With all weather racing growing in both quantity and quality I decided to include it in my daily racing diary during the 2005/2006 season.
I didn’t publish a list to follow but I did have a rough list in my mind, made up of horses that I had followed on the flat together with a few all weather specialists.
Celtic Mill was my first successful tip when winning a decent 5 furlong handicap at Southwell in mid November at 7/2. David Barker’s sprinter had first come to my attention with his exploits on the all weather when he won 3 times at Wolverhampton in the winter of 2002. He has been in the news for one reason or another since those days. He recorded the biggest win of his career in May 2005 when winning the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Sandown but a few weeks later suffered an horrific fall at the same track. He survived that and remains in good heart having won twice on turf since winning at Southwell.
The theory of following Sir Mark Prescott 3 year old “improvers” has served me so well in the past that I decided to stick with it on the sand. Amorist had been placed a couple of times on the turf and had shown enough promise to be of interest for an all weather campaign. He went on to win 3 of his 6 starts, the first two at Southwell and the last at Lingfield, all ridden by Jamie Mackay. His wins came at surprisingly generous odds as well, at 11/4, 13/8 and 11/2. He has since moved to Howard Johnson’s yard with a career over hurdles in prospect. He certainly looks the type to do well in that sphere.
Horses stick in your memory for a variety of reasons. Oldenway was my first winning bet in the 2003 flat season and when he turned up on the all weather I decided to follow his progress. Richard Fahey kept Oldenway on the go, running 8 times including appearances at all 3 tracks. Although he only won once, it was at 7/1, and he was also placed several times. His win came in a 14 furlong handicap and he has since won a couple of times on the turf.
If Oldenway stuck in my memory as a “landmark” winner, Local Poet is a horse I recall as one of my more spectacular losers! I had backed him at 25/1 in October 2003 in the Redcar two year old trophy and just switched on the TV in time to see him emerging from the fog to pull clear of his 22 rivals. My celebrations were cut short though as he was mugged on the line by a horse called Peak to Creek. In those days he was trained by Brian McMahon but by 2005 he had moved up to Scotland to Ian Semple’s stable. I had forgotten all about the horse until I read an interview with Semple referring to Local Poet as being “ridiculously well handicapped” so I decided to follow him. He proved an excellent choice winning 3 handicaps at odds of 7/1, 7/2 and 11/4.
Border Music was one of my big hopes as he had already shown that he was something of an all weather specialist, winning 3 times on the sand between August and October. Border Music has a touch of class as he showed when winning easily at Wolverhampton in a conditions race in March. He won again after the end of the winter season on the new track at Kempton – he certainly loves an artificial surface.
Dr Fong won 5 races during his career including the St James’s Stakes and now stands at stud. Not surprisingly some of his progeny have names associated with thongs! Dr Thong is trained by Paul Cole and was on my list to follow for the turf a year or two back. He won at 8/1 in a mile handicap at Lingfield on his debut on the all weather under Jimmy Fortune and won again at Southwell in September ’06 so is obviously a horse to consider on the sand.
Gentleman’s Deal was on my list to follow for the 2005 flat season when he was trained by Ed Dunlop but never actually ran. This chap is regally bred, and is out of classic winning filly Sleepytime. By the start of the all weather campaign he had moved to Mick Easterby’s yard and having shown considerable promise as a juvenile looked one to follow. He didn’t disappoint making his debut for his new stable on New Years Day at Southwell where he took a £20k handicap. He followed up at Wolverhampton a fortnight later landing another valuable handicap.
Kevin Ryan’s Bridgewater Boys had previously shown a liking for Wolverhampton and had slipped to an interesting mark. He duly won twice at Dunstall Park in 9 furlong handicaps. He only won by a neck and a short head but they all count and the starting prices were 11/2 and 4/1 so he proved a good horse to follow.
Gilded Cove lost his right eye in his younger days and can lose his bearings in races where he doesn’t have an outside draw but he is still a sprinter to be reckoned with on his day. He does particularly well at Wolverhampton and won there in November and March.
Gem Bien is no world beater but paid his way with a 12/1 win at Wolverhampton in December while Wahoo Sam was another that I followed that won at a big price, winning at 20/1 in a 7 furlong handicap at Wolverhampton.
Lincolnneurocruiser, trained by Norma McCauley had dropped to a reasonable mark and scored his first handicap win at Wolverhampton in January at 13/2.
Wessex had notched up a hat trick of wins in the previous all weather season and looked a horse to follow again. He didn’t disappoint, again scoring 3 times in sprint handicaps. He is at home on both all weather surfaces and is quite versatile as to trip.
Sands Crooner started the all weather season a maiden but showed he had ability when coming 6th in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot.
After a couple of failures at Southwell where his trainer reckoned the horse didn’t like the kick back he won a weak maiden at Wolverhampton despite getting a smack across the face from a rival jockey’s whip. He went on to win a couple of Lingfield handicaps.
Another prolific winner was Prettilini, who also started the season as a maiden. Prettilini only broke her duck at the 12th attempt in a weak maiden at Wolverhampton. She went on to surprise her detractors by picking up 3 small handicaps.
I will finish this review with the star of the horses that I followed during the season, Sri Diamond. Ridden by Keiren Fallon he won a valuable handicap at Lincoln at 10/1 from Wild Savannah in November, and went on to defy a career high mark when winning a similar race at the same track in February. His finest hour though was when winning the Winter Derby under an excellent ride from champion jockey Jamie Spencer at odds of 8/1.
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