The 2017 turf flat season got underway at Doncaster on Saturday with the traditional curtain raiser the Lincoln Handicap. It certainly began on a high with some really big fields and plenty of the big Newmarket yards having runners. It was good to see the likes of John Gosden, Sir Michael Stoute, Saeed bin Suroor, Charlie Appleby and Roger Varian all having early runners at the two day fixture.

Sadly there is only one turf meeting between now and next Monday which is a real shame. I do think the flat season starts too early and it would be better if Doncaster got underway on the Saturday before Newmarket’s Craven Meeting. What do you think, does the Flat season start too early?

All the horse racing action turns back to the jumps with the Aintree Grand National Festival getting underway on Thursday. I am in the process of doing plenty of form study for the Aintree Festival and with the weather set to stay fair the meeting will likely be going ahead on decent ground, although given safety concerns the Grand National will still go ahead on good to soft going however dry it is this week. We will probably never see a Grand National run on officially good ground, never mind good to firm ground that Mr Frisk won the 1990 Grand National on breaking the course record in the process.

Bravery Lands Lincoln for O’Meara

Well done to trainer David O’Meara who landed the first big handicap of the flat season as his runner Bravery won the Lincoln Handicap under a fine ride from the underrated Danny Tudhope. Drawn stands side in 20 he was switched at the start and raced far side towards where the action was going to unfold.

The 4 year old was having his first start for the trainer since being brought out of the Aiden O’Brien yard and underlined again his handler’s ability to improve a horse after a stable switch. Bravery who hadn’t fulfilled expectations with his previous trainer had run well enough in last years Irish 2000 Guineas and in the French Derby to suggest that he could be racing off a workable mark, if the drop back to a mile didn’t inconvenience and so it proved.

The son of Galileo will no doubt be heading for pattern races sooner rather than later and we know what the trainer has done with the likes of Custom Cut and Mondaliste in recent seasons.

One For The Tracker:

This week’s horse for your notebooks comes from the Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster. In fact there are two to take from the race.

Master Carpenter trained by Rod Millman didn’t have a great 2016 and hasn’t won a race since landing valuable John Smiths Cup at York over 1m 2f back in the Summer of 2015. He was set some stiff tasks in listed and group company last season but starts this one off a 5lb lower mark then his York win. The 6 year old wasn’t helped by his draw on the stands side with most of the action being middle to low. He ran better than his 12th placing suggests though as he was only beaten 4 lengths at the finish and was noted staying on nicely enough at the finish despite his high draw.

He is back down to a winning mark and I think there are races in him, especially when he steps back up in trip.

The Richard Fahey trained Dolphin Vista was also staying on well at the finish to grab 5th. This was the four year olds first run since a gelding operation and he looks capable of progressing further this year with this race under his belt. On this sort of going a mile is too short for him, he did win over two furlong further at Beverley last year, and he can win races when he steps up in trip or gets softer underfoot conditions than he faced here.

Stat Corner:

In this weeks Stats Corner I will take a brief look at the Aintree Festival and a trainer whose runners should be noted this week before looking at the Monday racing action which doesn’t look the best to be honest.

Last week’s Monday Selection Clondaw Bisto was a non runner which was the second successive non runner. Hopefully we can make it third time lucky today and have a runner.

Monday Selection

Ludlow

2:30 – Roc D’Apsis – The 8 year old is back down to his last winning mark and was fair 3rd over C&D 32 days ago. Hasn’t really fired on his four starts this season but shouldn’t be too far away today. His trainer Tom George has an excellent record at Ludlow with his handicap chasers. If we focus in on his runners in Class 3 handicap chases he is:

12 winners from 37 runners 32% +20.01 A/E 1.64 22 places 59%

Looking at those runners starting 9/1 & under in the betting he is;

12 winners from 32 runners 37% +25.01 A/E 1.7 22 places 69%

Roc D’Apsis – win – 4/1

Randox Aintree Grand National

For what its worth I might as well share my Grand National shortlist with you. There are five on my shortlist at the moment, Highland Lodge, One For Arthur, Vicente and Thunder And Roses & Rogue Angel..

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All that’s left now is to wish you an enjoyable Aintree Grand National Festival and profitable weeks betting

Thanks
John