Aintree Highlights

There was no blog last Saturday as I was at my local track Aintree. The weather was pretty darned cold and I spent most the afternoon on the move. I was lucky enough to get the first two winners which set me up nicely for the afternoon with both going off at prices that were generous in my view. There was a 2 minute frenzy in the ring when Buthelezi dropped 2 points quickly from 6/1 into 4/1 and later L'Uniique who had been touted as being something special from the King yard, entered here in a Listed Juvenile Hurdle (must have been the plan for a while) was drifting out in the betting !.

The 4 runner Listed Chase went to Wayward Prince from Across The Bay in second with Quito De La Roque, who appeared to run below form, in third. The second was running for his connections who hail from The Scotch Piper Pub in Lydiate just up the road and he ran a fine race considering he didnt seem to handle the track.

The Becher Chase was the first over the big fences and I had been informed by a source pre race that West End Rocker would not act on the going according to his owner so I steered clear. Apparently he was nearly pulled out of last years race because of the going but in the end remained in and won. However the going was a lot worse this time around as it had been raining heavily for most of the week. Interestingly his trainer blamed the poor run on him not liking the track because of his experience in the National last year when he fell at the second fence, which I find strange as he had also fallen in the 2011 National before he won the Becher. Whatever the explanation he has been dropped in the handicap by 2lb to 140 and he should be kept on side.
There were a few that ran well behind the amazing winner Hello Bud, namely Join Together, who I had backed to win but in the end I was shouting home the winner because of his age, Problema Tic and Ballabriggs, the latter has been dropped a useful 4lbs to 152 - won the National off 150 and was 6th last year off 160.

The runaway and most impressive winner of the day was Henderson's Bear's Affair who turned into the straight going great guns and duly waltzed away from the field to a 10 length win and a 12lb rise looks fair and the team will surely be planning away.

It was a great day for the Twiston Davies family with 3 winners and I was thrilled for Sam who is so enthusiastic for the sport and is a great advert for anyone wishing to be a jockey. He got a great reception after winning the last as he returned under the stands. Myself I tried to pass on congratulations to Nigel but I got a look of "What the bloody hell do you want"...they are the complete opposite to like father like son in the personality stakes.

Hopefully I should be able to do a post on Saturday morning.
Keep Winning !