Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Odds and sods

The news that Ruby Walsh has elected to ride Kauto Star in the Cheltenham Gold Cup leaves the way clear for Sam Thomas to partner Denman in Saturday's Aon Chase at Newbury.

On a day when the weights for this year's Grand National have generated plenty of discussion, I thought I'd check the current state of play with this year's contestants for the John Smith's People's Race which will be run on the same day. Of the original thirty two hopefuls, fourteen have won a place 'in training'. You can only be impressed by the commitment and bravery of these rookie riders; those of you who think riding a racehorse is as easy as falling out of a taxi should take a look at the trouble jockey Richard Thomas had on the way to the start a couple of years ago.

Donald McCain seemed sweet on Ice Tea's chance at the Festival in a recent Weekender 'Straight From The Stable' article. Ice Tea will certainly be worth keeping in mind given that he finished behind the well-regarded Joe Lively earlier in the season and last year the stable won the Kim Muir.

The Racing Post tissue prices up Kim Bailey's The Good Guy at a tempting 12/1 in tomorrow's opener at Ludlow. The horse finished second to Hold Em in a bumper on his first run of the season and then failed to see out the two mile five trip on good to soft next time. The switch back to two miles here should suit but the softer conditions may not; I'll consider an each way wager in the morning.

1 comment:

GeeDee said...

The Good Guy (13/2) proved anything but, running an absolute stinker. Leading to the sixth, he weakened quickly to finish tailed off. BTW, 12/1 was never available.