AINTREE GRAND NATIONAL DAY -- SATURDAY 9th APRIL 2016

This coming weekend it's The Grand National at Aintree, the biggest and most watched steeplechase contest there is. If you going then good luck and hope you enjoy a wonderful time. 





Like millions of others I will not be going and instead catching it on Ch4 TV. They've changed the timing of this years race so it's near the end of the card, I can only assume this is to try and gain a bigger TV audience. 

The forecast going is SOFT now and this 4m 2f+ trip will take some getting in that ground, but hopefully not as desperate as the year Red Marauder won when only 4 horses finished the course (and two of those had to remount to complete). 


Last years winner MANY CLOUDS (left) is likely to be favourite to achieve a repeat success unless plenty of money comes in for something else. 
Of course we all know that winning twice let alone back to back hasn't been done since Red Rum in the early 1970's but he's in good form and young enough to still have some improvement in him over this unique test. 

There's a feast of good jumping before we get to the main event towards the end of the card, we will have a brief look through these when the final declarations are out and give some selections for the accompanying races.


13.45 The Aintree Handicap Hurdle (Grade 3) 3m ½f
Wide open contest to open, no short prices here (unlike next few races), will give SQUOUATEUR another chance having been well supported at Cheltenham. 

And at a decent EW price MINELLA DADDY.


14.25 The EZ Trader Mersey Novices' Hurdle (Grade 1) 2m 4f

The next few races feature extremely long odds on favs, such as YORKHILL here who is unbeaten under rules including recent wins in G1 company. 

With only the 7 runners there's not much room for an alternative so the forecast selection is LE PREZIEN from the Paul Nicholls yard. 

15.00 The Doom Bar Maghull Novices' Steeple Chase (Grade 1) 2m
A simple enough task on paper for DOUVAN and will be very very short odds to supplement his win at Cheltenham here.

At a decent EW price for the place money could be worth looking at FOX NATION who was third behind Douvan in the Arkle three weeks ago.


15.40 The Liverpool Stayers' Hurdle (Grade 1) 3m ½f
Another small field expected with THISTLECRACK looking fairly unbeatable here based on all runs this season and a cosy win in the Stayers at Cheltenham. 

The forecast bet is with DIFFERENT GRAVEY but the jolly should prevail with a clear round of jumping.


16.20 The Betfred Handicap Steeple Chase (Listed) 3m 1f
A 15 runner Listed Chase now, no 4 places of course, so we'll pick two to win versus the field. These are Mick Channon's WARDEN HILL one who hasn't been seen out for a year but has been in my notebook since some excellent runs last year. 

And the yard also has KNOCK HOUSE so will have them both running for me and with Nina Carberry on board we have a good chance with a jockey who has good experience around this course.


17.15 The Crabbie's Grand National Steeple Chase (Grade 3) 4m 2½f

And now for the BIG ONE, 40 runners declared for a 4m 2f+ marathon over two circuits of this unique course and 30 fences to be jumped in all.

Last years' winner MANY CLOUDS takes his chance again this year looking to emulate Red Rum in winning consecutive renewals, certainly has a favourites chance for his connections and it would give Leighton Aspell a third win in a row too. 

Would love to see him win again, though top weight is a big ask so am going with both GALLANT OSCAR / KRUZHLININ the latter would be giving Richard Johnson his overdue success in this race. 

And if you want a really BIG punt on a massive price outsider (with a chance) then ROCKY CREEK at 100/1 from Paul Nicholls yard is the one, multiple winner over longer trips in excess of 3m+ and has raced over these fences a few times before. Has the same look as Comply or Die about him, worth a look at massive odds. Enjoy


18.10 The Pinsent Masons Handicap Hurdle (cond' and amat') (Class 2) 2m ½f

Very much an event after the lord mayors' show, a race for conditional and amateurs to end with and a race that could go to anyone ... 22 runners, not a race for me but will have a little win/place wager on SGT RECKLESS to complete the Mick Channon team here today.

Have a wonderful weekend.   

KEMPTON PARK RACES 2016 -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #14 6th APRIL

Last week we dropped another 7 points which has quickly taken us up to -24 points loss overall. Hopefully after an Easter break and with no other distractions we can get back on track. At least the places paid a little bit and the LAY bets are also still losing (or winning, depending on your view) things will turn in our favour soon I'm certain.

As always our focus will be on the handicap contests for each meeting but will occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too. Keeping records of our endeavours to a 1pt level stake at SP, naturally we will personally be looking to get better odds but for the purpose of the results we record to SP.

We will keep up with our occasional lay opportunity of short priced favourites and as a result of yet another successful lay last week we have a success rate of 6 from 6. Results for this will be kept separately too and hopefully we can remain at 100% for a long while yet.

This week there's a 7 race card on offer, 5 of which are handicaps and the meeting gets under-way at 17:45 with a 7f maiden event and our opening handicap will be off at 18:15 again over 7f.

Here is a link to the evenings race card;
http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/meeting/kempton-park/06-04-2016/fast-cards

The going on the polytrack surface as usual is described as Standard and the current weather forecast is for a patchy day with some clouds and small chance of the odd shower however its a nice evening and the temperature is likely to remain at about 14C in the evening.

