Song of Praise to catch the cat ?

Song of Praise could be value to catch Cheery Cat in the opener at Kempton today. Cheery Cat won well last time for the in form John Balding yard but he has twice dissapointed at Kempton and Song of Praise who is dropping down in grade could be able to take advantage.

John Balding hits top form !

That great trainer of sprinters John Balding has had a couple of winners in the last few days with the latest being today at 25/1 with Sleepy Blue Ocean following up Cheery Cat's win at 7/2 on Friday.
He is certianly a trainer to follow when in form and he has the following entered over the next week :

26Nov10 1:25 You'relikemefrank LINGFIELD (A.W), Bet Ashes Cricket - Betdaq Handicap

27Nov10 5:20 El Dececy KEMPTON (A.W), digibet.com Handicap

28Nov10 2:15 Cheery Cat KEMPTON (A.W), boxingdayraces.co.uk Handicap

28Nov10 4:50 This Ones For Eddy KEMPTON (A.W), Name A Race For Christmas Presents Handicap

Obviously they are not all going to win but you should kep a watchful eye on proceedings.

Fallon to enact a winning performance ?

Sir Michael Stoute doesnt have too many runners on the AW but he sends Enact down to leafy Lingfield on Saturday and has booked his old chum Mr Fallon to do the steering. The duo have had some success when they have teamed up this flat season and they will have to be in top order tomorrow to win from stall 12 of 12. This is a decent sprint for the track and it will need an above average sort to win it and in picking Enact Fallon has deserted Meehan's Arabian Mirage who as luck would have it is drawn in stall 1, however she probably hasnt shown as much as Enact on the track so far but she won well at Wolverhampton off a 7lb lower mark in a 6f Class 3 Handicap when beating Baby Strange by 2 1/2 lengths. She was held up there and came home full of running off the fast pace which is what she is likely to get here and 12/1 represents good ew value.
Tweedy has gone well at Dundalk when allowed to dominate and he should be able to get to the front from stall 5, but whether he will be able to hold the challenges of some of this field come the end must be open to doubt.
Hitchens will be much better suited by the 6f trip here than the 5f at Dundalk and he must be capable of going close and is a worthy favourite.
Noverre to Go was beaten fair and square by Take Ten last time out and I think it will need an improved effort from him to win this.
Angel's Pursuit hasnt run for a while and Little Garcon will need to have improved further from his Ascot win and although they are both good animals to have on your sid,e today may not be their day.
Arganil who was so consistent on the AW last season has been dissapointing of late but he would be a major threat if back on song and Rowe Park and Run for the Hills would appear to be just making up the numbers.
It's a tight little race but I like the look of Arabian Mirage at 12/1 for Brian Meehan she looks sure to get a decent pace and could be able to extend her polytrack record to 3-3 but there will be several coming with late runs here and luck could play a big part.

Racing Dreams or Real Adventures !

You may, or may not, have wondered who the horse is that is pictured winning at the top of this page, well it is Turn on the Style who is shown winning at the Dubai festival. I'm glad to say that I have a share in the old boy who is now trying to recover from an injury which resulted from that very race. He has been an excellent horse to be involved with over the years and he has surpassed all my expectations as a shareholder with his 10 victories. I have been involved with several other not so glorious horses in the past, however I'm glad to say it didnt dampen my enthusiasm and there is no better sight in racing than watching your own horse win and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is potentially interested.

Of course you may say well where do I start, how do I go about it or who do I have a horse with. Well there are several well known racing clubs about and one that strikes me as decent value is the Middleham Park Racing Club which seems to have a steady flow of good horses at affordable prices with top trainers and a look at their website is advised. It maybe however that you are already local to a racing yard and it is well worth getting in contact with them and seeing if they have any shares for sale or horses for lease. Turn on the Style is in a syndicate run by Paul Clarkson who is a racecourse announcer in the North of England and he often has shares available in syndicates that he runs and he can be contacted via his website http://www.lancashireracingstables.co.uk/
If you do live in the North West area like me then a trainer who is doing well with a small amount of horses is Paul Green in Lydiate and you can fnd him at http://www.paulgreenracehorsetrainer.com/

So there you have a few names to conjure with and to see what they have got on offer, who knows next summer or winter you may be leading your own horse into the winners enclosure if you are lucky enough to find a good one !

Golden Rose Stakes at Lingfield this Saturday

Well there is not much to write about sprinting wise at this time of the year but weve had a very good time of it on the AW recently so we can't complain.

