DOWNS AND THEN UPS!
Ben Morgan comes out on top this month after a rocky start at Epsom
Many a year I have gone into the Epsom Derby meeting convinced that I have found the King and Queen of the three-year-old division but have been left licking my wounds after no shows from my selections. This year I played Epsom casually.
A £10 e/w bet on Coronet was all I could muster in the Oaks and a staying on fifth was all I got in return.
Such disappointment further dented my enthusiasm for betting in what looked the most open Derby in recent years.I ended up having an each-way play on Crowned Eagle and Glencadam Glory but neither were ever a factor in a strongly run race.
Away from Epsom,I struck a £20 double on two horses who I thought had serious chances at Musselburgh. First of which was Hugo Palmer’s Unforgettable Filly who, turning for home, appeared to be struggling but before I could start to panic, Josephine Gordon took her to the outside and really started to roll.Once she hit the front she surged further clear and judging on that performance a step up in trip would really suit Palmer’s filly.
An anxious half an hour followed as I waited for Time To Study to line up in the Edinburgh Cup handicap.The step up to 1m6f would be right up his street and although he ended up all out to win by a short head, I think he is worth more than the original winning distance as he was taking a lead off a horse who veered violently left on the home turn which left him in the lead a long way out, making him a sitting duck for horses coming off the pace.
I will certainly be investing some of the £210 that I won off the double back into this progressive Motivator colt next time out.
Over at Worcester, my banker of the day, Take To Heart,looked to have a good chance of breaking his maiden tag.
I placed a £50 win bet at 11/4 and was surprised to see that his price didn’t contract too much come the off.But as soon as Nico de Boinville bounded out into a lead I was confident that nothing would get past him.Nico timed the race to perfection, which I have come to expect, and he scooted clear of his rivals late on as they cried enough.A further £187 was added to the weekend’s profits and was swiftly followed by £85, the returns off a Lucky 15 which included my three winning selections.
I ‘treated’ my better half to a day at Chester races with me a week later,which was turned into a weekend in Chester pretty swiftly.
Chester is a track,I find,that if you are in form you can do no wrong, but if you are out of sorts then it becomes a hard place for punters to ply their trade.
I was keen on the chances of Armum in the first and at 5/1 she offered value against the red hot jolly Awsaaf. Around the home bend,the leaders tried to steal it, but as soon as I saw Dougie Costello pull Jamie Osborne’s filly to the outside up the straight I was confident she was going to get there, which she did. A £10 each-way bet yielded £75 and from then on I found myself in good touch.
I had been unable to do much research before I left for Chester so had to rely on my gut feeling to a certain extent.Richard Fahey’s Starlight Romance was one horse I had a feeling about;her form stacked up well enough and she was being backed which is always a positive. A £20 win bet was struck at 4/1 and Adam McNamara produced her very late to pinch victory over stablemate Vona.
The luck continued as another Fahey horse,Megan Lily,looked to have standout claims in a competitive sprint. An early price of 7/2 was big enough for me to take advantage of and another £20 was struck on the nose. With a plum draw and her stable in form she seemed to have everything in her favour.
Again, young AJ McNamara gave the filly a peach of a ride, and she flew up the straight to gain a deserved success. The tried and tested tactic of backing your gut instinct was working a treat,but after a big let down on St Mary’s I decided to quit while I was ahead.
ROYAL ASCOT
The Royal meeting started with a bang as I doubled my money on superstar miler
Ribchester. The race went completely to plan as he overtook his pacemaker with a furlong and a half to go and put the race to bed to bring home £42.
My main hope of the day was Lady Aurelia,who proved herself a star sprinter as she cleared away from her rivals with ease.A £30 win bet bought back £135 and her victory also made a host of my antepost accumulators look pretty good. Wesley Ward’s flying filly is one of my favourite Flat horses as she has never let me down and does everything with such flair, a true legend in the making.
The first day was capped off with Sound And Silence sneaking home in the Windsor Castle stakes at a huge 18/1 (£5 e/w). One bad run, which was excusable, was obviously enough for punters to forget about Charlie Appleby’s ‘best two-yearold’, much to my satisfaction.
Day Two was a big disappointment as one of the bets of the meeting, Laugh Aloud, was declared a non-runner which halted all positive momentum I had. This meant my £50 double that included Laugh Aloud rolled onto Happy Like A Fool who found Heartache too good.
John Gosden’s Gymnaste (£10 e/w) was my other bet of the day but pulled far too hard early, and Josephine Gordon was unable to get any cover for her.She faded out quite tamely in the end, which summed up day two.
Benbatl (£20 win) got day three off to a flyer with a convincing win in the Hampton Court Stakes where he had plenty up his sleeve. A small play on Coronet (£5 win) paid off as Olivier Peslier produced her late to pinch victory off Mori.
Day three finished somewhat with a sour taste as Ronald R, my horse to follow this season, got boxed in in the Britannia Stakes and ended up going down by half a length. Although I got a good each-way return off my £15 at 16/1 it shot down some potentially huge returns off my ante post bets as Lady Aurelia had already won and I would be waiting on Caravaggio and Time To Study, two nice chances, to bring home the bacon.
As I wrote this I was anxiously waiting on Caravaggio to win the Commonwealth Cup as it would be the winning leg of a £50 treble at 13/1 which included Ribchester and Lady Aurelia. Did you see him go!