Perth Review 25th September

Perth staged its final meeting of its centenary year today and I was in attendance at the course for the fourth time this season. I was hoping for better fortune than I had experienced at Ayr on Saturday where I managed to avoid a single winner in an eight race card. I did intend to blog that meeting but frankly given my lack of success it was painful to recall the meeting race by race. All I will say about Ayr is that is a great course for a big meeting and there was also plenty of non equine talent on show. I would definitely love to take a trip there again for the Scottish National or the Gold Cup meeting again next September.

Anyway back to Perth and I arrived confident of finding at least 1 or 2 winners as this was a jumps race meet- my bread and butter. Before I set off I logged onto Sporting Index and decided at 41lengths given the going and fact there were 3 novices and a bumper. The first race at 2.20 looked tricky, a14 runner novice hurdle with a few decent animals. The form was hard to read and Mhilu and Chord were well backed at the head of the market. I looked further down the betting though and plumped for Noble Alan(friendless in the betting-3/1 morning to 6/1 on course) who had decent form last winner as was trained by the powerful Richards stable. Noble Alan was settled midfield and came through strongly to win the race by 6 lengths and quickly erased my painful Ayr memories. This horse heads to Cheltenham next month and I wouldn’t put anyone off as the trainer indicated he won today despite needing the run.

This put me in good spirits ahead of the 2nd race where I had a big fancy foir the Twiston Davies runner Crescent Island. He had a good record in the race and had used this a platform for no less than Fundamentalist. It was 6/4 on Betfair before I left so I was surprised to see Evens on course when betting opened. This didn’t deter me though and I took 11/10 which was the best I could see. He jumped well in the early stages and as they set out on the final circuit I was pleased. That was until the silly animal decided he had done enough for the day and instead of going out for another circuit decided to stop and head back to the paddock. Cue the sinking feeling. I was saved somewhat though when the Philip Hobbs trained Mister Gloss romped home by 23 lengths- a great result for the spread.

Onto the 3rd race where my second strongest fancy of the day Kealshore Lad lined up. I hoped to claw back the previous losses on this son of Tiraaz and took the early 6/4 which was a wise move as the SP returned 5/4. My enthusiasm for this horse was heightened by the foxy stable girl (see pic) leading him around the paddock. Unfortunately Kealshore Lad was one paced and could only plug on for third behind 9length winner Valerius for the Gordon Elliot stable.

So it was back to the drawing board for the next race which was an open 2mile handicap chase. I had no strong fancy but thought Top Dressing could go well at 4/1. He was never really travelling under Denis O’Regan and plugged on behind Nigel Twiston Davies Asudo, that one returning from a 600 day absence over a trip which for my money looked too short. He could be one to follow this winner especially over further.

So four races down and the win on Noble Alan was a distant memory. A 2 mile handicap hurdle was probably not the best of races to get me out of trouble but the more I looked at the form the more I became drawn to the Gordon Elliot trained Baguenaud, with Paul Carberry looking an intriguing jockey booking. 4/1 looked a fair price given Gordon Elliots course record so I stuck of my rapidly decreasing readies on that one. Carberry settled the 5yo in midfield and brought him to challenge entering the straight where he quickened on nicely to win by a couple of lengths from the course loving Regents Secret in second. This was a get out of jail free card for me as I had not intended to back this one when I had studied the morning form.

I went into the sixth race back in high spirits but it looked tricky. Twiston Davies had a horse with poor form but all his horses at Perth merit respect so I found it hard to weigh up particularly given the restricted 3/1 price. Equally Gordon Elliot’s Misterinbetween had been backed from early prices of 10/1 into 7/2 on course but its form was dire. I decided to go for Laureldean Melody as the price of 11/2 looked big and I am a big fan of her sire Accordion. She ran well but went down by a decreasing ¾ lengths to the Twiston Davies Flemish Invader.

So one race left and it was an intriguing bumper. The Twiston Davies runner Strong Rebel had been well talked up all afternoon and the enthusiastic - Yes No Wait Sorries - the horses owners were all in attendance. This one opened at 11/10 which for me was a no bet on an unraced bumper runner. He had previously won an Irish point to point but the form of those races is impossible to weight up. Gordon Elliot had the second favourite at 3/1 but this didn’t appeal to me at the price and I decided that at 8/1 Moscow Catch, an unraced son of Moscow Society for the Malcom Jefferson yard was worth a bet. I went to the paddock (and not to view the sexy stable girls this time) and had a look and was hugely impressed by Moscow so decided to have a decent sized bet on him to win at 8/1. I was soon regretting this as he dumped his rider down at the start, although fortunately the horse did not bolt. As the race unfolded Strong Rebel began to be pushed along as Moscow Catch made headway to try to catch the strong travelling Tchang Goon. That one and Strong Rebel began to pull away from Moscow Catch but as the lime approached Moscow made great ground and to my delight and the favourite backers horror looked like he got up. The anxious wait for the result went and I waited around 2 minutes to find out that Strong Rebel had held on. I’ve had a few low moments in racing but that feeling went the photo was called is up there with the best of them

As for the distances I think they ended up at around 49 which means a small profit for me but in so many ways it could have been so much better. I had a great day at Perth though and can’t wait for the Festival next April where I expect to see you all there.