This Saturday sees Lingfield stage the Listed Golden Rose Stakes over 6f and it should have a competitive field going to post. Sir Michael Stoute has entered the useful filly Enact and there are also entries for Hitchens, Little Garcon, Noverre to Go, Piscean and the Irish challenger Tweedy. The latter has won a couple of races at Dundalk recently and seems to prefer to dominate so they will be wanting a rail draw in this. Enact has only run twice this season and her run at Newmarket was her best when 2nd to Hawkeyethenoo and that race contained several horses in behind who performed well throughout the season. Being by Kyllachy I cant see the polytrack being a problem and it all depends on whether she is fit enough to do herself justice. Noverre to Go was beaten fair and square at Dundalk by Take Ten and its a suprise that he is not in this race as he would surely have gone close. Hitchens looked to be stretched behind Invincible Ash over 5f at Dundalk when 2nd and this distance should suit him a lot better and he should be in the shake up. Run for the Hills has his 2nd run for Roger Charlton so could be open to some improvement but even so I'd be suprised if he was good enough for this. Piscean has been a revelation back on the AWand he was unlucky at Wolverhampton the other day and granted a clear passage he might get back into winning ways once again. The best off at the weights where he to take his chance would be Richard Hannon's 3yo Angel's Pursuit, but on his only run on the AW, when he was 2, he finished last of 7
The race was won last year by Jaconet so it will take a decent one to take the spoils this time around and it will be interesting to see who the final twelve are and their draw positions when the declarations are made on Thursday.

Meanwhile the 4.40 at Wolverhampton on Thursday over 5f looks as though it could be a match between the two well drawn market leaders ANGELO POLIZIANO and GRAND STITCH who both have recent winning form over this course and distance. The latter has gone up a fair bit for his 2 wins and although he had his last race sewn up by half way he may set it up for ANGELO POLIZIANO this time who has the cheek pieces on once again. However it's not a race to get too worked up about and I wouldnt be putting my last £1 on it !

On a different note Pires looks an interesting runner at Wolverhampton on Friday night for Tony Martin with Fallon booked. He was a running on 3rd in the Cambridgeshire over 9f at Newmarket last time out off a mark of 89 and he runs off 93 here. The trip of 1m 4f should hold no terror's as a he ia a useful dual purpose performer and afer his run at Newmarket the trainer suggested he might take his chance in the Greatwood Hurdle last Sunday but he wasnt entered. He will probably be a skinny price and he has the admirable Nanton to beat.

Piscean to record hat trick of wins ?

Piscean has a great chance this afternoon to extend his AW winning sequence to 3 when he contests the Class 3 5f Handicap at Wolverhampton. He isnt well drawn but there should be a good pace on from Cayman Fox and he should be able to be produced late by his jockey to take the spoils. The race itself doesnt look as competitive as the last one he won and he seems to go well on this surface.

Take Ten to take all !

Take Ten turns out for the Class 2 6f Handicap at Lingfield on Saturday for which he looks to have a good chance of winning, he looked an improved performer on the AW when he won last time out at Dundalk and here is what I wrote about him after that :-

Dundalk next for the 6f Handicap on 29th October and this was dominated by the 2 English raiders Take Ten and Noverre to Go. The latter has shown good form on turf during the year and he finished 2nd on the far side in the Wokingham off 98 (7th overall) and he was 2nd on the far side again in the Stewards Cup also off 98 (5th overall), he was running off 97 here. He struggled though to keep tabs on Mark Johnston's Take Ten who adopted the usual front running role from stall 1 for this stable. He was always in command and was value for more than he won by here and as a result our GB handicapper has assessed the race and stuck him up 10lb to a mark of 93, which is about what he was at the begining of the season. If he is kept to this surface then you couldnt rule out further improvement, he has only run once on the AW before when he was 5th behind Mac's Power who went on to destroy the field in his next race. Mark Johnston who probably would be honest and say he has no aspirations to be a sprint trainer could have an improver in Take Ten on this surface.


He will probably have most to fear from Arganil who has a top AW record, 7 wins from 10 runs and his AW rating has dropped 6lb since his last run at Dundalks all weather track.
However if Take Ten sets out to make all it is difficult to see what will beat him.

