Pontefract Mon Apr 24 2yo race review

Pontefract 1400 Mon Apr 24
Novice Stakes
5f, Class 5, 1m3.35s (slow 1.55s)
Good to Firm (Good in Places)

Gisele's Angel. Feb 17, £60k yearling. Half-sister to two handy types still in training, High On Life (peak so far OR104), Vibrant Chords (OR90). Jumped well, straight to the front and fought off all challengers after jockey said go at the 2f. Tail appeared to swish after two of the three strikes of the whip. May be nothing, and didn't cost her any ground, but not a trait you'd want to see again.

Lord Riddiford. Mar 23, €27k yearling. Half-brother to four winners but none to ge ttoo excited about. Started OK but not field-savvy and got shuffled back just behind midfield. Stride pattern all over the pace, quite green. Ran home nicely in final furlong hard against the rail. Whip only pulled once, decent run.

Sinaloa. Mar 22, €40k yearling (but €52k foal). Dam won on debut as 2yo and three of the siblings won at 2 but none have set world on fire. In leading 2yo stable, in fact trainer-jockey combination won this exact race last season. Slow to begin, chased along to take midfield position on settling. Leaders pulled away by halfway, under riding soon after, unable to catch the winner but looked to have all others covered down the middle of the track, until runner-up poked through late on the rail.

Ventura Knight. Beaten at Southwell on debut 18 days ago as even money favourite. Jumped well, sat in the breeze just behind the leader. Chasing at halfway, wobbled out into middle of track when Palmer eased out from behind leader. Looked to be on the wrong leg and took time to balance up. Stayed on OK but never a winning chance.

Collingham Park. Feb 24, €16k yearling. Dam very slow, never closer than 18L in five 11-14f races, peak OR55. Trainer didn't have a 2yo winner last season. Jumped well from wide gate, sat wide in midfield with some cover. Ran on nicely in last furlong, not fully wound up, ran up back of a few of them then checked around to claim fifth. Worth keeping an eye on.

Palmer. Feb 20, £50k vendor buyback as yearling. Half-brother to promising 2yo winner Gorgeous Noora. Dam peaked at OR97 and is a sister to G1 winner Muthmir. Jumped well, sat just behind lead. Outpaced on the turn as leader skipped away. Tried hard but faded late.

Queen's Sargent. Feb 26, €42k yearling. Half-brother to some decent ones in France. Broke quickly, dived right to find clear space and had to be eased to last or posted very wide. Stayed there until final furlong when worked home OK. Not as obvious as the late work of Collingham Park, keep an eye out for future improvement.

Eyes of Fire. Feb 4, 25k gns yearling, trainer known more for lower class racing than success with juveniles. Very green, over-racing, made some headway from 2f, eased late on.

Rockesbury. Did nothing on debut at Leicester Apr 7. Sat midfield, gone at 2f.

Afterthisone. Third run, terrible yet again. Won't get many lower nursery marks than this one. Sat midfield, every chance, just has no talent.

KEY POINTS
Winner was pushed right out. Honest performance but not much left in tank. Might be some depth in the ones behind her, look for them in the right company.

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur

Betdaq.... sold...... FOR HOW MUCH???

So as rumoured for a while, Ladbrokes have finally acquired the lemon, sorry, purple-coloured betting exchange, Betdaq. For a mind-boggling €30m as 'initial consideration'. That's an even more ridiculous price than Fernando Torres for £50m, or any English player Liverpool have purchased in recent seasons! As I've written previously there are no logical business reasons for this acquisition. from Nov 29, 2012 The Racing Post reported this week that Ladbrokes are nearing a decision to acquire Betdaq. This baffles me, it really does. Betdaq are a complete and utter lemon. Their only rival in the market has kicked so many own goals over the years with the premium charge, followed by an increase in the premium charge, cost of API and data use, customer service standards which have fallen faster than Facebook share value, site crashes and various other faults. So many pissed off Betfair customers, yet Betdaq are still tailed off with a lap to go. Around the world, Betfair

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

Sport is made for betting

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