Dear Member

Lovely to end the day with a winner in the form of Testa Rossa. We have had a disappointing two days but let’s be honest it’s 5 losing tips. 1 bad ride, one under performer and 3 poor tips.

I will always hold my hands up when I get things wrong (called 3 races wrong) but this is horse racing and you have to be patient. One winner has practically clawed back all our losses from two poor days and we are back on track for the week. The month is looking solid as well with 2 weeks remaining.

Disappointed with the ride Oisin Murphy gave Ardamir last night, there is holding a horse up and then there is giving it 15l’s to make up turning for home. He has made up 13l’s but what can you do with rides like that. The winner made all and the 2nd was placed in 3rd throughout whereas Ardamir was placed in last.

That was our first complete lull day (no returns at all) since the 8th December. They are never ideal but we move on…

Onto today…

Pearl Spectre couldn’t get the lead but even so he wasn’t good enough today. A poor tip from myself.

Widnes was awful. We will take a watching brief next time out but I am almost certain that wasn’t his true running.

Testa Rossa has won very nicely. Phil Dennis rides Newcastle really well and this horse has bolted up.

Polybius ran really well in this race last year and comes here on the back of a great effort at Wolverhampton. He is well suited to this straight 6f’s and the fast ground suits him well, there is plenty of pace in here so he should get that fast pace he needs to be seen to best effect. Expect him to be held up off the pace and delivered with a late run. Stall 10 should be fine with the main pace drawn in stall 6 and stall 11.

A great field and plenty of value on offer for this 6f handicap. I am quite keen on El Torito in here. He has been running well recently and appears to have turned a corner finishing a closing 7th a Lingfield over this trip before two great efforts over 7f’s (4th at Lingfield then 3rd at Wolves). His last effort was a great performance considering he was keen enough early and the horse who won was thrown in and has won again since. Back down to 6f’s at a track like Chelmsford should suit and from a good draw if he can get the start right then he should be finishing strongly. Havlin is booked which is an eye-catching booking. Spare Parts will obviously be tough to beat if turning up but stall 13 is a tough draw and he has had a lot of racing in recent days.

Two horses make plenty of appeal in here. Firstly Godolphin send Salsabeel out for his first run since disappointing on soft ground in France. Soft ground really doesn’t suit and it doesn’t surpise me that they have kept him back for a turf campaign in Dubai. The quick turf and general nature of racing out there should really suit this horse. He has plenty of class and a mark of 105 could easily mean he is chucked in here. He was beaten just a neck by Beat The Bank of level weights (now rated 118) and it could be argued he would have won that day but for not handling the dip. A mile should be fine and from stall 6 he should be well positioned to strike. The fact William Buick rides is obviously very eye-catching. Also worth keeping on side is our old friend Hors De Combat, we have backed this horse on numerous occasions but tomorrow he does look to have great claims. He finished 2nd in this race last year of 101 so now 1lb lower he should once again put in a big performance. He finished 2nd at Sandown two starts back and that race has already produced the easy handicap winner D’bai. He bombed out on soft ground last time out but we all know he doesn’t want soft ground. I found it surprising they let him race last time out but I guess it all makes sense now given he has been dropped an extra 1lb by the handicapper. He goes well fresh, has a good draw in stall 8 and this yard always seems to book Oisin Murphy when they think they have a good chance.