Here are our selections for this weeks handicaps;

18:15 -- 7f Handicap.
The second race on the card is our opening handicap event and there's some top yards represented here tonight. 

John Gosden runs DANGEROUS THOUGHT [N/R] and Andrew Balding has VISCOUNT BARFIELD [WON 4/1] both ran in the same maiden event here a few weeks ago and there's unlikely to be much between them again tonight.



19:15 -- 1m 3f Handicap (3yo).
Not a huge amount to go on as most only have a few bits of 2yo maiden form to speak of. 

The likes of Frivolous Prince and Zebedee's Son have had enough chances to win but always found at least one too good, I will be chancing the pair HARRY'S ENDEAVOUR [6th 10/1] / FRENCH LEGEND [7th 9/1] to show some improvement for the step into Handicap company.


19:45 -- 1m 3f Handicap.
Just the 6 here for this event, and features our next LAY bet with LORD GEORGE [LOST 2nd 6/4F] the paper fav, winner of a Wolves maiden over a mile last year, steps up in class and trip and while possibly plenty of improvement expected has to be taken on here first time out. 

Dual course winner JAZZY [5th 12/1] has already won a maiden and a handicap this term, so fitness and the ability to both see the trip out as well as acting on the surface is already proven and we'll back this colt along with laying the fav.



20:15 -- 6f Handicap.
Our sprint handicap can go to the consistent AW performer PYROCLASTIC [9th 6/1], who's a regular here and at Lingfield and while hasn't been in front that often is not usually very far away apart from one poor effort at Lingfield. 

May have only been 8th last time here but was only 2L behind the winner in a big bunch finish and should be a reasonable price along with veteran NOVERRE TO GO [8th 25/1] who despite being a 10yo now and closing in on a century of runs still retains a fair bit of ability at this level. Placed at Brighton and Nottingham last year, had a couple of runs this season and dropped a few pounds so has possibilities.


20:45 -- 1m Handicap.
The concluding handicap has 14 declared, BOOKMAKER [4th 8/1] has won 5 races including around here in February, only a few pounds higher and could still have another race in him, should be thereabouts. 

The 11yo PALACE MOON [8th 12/1] has won better races in the past but still retains some ability winning at Lingfield a month ago, is a decent price and could be worth another go tonight.


Staked --  9 points
Returns -- 6 points (*so far, 4/1 winner and N/r in the 18:15).

Loss c/f  -- -27 Points

Lays -- 7/7 (Still 100%, another beaten fav tonight).

Tonight's results are in and it's another lose sadly, only -3 but it's adding up to -27 points down for the season so far. On the positive side though the LAY was successfully and that's still going well getting the short favourites beaten.

PONTEFRACT HORSE RACING SYSTEM -- 2016 TURF SEASON -- PART ONE

PONTEFRACT SEASON 2016

[TUESDAY 5th APRIL]

Their 1st Meeting of the new flat season ...

And welcome one and all to the 2016 turf season at Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Our annual system gets under way this Tuesday and will be run throughout the flat season following horses drawn in stalls 1 and 2 with selections and forecast bets.

All results for this meeting are returned to a level stake at SP, and will also show any forecast results too in the daily results but these do not count for the profit / loss figures.

Our first meeting of the 2016 Season, takes place on Tuesday afternoon and is now an eight race card starting at 2pm with the first division of the mile handicap event.

The forecast going is currently reported as 'Good' the weather for Tuesday is for a warm and sunny day in the most part, could be a few drops of rain in the afternoon but for April is not too bad top temp is 14C during racetime.

Here are our selections for Tuesday afternoon, remember it's a very simple selection process of stalls 1 and 2 in every race;

2:00 1m 4y Handicap (Div 1).
ADVENTUREMAN   [8th 12/1]
MOPS ANGEL   [5th 10/1]


2:35 1m 2f 6y Maiden (3yo).
BROROCCO   [6th 11/10F]
FOUR MILE BEACH   [3rd 9/2]


3:10 6f Handicap (3yo).
FLYING PURSUIT   [N/R]
ANCIENT ASTRONAUT   [4th 9/2]


3:45 2m 1f 216yds Handicap (Stayers Championship Series).
MADAM LILIBET   [3rd 7/1]
ROC DE PRINCE   [N/R]


4:20 1m 2f 6yds Handicap.
LORD BEN STACK    [5th 5/2F]
MASTER OF FINANCE    [WON 11/4]


4:55 6f Fillies Maiden (3yo).
THANKYOU STARS    [N/R]
WOWCHA.    [WON 15/8F]


5:25 1m 4yds Handicap (Div 2).
ALL YOU    [N/R]
GONE WITH THE WIND.    [4th 6/1]


5:55 1m 2f 6yds Apprentice Handicap.
ASTRA HALL    [WON 3/1]
FARHAM    [N/R]


Staked -- 16 points
Returned -- 15.625 points (3 Winners, 5 Non Runners) 
Loss -- -0.375 points 
Results will appear here on Tuesday evening and our next meeting will be on Monday 18th April.

Have a good day.

PONTEFRACT RACES 2016 SEASON