Wednesday 8 July 2009

8TH JULY 2009 KEMPTON

6.20 WEATHERBYS BETTRENDS.CO.UK APPRENTICE HANDICAP (ROUND 6) (CLASS 5)(4yo+ 0-70) Winner £2,590 11 runners 7f
91 Another Try
87 Global Village
84 Idle Power

6.50 EUROPEAN BREEDERS´ FUND MAIDEN FILLIES´ STAKES (CLASS 5)(2yo) Winner £3,886 11 runners 6f
86 Miss Lesley
85 Piccadilly Filly
38 Fairywater Grey

7.20 DIGIBET.COM HANDICAP (CLASS 4)(3yo+ 0-80) Winner £4,727 13 runners 1m3f
89 Inch Lodge
87 Aegean Prince
84 Fazbee

7.50 DIGIBET CASINO HANDICAP (CLASS 6)(3yo+ 0-58) Winner £2,047 13 runners 1m
91 Sovereignty
89 Mister Trickster
82 Spoof Master
82 Ugenius

8.20 DIGIBET LONDON MILE HANDICAP (LONDON MILE QUALIFIER) (CLASS 4)(3yo+ 0-80) Winner £4,727 14 runners 1m
93 Gold Express
92 Sign Of The Cross
91 Highly Regal
91 Salient

8.50 LEONARD CURTIS HANDICAP (CLASS 5)(4yo+ 0-75) Winner £2,590 11 runners 2m
91 Karky Schultz
90 Calculating
89 American Spin

9.20 FAREWELL HEAD GROUNDSMAN RICHARD LANGLEY HANDICAP (CLASS 4)(3yo+ 0-80) Winner £4,727 9 runners 6f
91 Bel Cantor
91 Mac´s Power
90 Lujeanie


8TH JULY 2009 LINGFIELD


3.55 SURREY BRITISH ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS NURSERY (CLASS 5)(2yo) Winner £3,238 10 runners 5f
89 Soccer
80 Any Day
70 Six Wives


4.30 ST PETER´S CROSS MEDIAN AUCTION MAIDEN STAKES (CLASS 6)(3-4yo) Winner £2,730 11 runners 6f
72 Towy Boy
69 Titus Gent
48 Wicksy Creek

5.05 PLAYSTOWE MAIDEN AUCTION STAKES (DIV I) (CLASS 5)(2yo) Winner £2,388 10 runners 6f
71 Quaestor

5.40 PLAYSTOWE MAIDEN AUCTION STAKES (DIV II) (CLASS 5)(2yo) Winner £2,388 10 runners 6f
83 Hot Pursuits
83 Janeiro



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Horse Racing - Trip Down Memory Lane

As there is no AWT racing until Monday 13th I decided to do some research and while thumbing through some old racing books found an old page from Raceform which bought back a great memory from my past carefully folded within the pages.

How attractive a proposition was Pipssalio. Still a Maiden after 4 outings, its 3 outings as a 2yo read beaten 16 lengths in Class 5 3k Novice, beaten 16 lengths in a Class 6 2k Maiden, Beaten 14 lengths in a Class 4 3k Maiden. 1 outing as a 3yo beaten ½ length in a Class 4 4k Handicap. Looked to be way out of its depth being entered in a Class 3 14k Handicap. Pipssalio was 10lb out of the handicap and the jockey (Francis Norton) was putting up 2lb over weight.

My speed figures told me a different story. In fact I can remember being so bullish I was nailing my colours to the mast on all the forums and to the Raceform. This for me was the outstanding bet of the following day, the outstanding bet of the week and of the month. I went to bed unable to sleep with anticipation for the following day fully confident I would be making a lot of money. As soon as I got up on the day of the race I started checking the prices to ensure the tissue given the evening before was correct. Pipssalio was still 20-1.

The time of the race had arrived and in horror I watched as Pipssalio fell out of the stalls. By the time they had reached half-way in the 1 mile contest it was flat to the boards well adrift of the rest of the field with Franny Norton rowing away and beating the horse to death!

My feelings at the time were partly embarrassment due to the comments I had made on various forums , partly anger and all confidence in my ability to create meaningful speed figures gone in 60 seconds but being the eternal optimist still a slither of hope.

With 2 furlongs to go Pipssalio started to reduce the gap. With a furlong to go the rest of the field started to paddle and Pipssalio appeared to have sprouted wings and was closing on the leaders at an unbelievable rate. As they flashed passed the post Franny Norton had driven Pipssalio between the two leaders to make a three way photo finish. Even though I believed Pipssalio had got there it was going to be on the nod. Pipssalio got the verdict beating 2nd Everest by a short-head who in turn had beaten 3rd Tumbleweed Tor by a short-head.

That is the margin of winning and losing. The difference between the feeling of abject failure and believing you can walk on water.