I was interested to see that Mark Johnston’s Drumfire took the opener at Goodwood yesterday. The horse featured in book on 2 year olds that Paul Lincoln used to publish. Sadly the last of these annual publications on 2 year olds to follow was in 2006 as lack of support led Paul to discontinue the books.
I was a great fan of these annuals that pointed to the way to numerous winners both in the horse’s 2 year old campaigns and in later years. For example the 2006 book featured Just Dust a winner of 5 races that season including at odds of 10s and 25s. Others to feature that year were Conquest (winner of the Gimcrack and Stewards Cup), English Ballet (Sweet Solera Stakes), Hoh Mike (Group 3 winner), Indian Ink (2 Group 1s), Malt or Mash (November Handicap), Miss Otis (20/1 winner on debut) and the high class sprinter Sakhee’s Secret to name just a few. Amazingly the sales of this gem of a book were disappointing and it no longer appears on the book shelves.
Anyway, rant over. I enjoyed a fairly successful day at Goodwood yesterday but this afternoon things did not go so well with only Beyond Desire saving me from a complete whitewash.
The fun starts at Goodwood tomorrow at 2.10 with a 3 year old handicap that looks difficult to solve. It does have a very good record for winning favourites with 5 out of the last 10 years. In fact the biggest priced winner was 9/1 during that period. Following that trend I would suggest that we concentrate on Mirrored, Roman Republic and Hyades. All 3 ran in the Britannia with Mirrored coming out best in 3rd place. He has since finished 3rd at Sandown with Roman Republic again behind him. Roman Republic has since run at Newmarket where he was runner up to Firebet, yesterday’s winner. Hyades was a winner at Yarmouth earlier in the season on fast ground. If pushed to narrow it down to a single selction I would go for Mirrored although with the stable in good form Roman Republic might be worth an interest as well.
I looked at 3 for the 2.45. Siren’s Gift has a poor strike rate but is over priced at 50/1. Inxile is useful over the minimum trip but the percentage call is probably our old favourite Borderlescott who rarely runs a bad race.
With Marcus Tregoning back in form I will take a chance with his Askar Tau in the Goodwood Cup at 3.25.
Dark Mischief represents my list to follow in the 4.35 but he does seem to have lost his way a bit since winning at Newmarket back in April and it may be that the handicapper has got his measure for the moment. The 5.45 looks about as tricky as it gets and with the help of my trusty pin I have selected Northern Bolt and Invincible Lad.
At Epsom I will take a chance with the outsider of 4, Kattar, in the 8.05.
Today’s picture is courtesy of the artist Ruth Buchanan.
ahorse 