It was a fair day for horses from my list to follow on Sunday.
Tatenen confirmed his place at the head of the market for the Arkle with an impressive performance in the opener at Cheltenham. He stays 2 miles well and jumped with accuracy bar one fence which he got slightly wrong.
Aigle D’Or ran a cracker in the Greatwood Hurdle as he was giving lumps of weight to the winner, and the Alan King Pair of King’s Revenge and Squadron ran well in 3rd and 4th. This looks solid form.
Punchestowns absolutely dotted up for Barry Geraghty and he looks some prospect for chasing later. Mick Fitzpatrick is clearly very keen on him as well from his comments on TV.
Another horse with any amount of scope is Diamond Harry. Despite still showing signs of greenness he ran on strongly after the last to beat Howard Johnson’s Door Boy, who improved significantly from his win at Kelso last time. The pair look smart novices.
I was pleased to see Imperial Commander win the big race on Saturday as he is a horse that I have followed more or less since the start of his career. He really likes Cheltenham and there are more races to be won with him.
Over in Ireland Hardy Eustace was surely value at 14/1. The horse to take out of the race though is Sizing Europe who didn’t have the race run to suit. Jered is better on a sound surface.
At Cork on Sunday Robin Du Bois was the one that got away. I should have tipped him but allowed the “experts” to put me off!
At Fakenham tomorrow Laterly could be interesting in the 2.00. He is a three times winner on the flat including twice at 12 furlongs.
Another ex flat horse that I like is Backbord, trained by Lucy Wadham. In fact this horse won in listed company in Italy on the flat. He has not been very consistent over hurdles but when things go his way he is capable of winning.
Buffalo Bob has an each way chance in the 1.10 at Folkestone while if the heavens were to open I would fancy Chopneyev in the 2.40. He has won 7 times in his career, 4 on heavy ground and 3 on soft.
Today’s picture is courtesy of the artist Sally Martin.
See you tomorrow.
ahorse 