Tuesday 14 July 2009

14TH JULY 2009 SOUTHWELL

6.40 VICTOR CHANDLER & NOTTINGHAM FOREST FC MAIDEN FILLIES´ STAKES (CLASS 5)(3yo+) Winner £3,886 7 runners 1m4f
88 Blue Nymph
79 Jabroot

7.10 BEST ODDS GUARANTEED @ VICTOR CHANDLER NURSERY (CLASS 6)(2yo) Winner £2,730 7 runners 5f
88 Mahiki
76 Rightcar
58 Mind The Monarch

7.40 NEW WEBSITE @ VICTORCHANDLER.COM CLAIMING STAKES (CLASS 6)(3yo) Winner £2,267 7 runners 6f
92 Swiss Art
89 Pepin
84 Cool Art

8.10 BEST ODDS GUARANTEED @ VICTORCHANDLER.COM HANDICAP (CLASS 5)(3yo 0-70) Winner £2,492 9 runners 1m6f
81 Astroleo
71 Mister Frosty
70 Blue Tango

8.40 VICTORCHANDLER.COM/FOREST HANDICAP (CLASS 5)(3yo 0-70) Winner £3,432 8 runners 1m
91 Iron Out
88 Uncle Brit
78 Echo Dancer

9.10 VICTOR CHANDLER SPONSORS OF NOTTINGHAM FOREST FC HANDICAP (CLASS 4)(3yo+ 0-85) Winner £5,181 14 runners 6f
97 Calmdownmate
91 Silent Hero
90 Ingleby Arch
90 All The Nines

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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.