Business as usual....

Thursday, 8th August 2024

Business as usual….

Reader DB was in touch yesterday to ask….

“…. are you discontinuing the current service and just doing the Friday Extra in its stead?”

Of course, it’s very nice to be missed….

…. but the racing is relentless….

…. especially across the summer months….

…. and I don’t get to take off meaningful chunks of time owing to that demanding schedule….

Occasionally it’s nice to have a couple of days to myself though….

…. because everybody needs a break….

…. and everybody has other things going on in their lives….

Normal service is resumed this morning….

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Happy days….

I hope you’ll agree that Glorious Goodwood turned out pretty well….

…. on the back of an equally successful July meeting at Newmarket….

I had hoped to bag a third winner at Goodwood on the Friday or the Saturday….

…. but it wasn’t to be….

I was particularly disappointed not to strike in Saturday’s Stewards’ Cup….

…. in which Apollo One and Billyjoh ran BIG races to finish 2nd and 3rd….

In a field that size to get both selections into the frame is pleasing – in one sense at least….

…. but there’s a fair level of disappointment attached to the outcome too….

When you get both selections running so deep into such a big race….

…. you kind of want, hope, or need one of them to get its head in front….

…. but Get In stuck it out well from the front-end and simply wasn’t for being overhauled….

Billyjoh’s performance was particularly impressive given that his placing was achieved from stall 4….

…. whilst the other five horses that made the first six had all emerged from stall 20 or bigger….

The high numbers had a big edge and Michael Appleby’s horse ran a belter despite being up against it….

The first-time cheekpieces helped him produce what was a career-best 106 on the Racing Post rating scale….

…. and whilst he’s gone up a pound to 96 for the defeat….

…. he remains in the form of his life – the kind of form he might never regain once the level dips (as it inevitably will)….

…. and he remains of considerable interest in the weeks ahead….

The only problem with him now is going to be the price – because he’s well and truly on the market radar….

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The best bet of the week?

It was a week of winners and placers….

…. and looking at the bare results you might make the case that the big disappointment was Classic in Friday’s Golden Mile….

…. who could only finish 6th of the 16th runners – beaten 3.5 lengths….

But he ran a cracker too in my opinion….

That was another race….

…. albeit this time around the bends….

…. in which horses running out of high-numbered stalls were dominant….

For Classic to finish where he did from stall 3….

…. given that he also met with trouble in running….

…. required a really good performance….

The handicapper’s dropped him a pound for his trouble….

…. and he’s one to keep on the right side of….

In terms of the best bet of the week….

…. or at least the most pleasing bet….

…. you might expect me to focus on the one of the winners….

…. but Premier Ligne in the Goodwood Handicap is the bet that I’d pick out….

Nobody fancied him….

…. nobody mentioned him….

…. and – as far as anybody else was concerned – he was a make-the-numbers-up runner racing over a mile further than he’d gone previously….

Of course, we know the result – he finished 2nd of the 18 beaten 1.75 lengths….

It’s not a win – but it was a very satisfying pick for me….

…. one of those read-between-the-lines picks that defy figures, form and all the other predominant metrics and data that punters use to find selections….

…. one of those picks that relies on intuition and antenna more than anything rational or concrete….

Yes, I was particularly pleased with that one – and I don’t mind telling you….

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Breaking a cycle….

This weekend it’s the Shergar Cup at Ascot….

…. a card I normally ignore….

…. a weekend I usually sit out….

Long-term readers know that I’ve had a lot to say about this team event in the past….

…. none of it good….

…. and none of it that I would retract….

But I’m breaking a cycle this weekend….

…. I’m going to play the Shergar Cup handicaps – or at least some of them….

…. because I can do no other….

When you’re in the kind of form that I’m in right now….

…. when you’re seeing it well….

…. when you’re lighting on horses that run deep in these big fields….

…. when you’re finding winners and placers galore….

…. it’s not a time to sit on the sidelines practicing your transcendental meditation techniques….

Instead, it’s a time to press on, put the foot to the floor, and get the money….

…. and that’s what I intend to do….

Like I say, it’s back to business as usual….

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That’s all for today….

Back tomorrow….

Meantime – contact me direct at – nick.pullen@oxonpress.co.uk  

Stay tuned….

Against the Crowd