Ballygarvey gone backwards or not off today?

Grand Annual you would think

The Sandown race was identified by the trainer straight after his Ascot victory.There were no negatives going into the race and the owners did back him,although none is a big gambler (personally i couldn't see him out of the frame,backed him e.w at 9/2,topped up at 5/1 and again at 6/1 on here - but only for a few hundred pounds,not thousands!).

Had he not pecked at the first,jumped the 2nd more fluently and raced close up in 3rd/4th place i think he'd have been 3rd,probably beaten the same sort of distance the eventual 3rd was beaten.The slow jump at the open ditch was most unlike him and basically it was that jump which put him out of the race completely imo.

I could put forward a few plausible excuses in order to retain hope in him doing better next time e.g Unable to race in favoured prominent position (possible excuse),first run at Sandown (flaky excuse),2nd time he's raced on ground that's been covered,previous time was at Cheltenham 26th Jan 2013 when pulled up - but that was over 2m 5f and he went off to hard,faded and was pulled up (possible excuse).Even though he was given a near 6 week break after Ascot return,could he have 'bounced' ? (possibly excuse).Needs 2 1/2 miles now and only got away with Ascot win when race fell apart and he outstayed two weak finishers ? (possible excuse).Overall depth to his winning form is pretty rubbish and that's as good as he is when upped in grade (possible excuse unfortunately).

If he was being given a 'quiet' run on Saturday before a bigger target then the owners were definitely not aware that was going to be the case ! However his next run WILL be in a bigger race as off of his rating there just isn't much to go for and we've got nothing to lose having already won a nice race this season,so a choice of three races will be weighed up and he'll run in the one the trainer fancies most (i fancy 'Greatwood' Newbury 28th Feb,trainer fancies a Festival h'cap).

So if,please God,he goes and runs a stormer next time then do not blame the owners for hoodwinking anyone at Sandown - as a keen punter myself i can see how it might possibly have looked that way,but no one was more gutted than me afterwards as i felt the run basically confirmed that he'd reached the limit of his potential.

I can guarantee you that no one in our syndicate would want him to have 'quiet' runs to tee him up for one specific target - he is too old,too lightly raced and we are all too impatient to bother with all that ! I can also confirm the horse came out of the race well and the below par run can't be put down to anything physical.

Hope that helps.

top div - you're different class as usual. Hope you are keeping well. We miss you on the football thread!

Thanks Lance,

No Football thread or forum in general for me for a good while - i only looked in the other day to see if there were any posts about the Sandown race.

Since giving up my season ticket life is much much calmer,no need to get myself all worked up again by arguing on the footy forum !

Unfortunately the horse i bought a share in,rather than carry on going to football,has turned out to be no where near as good as i/we had hoped (He's A Bully).

Funnily enough it would seem the handicapper and timeform both think he's been given an 'educational' few runs with an eye on the future - certainly the handicapper rated him about 10lb higher than his 'form' (such as it was) deserved to be rated.If you offered me half my money back for him i'd bite your hand off !

Shouldn't complain,only had a share in two horses and one has done us proud and the other should win a race or two in time,just not at the level i'd have hoped.