRIP (13/8jf) beat a small field easing down in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes (7f) on Saturday, making it two wins from three races for the Exceed And Excel colt.
It was a big win for new Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby: "I was very confident, without being too confident, coming into the race. When he ran in the Vintage [Stakes] (Group 2 at Glorious Goodwood), we just got touched off on the line. They were two nice colts that went away from the rest in the Vintage, so I was confident today.”
“He is a nice horse and I thought he would handle the conditions today. He has got a turn of foot as we saw again today and it was a decent performance.”
"We will look at the Dewhurst [Stakes] (Group 1 race at Newmarket in October) or go to France for the [Prix Jean-Luc] Lagardère (Group 1, formerly called the Grand Critérium, at Longchamp in October). Those are the two options we have in place and we will see how the horse comes out of this race.”
"He is a horse who will strengthen. I would like to see him do that and a mile will be his trip next year. We will cross those bridges when we come to them."
Telegraph Fantasy Racing Update
Doncaster’s St Leger meeting provided us with some good points but nothing that dramatically improved our stables’ positions in the standings.
In Friday’s Doncaster Cup we picked the first two home in Times Up (3/1) and High Jinx (2/1) but they were the market leaders and earned just 89 points between them.
Talent (9/1) was good for us in the St Leger itself. Finishing second earned her 38 points, plus we got another 70 points for having selected jockey Jim Crowley.
There is one more race in September – the Nayef Joel Stakes at Newmarket – after which the final window opens for jockey and trainer changes.
This could be a crucial selection period because the final five races are all on British Champions Day itself and all points count double that afternoon. There’s still all to play for!
**Ticket Offer**
The QIPCO British Champions Series is offering a 20% discount on Grandstand Tickets for British Champions’ Day 2013 at Ascot on Saturday 19 October.
Use the promotional code BCD13FG when booking through the Ascot website to receive the discount.
In Friday’s Doncaster Cup we picked the first two home in Times Up (3/1) and High Jinx (2/1) but they were the market leaders and earned just 89 points between them.
Talent (9/1) was good for us in the St Leger itself. Finishing second earned her 38 points, plus we got another 70 points for having selected jockey Jim Crowley.
There is one more race in September – the Nayef Joel Stakes at Newmarket – after which the final window opens for jockey and trainer changes.
This could be a crucial selection period because the final five races are all on British Champions Day itself and all points count double that afternoon. There’s still all to play for!
**Ticket Offer**
The QIPCO British Champions Series is offering a 20% discount on Grandstand Tickets for British Champions’ Day 2013 at Ascot on Saturday 19 October.
Use the promotional code BCD13FG when booking through the Ascot website to receive the discount.
10 September 2013
Telegraph Fantasy Racing Update
One of our stables selected Gordon Lord Byron as the winner of the Betfred Sprint Cup at 7/2 to pick up 67.5 points but apart from that it was slim pickings. We did get some points for Kevin Ryan saddling two runners in the race.
There must be a slight weakness in the Fantasy Racing game when two of the first three jockeys and all of the first four trainers in the race were not actually available as a possible selection. But there we go.
There must be a slight weakness in the Fantasy Racing game when two of the first three jockeys and all of the first four trainers in the race were not actually available as a possible selection. But there we go.
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