The week that was in the amazing world of horse racing.
A sad note to start this weeks review with as I have just heard the news that Julian Wilson passed way today at the age of 73. The BBC’s racing correspondent for 32 years (that is some career), he came from another era where a distinctive voice was imperative yet crossed over to the main stream with ease, thanks to his enthusiasm and knowledge of the sport – RIP Julian, I doubt we see your like again.
Moving on to the horses and I promised a little look at last week’s Newmarket cards and I am a man of my word, starting with Folk Melody who was never put in the race with a chance in the Nell Gwyn Stakes by Mickael Barzalona. The winner of her only previous race, she had been working well enough at home to expect a bold show by all accounts but after a tardy start wasn’t exactly knocked about over a trip that may well have been too short for her – she is well worth considering for the rest of the season though if not overfaced by connections of course?
From a personal perspective, I am rather hoping Mull Of Killough was winning the Earl Of Sefton Stakes for the second year in a row as a pre race for the Singapore Airlines International where I would be hoping he can run a better race than last year (fifth at 18/1) and make it in to the frame. I plan to back him each way if he does (he won in a faster time this season), and with no offence to Jane Chapple-Hyam or likely jockey Adam Kirby, the fact that neither are household names in Asia only makes the price bigger than it should be based on pure form.
Lastly for those who ran well, do keep an eye out for John Gosden’s maiden filly Solar Magic who ran an absolute blinder to finish third at odds of 16/1. With the stable bang in form I was amazed to see her go off at that price which only shows how much she needed the run, in which case her run here was even more remarkable. She will surely win her maiden at the very least (its hard to tell if this maiden had any depth as yet), and even one win could quickly show us a profit.
Finally for today, congratulations are in order to both Seamus Mullins and Suzy Smith who had a day to remember at Plumpton on Sunday. Neither would consider themselves in the big league yet Seamus banged in a 155/1 treble courtesy of The Informant (9/4), Fergall (7/1), and Flugzeug (5/1), while Suzy, who trains near the course at Lewes, sent her fans home even happier with a 545/1 double (Azabitmour 25/1 and She’s Noble 20/1) – nice work if you can get it.
Next Week: Bet365 Gold Cup Chase card review – the end of the 2014 jump season as we know it!
