Hi all,
Oh boy, it was hot yesterday. Hottest day of the year in my neck of the woods. I was at Pontefract on Monday afternoon, and in hindsight, I wish I hadn’t gone — it was just too hot. Small fields all day, but given how quick the ground was, that wasn’t surprising.
Five of the seven races went to the favourite, so backers of the jolly were on good terms with themselves.
The standout on the day was Wujjood, a William Haggas-trained filly. The daughter of Sea The Stars built on her promising debut 15 days earlier by making all to win the mile novice. She got an easy lead, but I liked her attitude — much more professional this time. On pedigree, she should stay 1m2f and she clearly handles firm ground well.
Future Winners
There wasn’t much to get excited about from a tracker point of view at Ponte, but I’ve added a couple from Sunday’s Irish Derby card at the Curragh:
Love Billy Boy – Gerard O’Leary
Was going for the hat-trick in the Premier Handicap and came within ¾ length of pulling it off. An unlucky loser, he didn’t get a clear run 1f out but came home well. He proved his stamina for a mile and will go up for this, but he’s going the right way. The Irish Cambridgeshire over C&D is a likely target. As will likely be the case for third-placed State Actor, who didn’t get the clearest run either and was a close-up second in last year’s Irish Cambridgeshire.
Zoffman – Noel Meade
Posted a seasonal best when a never-nearer 4th in the Ragusa Handicap. Didn’t have the smoothest trip and not the best of runs 1f out. He just lacked the speed to get closer on the good to firm going. Best form has come with ease. He’s 2-25 on the flat so not the easiest to win with, but he’s well enough handicapped to strike when things fall right.
Beautify Stakes Classic Claims
On Saturday, we might have seen a future Classic filly in Beautify. The daughter of Wootton Bassett took a big step forward from her stable debut to win the Group 2 Airlie Stud Stakes, beating the previously unbeaten Lady Iman. Looking at her pedigree, it’s impressive Beautify was able to win over 6f — a step up to 7f beckons. I think she’ll win a Group 1 this season, and she shapes like a miler and even further next year. Aidan O’Brien has a smart filly on his hands, and I’ve already had a tenner on Beautify for the 1,000 Guineas at 20/1 with William Hill. If I’m right, that price won’t be around for long.
Final Word
There’s been plenty said about the Irish Derby Festival and Sunday’s handicap-heavy card. Even Aidan O’Brien weighed in to defend the meeting and criticise the negative comments. But the numbers don’t lie. Just over 11,000 attended Derby Day this year. In 1979, it was over 30,000. What other major sport has seen such a dramatic fall in attendances?
In Wednesday’s column I will be looking ahead to Saturday’s Group 1 Coral Eclipse at Sandown.
Good luck with your Wednesday bets.
John
Just an observation regarding the Derby because quite a few of the usual ignoramuses go on about falling attendance numbers.
The reason for this is obvious. When the Derby was regularly run on a Wednesday it had actually become a bit of a holiday. Everybody watched it and had a bet. Then the quite unintelligent people in charge of racing thought it was a good idea to move the Derby to Saturday. This was one of the most imbecilic ideas ever. Being a Saturday event the Derby had to compete with a number of other sports events taking place on the same day and as a result the Derby has now become a “forgotten” event. It does not even attract attention in the media. What happened was an act of outstanding stupidity.
It seems that everyone is talking about the diminishing attendance at races. Surely the blame me must lie at the feet of the race planners and the bookmakers. Bookmakers want more and more meetings to feed the online gamblers but the Race planners in ther effort to appease the Bookmakers there are too many fixtures too close to each other. Transport links are usually pretty good and this widens the catchment area, this means that the number of people that can attend meetings is on some days spread across three meetings within a few miles of each other.
There is no chance of meetings attracting more people because there are too many opportunities for race goers to to