Wentworth Stakes at Doncaster

Well the winning run can't go on forever, I'm well aware of that, but this is a decent race and there are a few going into it that ran well last time and are now at double figure odds.
At the head of the betting are Inler and Mac's Power and the latter has shown progressive form of late for his trainer James Fanshawe who is also in rare form himself. Mac's Power is best over 6f and he doesnt mind a bit of cut and last time out he won with something in hand but he's gone up 7lb for that. Inler has been running over 7f and he might be up against with these experienced handicappers although Fallon rides so you cant totally discount.
However you have to remember this is a Listed race and over half of the field are out of their depth.
Anglezarke finished 6th beaten 2 1/4 lengths by Hoof It last time out over 5f here, when she was doing all her best work at the finish and the 2nd Noble Lord won easily at Southwell today. As Ive said she was really flying at the finish there and she has a first time visor fitted to sharpen her up now and 20/1 represents a bit of value as she could run into a place, however stable jockey Paul Hanagan will certainly be looking for winners on the last day and he has picked Kaldoun Kingdom who won over course and distance first time out this season and being rated 103 he has the class and experience to go well and stall 1 could be the place to be, however wherever he finishes Hitchens mightnt be to far away on their Ayr Gold Cup meeting.
R Woody is another that is improving at the right time of the year and he too is a decent price at 25/1 but his inexperience might let him down in this.
However Tax Free is always one that is consistent in this type of race and I expect to see him run his to his best and he must be involved in the finish.
Doncaster Rover has been running in much better races than this and first time blinkers are sure to light him up and he wont mind the ground.
Cheveton was 4th in the Doncaster race that Hoof It won and he too remains at the top of his game when there is cut and that is what he will get here but his best form mightnt be good enough for this.
It's a tricky end of season race and very difficult to pick the winner, but I'm not going to duck it and I will go with Kaldoun Kingdom, and I can see Anglezarke, Mac's Power, Hitchens and Tax Free fighting out the places.

Win, Win, Win !!

When Viv Nicholson won the football pools in the early sixties a reporter asked her what she was going to do with all the money she had won and she famously said "I'm going to Spend, Spend, Spend". Although she won £150,000.00 it's nothing like the 120 million you can win on Eurmillions these days and in any event anyone winning now would be more likely to say "I'm going to Save, Save Save" and after the good run of results for the blog in this last week maybe some of you will be able to say the latter.
Although Piscean, Sutton Veny and Anne of Kiev all came from the same race at Kempton a few weeks ago, what it shows us is that top form always prevails barring accidents and mistakes. The good thing about that Kempton race was it was run in a course record time and I have often said in the past what more a can a horse do than win in a course record time, how can it prove itself to be any better ? does it have to break the course record again. Certainly if a horse is carrying 9-10 when running on the flat and breaks a course record, then what else can it do ? It can't carry anymore weight whatever the class of race it's in and there is only 1 course record for each distance at each track, so surely it will always run well against all opposition given the same sort of conditions, if it is fit and well.
Can winning on the horses be as simple as that or do you need to pay a couple of hundred, or thousand even, for information that supposedly gives you a better chance of winning ?
Certainly the punter has never been in a better age for information than he is now with all and sundry being readily available to him whenever he needs it. I remember back at the end of the sixties when you had to turn on Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon at about 4.40pm to see the results of the races from that day and some days they didnt even put the results up, so you would be right miffed because other than going to the betting shop there was very little other way of finding out what the results actually where, Those were the days of no information, but you still managed to pick winners.
So horse racing doesnt have to be over complicated, there is no secret formula to work out, just viewing a race yourself can provide you with a lot of the required information that you can use to your own advantage, just like that Kempton race were the form has worked out and the winners have followed each other one by one.
So get looking on the various platforms for viewing races, narrow down your specialism, keep a record of what you see and hey presto your nearly there !

Noble Storm to Lord it ?

You would have to think that Noble Strom has excellent prospects of winning Southwells 3.30 over 5f as it is all about whether you can act on this surface and we know he can from his 2nd to Captain Dunne two runs ago when he was at the head of affairs throughout. Since then he has run his best race of the season at Doncaster when pipped by 1/4 of a length by Hoof It and he seems to be on the up at the moment. He is now 4lb higher as a result of that run and 9lb higher than his Southwell run but he is at the top of his game and the trainer and jockey know how to handle a good sprinter or two.
Of course it's not all plain sailing and Rowe Park is 2-2 at the track, his last win was here was in October 2009 off a mark of a 102 and he was only beaten 6 lengths last time out in a Group 2 at Goodwood, although that was 99 days ago and he hasnt got a history of running well after a break to date.
Love Delta won 3 times here earlier in the year and he's recently had a run after a 5 month break and he brings about the best course and distance time into the race. He had only just turned 3 by a month when he cloocked that and he could be open to further improvement on this surface given the stable's continuing good form, however he has 10lb to find on Noble Storm's handicap rating.
I posed a question to Mark Johnston his trainer a few years ago as to why he doesnt have more AW runners when most of his horses are American bred, of course he did answer that in no uncertain fashion by winning the following years AW trainer's championship !
Anyway Noble Storm should have the edge, although I can see Love Delta giving him a good run for his money.