Well done Alan! - but I'm a bit disappointed you didn't give us "the nod" for Under The Twilight as well! - Just kidding. Nice one.

Incredible stats for your trainer btw - I think that's now 3 from 3 on the flat (turf).

Well done Anorak

Congrats Alan
Must be a great feeling to see a project come to fruition.

since your first winner.

I didn't see the interview on RTV, but apparently Michael Blake said that he's thinking about giving up training as he's down to just five horses - and he's won with three of them this week!

So any millionaires looking in thinking about who to send your horses to, you could do worse than Mr Blake, imo!

George, many thanks for the link. As you intimated, hopefully this afternoon leads to a few owners sending a few to Michael.

WD AP
Some turn around from last run

congrats on the winner anorak well done and good luck going forward !

Thanks Anorak.....good start to the day.

Alan

WD with the lay selection yesterday.

Well I don't think that was 'a turn of foot' as he doesn't possess such a thing. He just kept going at his own speed and the others were slowing, which is the reality of most races. For him to win at 12F, evrything had to go right - ground, jockey, getting the position on the inside rail thus saving ground, gap appears at just the right moment and stays open for him to get through, and finally the runner-up doing everything possible to throw the race away.

The way handicaps work, he gets raised for the win, so has to improve to win again. Both my trainer and I reckon his best chance of showing that improvement is to run a longer trip. And he had form at 2M when he was with David O'Meara and won at 1M 6F last year with Tom Ward, so it's not as if we're heading into uncharted waters.

Good afternoon Guys,

First day of the Boodles May festival meeting at Chester (worlds' oldest racecourse) but i'm not really enamoured with the card, even allowing for the G3 Vase won by Shergar in bygone years. Maybe i'm getting too picky after attending a couple of decent NH festivals and seeing the eventual 2000 guineas winner at Newbury this year.

A couple of shorties on the card although neither are bomb-proof, but if i was forced to back one of them, it would be Savethelastdance in the Cheshire Oaks.

A small field of 5 in the Chester Vase (3.15) although i can't see the lowest rated (88) Galactic Jack winning, but i think the field is closer than ratings of the other 4 may indicate and i certainly wouldn't want to be lumping on Arrest at 4/6. First run of the season, Chester, step up in trip and this race is an afterthought after Sandown was abandoned, so backers have a few points to consider. I would certainly be a layer than a backer, risky though it is.

In the opening Lily Agnes sprint (1.30) Ryan Moore and Ziggy Phoenix will be popular from the favoured inside draw, but i think the more speedily bred, Balon D'or owned by Michael Owen can win, even though he's drawn out in the car park and concedes the 5 lb filly allowance. He looked speedy on debut after being carried right and the form has been franked with a couple of winners and a runner-up already. There's plenty of pace on his inner and he will need a decent break from stall 11. A tentative selection and not a race to be too involved with stake wise.

A few comments on my Saturday post. I got Auguste Rodin right, but didn't lay it for as much as i should have considering my thoughts since the Futurity last year. Noble Style didn't stay the 8f, but to be honest when the going turned soft i was more or less resigned to losing my ante-post bet  (only small, but double figure odds). He was backed on the day and ran well in fairness, only run out of 4th place close home. I haven't lost faith, i think he's decent and hopefully will show his real form in the Commonwealth Cup next month. My tentative selection of an unraced Grant Tuer trained 2-year old filly, Bellarchi (SP 8/1) almost paid off, staying on strongly well to be 3rd, only beaten 0.75L. Part of my reasoning was the sire, dam and dam-sire all won on 2-year old debut, so failing to continue the trend, but she will win soon.

One horse i meant to mention last week was Mr Hollywood, not many will be aware of this one as it's German trained and won the G3 Bavarian Classic at München on May 1st. Only a couple of runs to date, winning his debut maiden by no less than 16L. He was impressive in München, still green and looks to have a good future, although the going may determine where he runs, at least on current evidence (both runs on heavy). Köln is probably next on the agenda, then the German Derby, who knows, we may even see him at Longchamp in October. One to keep an eye on, maybe even an ante-post at silly odds for the Arc, albeit very early days of course. I had thought to go to the course for the race, but the weather wasn't good.

The Arc could be a decent field this year, even without the Japanese superstar Equinox, and we saw another top-class French 3-year old, Big Rock winning impressively at Chantilly yesterday, adding to an ever-increasing list of potential winners under the tri-colour.

One horse i'm looking forward to this weekend runs at Longchamp on Sunday, and i will be there to watch her, Blue Rose Cen in the French 1000 guineas (already backed ante-post). Regular readers know i like this filly, i saw/backed her in the Prix Marcel Boussac during Arc weekend last year, she was impressive that day and i made a mental note of her, just as i did with Zarkava in the same race many years ago. She won the G3 Prix De La Grotte over CD last month, reinforcing my opinion of her. More on her Sunday.

Changing topic, my travelling expenses in Germany have become cheaper (all residents actually). Last year i posted on my thread that the Government and DB/MVV were working together to issue a 9-euro monthly ticket for all transportation in Germany, bus, tram, S-Bahn/U Bahn and regional trains (not IC or ICE) during June, July and August due to the cost-of-living increase. As you can imagine, it was a massive success, so since May 1st, it has been reintroduced at a monthly cost of 49 euros, not only for the summer months, but a permanent fixture. A superb deal, even cheaper than my monthly S-Bahn card with München zone restriction i use to travel to/from work. The same conditions, no IC or ICE (express) trains, but we can even travel to Hamburg in the north, just not as fast. I plan to be using at weekends as well for the obvious reasons, so a visit to Baden-Baden (on my bucket list) is on the cards.

Good luck and have a nice Wednesday all.

Alan/PHS

Thanks for the posts, always good to read sensible debate.

ttt

Not happy, never happy about going up in the weights. But it's fair enough and he's won off marks in the 80's in the past, so hopefully we still have a bit in hand. The runner-up, Vega Sicillia was raised 2lbs to 84 and he's entered in both the 12F handicaps at York on Wednesday and will give us a guide to the form if he runs.

Some nice tipping Andrew. Well done.

A very good day for you Andrew. Well done.

Enjoy tomorrow.

Going report courtesy of France Galop.

It has rained a lot in the Parisian region during the first part of the week, but the track has been drying out. On Friday morning, the penetrometer reading was 4.2 (very soft). The grass will be trimmed to a final depth of 11cms on Saturday.

We expect the ground to ride very soft on Sunday and anticipate a penetrometer reading of around 3.9. The rail will remain in its usual place, which hasn’t been the case since the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Meeting: and this will give rise to a 10m strip of fresh ground. The open-stretch, 5m out from the running rail, will also come into play