.5.50 PANORAMIC BAR & RESTAURANT HANDICAP (CLASS 7)(3yo+ 0-50) Winner £2,047 12 runners 5f
99.3% Colombard
99.3% You´relikemefrank
99.2% Best One
6.20 BUY A £10,000 RACING POST BONUS YEARLING MAIDEN FILLIES´ STAKES (CLASS 5)(2yo) Winner £2,590 12 runners 5f
99.3% Baby Dottie
98.7% Desert Poppy
98.6% Elsie´s Orphan
6.50 KIA SOUL, SAFE BET HANDICAP (CLASS 4)(3yo+ 0-80) Winner £4,727 9 runners 1m2f
102.4% Sharpazmax
102.1% Hallingdal
101.8% Mafeking
7.20 DIGIBET HANDICAP (CLASS 6)(3yo+ 0-65) Winner £2,047 14 runners 1m4f
101.4% Blue Tango
101.3% Smooth As Silk
101.1% Capable Guest
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7.50 DIGIBET.COM NOVICE STAKES (CLASS 5)(2yo) Winner £2,590 6 runners 6f
No previous 'All Weather' form
8.20 DIGIBET CASINO CLAIMING STAKES (CLASS 6)(2yo) Winner £2,047 14 runners 7f
99.6% Daniella De Bruijn
99.5% Newton Circus
99.2% Pont D´Avignon
8.50 CALLUM LEE HANDICAP (CLASS 6)(3yo+ 0-55) Winner £2,047 14 runners 7f
101.4% Vanadium
100.7% Straight Face
100.3% Pipers Piping
9.20 KEMPTON.CO.UK HANDICAP (CLASS 6)(3yo+ 0-60) Winner £2,047 14 runners 1m100.9% Fine Ruler
100.7% The Grey One
100.6% Sovereignty
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.
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