Another golden ticket into The Cup up for grabs. Gai already has one with Goldman’s win in the Roy Higgins, and now she is after a second with the hot favourite White Marlin. I scored the horse as head in, chewing on the bit, and slightly salivating. I know it had two strappers, but I thought the second strapper was just decorative and not really required. The winner Lunar Flare looked great, with the red muffs and bubble cheeker, but had the cross-over noseband and was twisting its neck. I crossed out Hasta La War in the parade ring as it was a head up horse with a fast gait and was calling out. I took the $1.50 for the place on the favourite, well below my normal limit!
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- Lunar Flare
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- White Marlin
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- Hasta La War
White Marlin set a hot pace, which was too hot, and paid the price when Lunar Flare charged home to win the ticket. Bring on spring!
Dear Geoffrey, it’s good to see that you have been able to attend some race meetings this year. I’m guessing you are now on your winter break by the beach! The turf flat racing season is now well underway here although the spring was cold & damp for an extended period until mid-May. I suppose we will have to live with that unpredictability moving forward. A gambling white paper was finally launched after numerous delays (our prime ministers were changing on a regular basis!) by the UK government in April. This will result in affordability checks. Pre white paper the Gambling Commission produced some guidance which was not met with universal approval and sometimes applied in a heavy handed way by bookmakers. Also some restructuring of horse racing is starting to happen, on occasions there can be too much racing which dilutes the product.
I have managed to attend a few race meetings now the weather has “improved”. Currently I appear to be more successful in the races for horses aged four and above. I assume these are the same as the weight for age (WFA) category used in the histogram from your first book? I find the races for colts (or races that end up with mostly colts or horses) tend to be a bit hit & miss. For example the most coltish horse (a five year old) in the Group 1 Prince of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot won easily yesterday (race comprised of six colts/horses).
I’ll stop there after a longer than normal message. Hope you are managing okay.
All the best
Trevor